What Is Polycythemia in Newborns? 👶🩸 #neonatologist #baby

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Definition of polycythemia. Polycythemia is defined as a baby having hematocrit two standard deviations above the mean of what that baby should have.

[00:00:11]Generally, preemie babies have lower hematocrits at birth than term babies.

[00:00:15]So, anytime it's two standard deviations above the mean, then it's considered polycythemia. In healthy term neonate, the average hematocrit at birth is about 50% and the average hemoglobin is about 16 g per deciliter. So, in term neonates, polycythemia is considered when the hematocrit is above 65% or the hemoglobin is above 22 g per deciliter.