Why Your Newborn Needs Vitamin K Shot
As a standard of care, a single Vitamin K shot is recommended for all newborns within the first hours of life to prevent fatal Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, a potentially life-threatening condition in healthy infants that can cause serious bleeding, often from the nose, mouth, umbilical stump, or internally (brain, abdomen).
As a standard of care, a single Vitamin K shot is recommended for all newborns within the first hours of life to prevent fatal Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, a potentially life-threatening condition in healthy infants that can cause serious bleeding, often from the nose, mouth, umbilical stump, or internally (brain, abdomen).
Babies are born with very little Vitamin K because it does not cross the placenta efficiently and a newborn’s intestine do not have the bacteria needed to produce Vitamin K, and breast milk contains only a small amount.
It has been a standard of care to give vitamin k shot to newborns since 1961. It is not a vaccine but a safe sterile solution of Vitamin K. There is no link to childhood cancer. The American Academy of Pediatrics continue to recommend the administration of Vitamin K in our new born to keep them safe from Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding.
From The American Academy of Pediatric’s HealthyChildren.Org:
What does vitamin K do?
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble nutrient that helps our bodies make blood clots. We need blot clots to stop bleeding. Vitamin K is important for keeping bones healthy too.
Adults and older children get vitamin K from food such as green, leafy vegetables, meat, dairy and eggs. The healthy bacteria in our intestines, which make up our
microbiome, also produce some vitamin K.
Babies, though, have very little vitamin K in their bodies at birth. This puts them at risk for dangerous bleeding problems. Fortunately, it's easy to prevent VKDB with a vitamin K shot. The injection is given in your baby's thigh within 6 hours of birth.
One shot is all it takes to protect your baby from getting
vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB). This is why, as pediatricians, we have recommended since 1961 that all newborns get a vitamin K shot at birth.
Why babies aren't born with enough vitamin K?
The two big reasons newborns need vitamin K:
- They don't get much vitamin K from the mother during pregnancy. Unlike many other nutrients, vitamin K doesn't pass through the placenta very easily.
- Babies' intestines don't have very many bacteria yet, so their bodies can't make enough vitamin K.
What is vitamin K deficiency bleeding?
Newborns who don't get a vitamin K shot and are low on the vitamin are are at risk of VKDB. This happens when a baby's blood can't make clots, and their body can't stop bleeding.
The bleeding can happen on the outside of the body. It can also happen inside the body where parents can't see it. A baby could be bleeding into their intestines or brain before their parents know anything is wrong. Brain bleeding happens in about half of all babies who develop VKDB, and it can lead to brain damage or death.
There are three types of vitamin K deficiency bleeding:
- Early-onset: This begins within the first 24 hours after birth. It usually happens when the mother is taking certain medications that interfere with vitamin K.
- Classical: This happens between 2 days and 1 week after birth. Doctors don't know exactly what causes most of these cases. Early-onset and classical VKDB occur in 1 in 60 to 1 in 250 newborns.
- Late-onset: This happens between 1 week and 6 months after birth. It's rarer than early-onset or classical VKDB, occurring in 1 in 14,000 to 1 in 25,000 babies. Infants who didn't get a vitamin K shot at birth are 81 times more likely to develop late-onset VKDB than babies who do get the shot.
Cases of VKDB seem to be increasing. This is partly because more parents are refusing the vitamin K shot for their newborns. VKDB is fairly rare, so many parents aren't aware of how dangerous the effects of this disease can be.
Are vitamin K shots safe?
Yes, vitamin K shots are very safe. The vitamin K from the injection is stored in your baby's liver and released slowly over months. This gives your baby the vitamin K they need until they can start getting it from solid food and making it themselves.
You may have heard about a study from the 1990s about a possible link between the vitamin K shot and developing childhood cancer. This didn't only worry parents; doctors and scientists were concerned too. Since then, experts have done many different kinds of studies to verify this link. None of the studies have ever been able to find that link again.
