We read with great interest the article “Sunlight through residential glazing and prevention of neonatal jaundice”, recently published in Anales de Pediatría. This study addresses a practice that is still widespread in neonatal care: the informal recommendation of exposing infants to sunlight at home as a strategy to prevent or treat neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.

The authors provide experimental evidence that calls into question the efficacy of indirect sunlight exposure through residential glazing, a finding consistent with current knowledge of neonatal phototherapy. Bilirubin reduction depends fundamentally on exposure to specific wavelengths in the blue band (approximately 460−490nm), which are optimized in modern phototherapy systems whose efficacy and safety have been widely demonstrated in recent reviews and updated international guidelines.1,2

We think it is particularly relevant to examine these findings from the perspective of low- and middle-income countries, including much of Latin America. In these settings, neonatal sunlight exposure persists as a cultural recommendation passed down across generations and implemented mainly in the home, owing to structural limitations, limited or unequal availability of phototherapy equipment, hospital overcrowding, and geographic and socioeconomic barriers that delay access to specialized care.

The recent literature continues to highlight severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia as a preventable cause of morbidity, mortality, and neurologic impairment worldwide, with a disproportionately greater burden in low-resource regions.3 Recent studies on global neonatal health indicate that gaps in infrastructure, timely access, and health education significantly contribute to the persistence of empiric practices outside the hospital setting, even when evidence-based clinical recommendations exist.4

In this regard, the article helps not only to debunk a persistent clinical myth but also to open a much-needed debate on equity in neonatal health. These findings reinforce the need for international clinical recommendations to include strategies tailored to the specific socioeconomic and cultural context.

Finally, we congratulate the authors for addressing an everyday issue with methodological rigor that truly speaks to our own reality, and for prompting reflection that transcends the local context and carries relevant implications for global neonatal health.