Vitamin K Injection Newborn Procedure
There are different brands of vitamin k depending on where you live.
Vitamin k injection newborn procedure. In a small percentage of newborns cerebral hemorrhage can occur which spurred the universal practice of newborn vitamin k injections in the united states. Your midwife should have discussed the injection with you while you were pregnant. Dangers of the newborn vitamin k shot. The injection contains synthetic vitamin k and the amount being administered to newborns is considerably higher than there rda so it s no surprise that there are risks.
Vitamin k injection what is the vitamin k injection. Vitamin k is a naturally occurring vitamin in humans that helps the blood to clot and is created by bacteria in the intestinal tract. In order to prevent this a synthetic form of vitamin k1 is offered to all. Many of today s parents are questioning the procedures that are routinely done to babies at birth and in their first days of life.
You ll be offered an injection of vitamin k for your baby. Research and practice shows that giving vitamin k by injection at birth is safe and effective. The goal is to prevent a rare condition called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn or vitamin k deficiency bleeding. This helps prevent a rare bleeding disorder called haemorrhagic disease of the newborn.
In australia babies are generally given the konakion brand. At birth the baby s intestinal tract is sterile containing no bacteria to manufacture the vitamin but after the first weeks. Vitamin k deficiency in a newborn results in a rare but life threatening condition known as vitamin k deficiency related bleeding vkdb. I had chosen not to go ahead with the procedure so there was no need to investigate any further.
Please read the document vitamin k prophylaxis. Babies in new zealand and in many other countries have been given vitamin k injections for many years without problems. It is now considered that there is a reason why these newborn develop vitamin k deficiency related bleeding such as liver problem. This is usually an injection given after birth.
All newborns are born with a low level of vitamin k which is responsible for preventing hemorrhage by enhancing the blood s clotting ability. Standard procedures for your newborn. Vitamin k for newborn babies. Vitamin k deficiency is common in newborns.
But for the purposes of this article i ve gone deeper into this injection. Administration of vitamin k. If vitamin k is not replaced babies are at risk of vitamin k deficiency bleeding vkdb which can be serious or even fatal. At the time of my research back in the 1980 s i didn t ask for the ingredients of the vitamin k oral and or injection nor did i ask where the vitamin k was sourced.