Advice/opinions with respect to Vitamin K shots for newborns

[pea-in-pod]

Hi natural birthers!

Im hoping to have my babes at home in just a few weeks!

My MW has asked me about whether I will consent to the Vitamin K shot for my baby as soon as its born, and I am just looking for some opinions/advice on this? I typically dont like anything that is not "natures own way"! which would include this type of thing, but she seems to think it saves babies lives.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[LoraLoo]

No advice really except that Ive given it to all 4 of my babys, and if this one sticks and is all ok, will do again. Its your decision hun, just make sure its a well informed and researched one xxxx

 

[Mum2MJ]

We had the shot for DD and will with this one too, if you're not keen on the injection, I think there's an oral option?

 

[moomin_troll]

zane didnt have the shot and nor will this one.

my mum was told by a mw that its really not needed, when others believe it is.
zane was fine without it and so was i and my sisters and brother so i will be declining it again.

if ur not sure go online and talk to ur mw and say u want more info on the injection and what its supposed to do x

 

[Thumper]

Good thread, thank you. This is something that I have been giving a lot of thought myself as a first time Mum-to-be. I don't use conventional medicines for myself but having the life of another in my hands for the sake of a vitamin injection is something I'm just not sure about. I have been looking into the Vitamin K debate and myself and OH still have to make our final decision. Any further advice always welcome

 

[Gen79]

While I'm hoping to do everything else as naturally as possible, the injection is one of the things that I personally am going for with my LO. Its not likely to make a difference either way but I haven't found enough evidence - for me - against it. I go the natural way when it makes sense to me, but western medicine isn't always wrong IMO.

 

[freckleonear]

Both my children had vitamin K but if we have any more then they probably won't have it. Whilst I recognise that Vitamin K has undoubtedly saved lives, I believe that there is a good reason why babies are born with "insufficient" Vitamin K. However, I wouldn't hesitate to give it if any of the various risk factors were present in our birth experience. https://www.aims.org.uk/Journal/Vol13No2/vitk.htm

 

[NaturalMomma]

We didn't do it for ds2 who was born at home. My MW always carries it with her just in case. The research I looked at said the baby only needs it if it was a traumatic birth, baby is bleeding when born, baby has bruises or scratches when born, or if you plan to circumcise your baby. Otherwise baby should be good. You can also eat Vitamin K rich foods to make sure baby has enough at birth.

 

[SerenityNow]

We used oral Vitamin K drops for our kids and will do the same for this one.

As an added bonus you can rub the leftover drops into your stretch marks, vitamin K is the active ingredient in a lot of those creams and potions. I still have stretch marks, but still worth a try!

 

[Mervs Mum]

Only thing I would add is if you do decide you want to have the shot for any reason, ask that they wait till you are nursing to administer it then baby probably won't notice.

 

[Anababe]

I had it given to both my boys and never really thought much about it. I've left it a bit more open this time, stating in my birth plan I would like to discuss it before administering and as MM has said, I have asked if I do decide to have it then they try to wait until baby is feeding if possible

 

[nov_mum]

there are quite a few good articles about Vit K and I found it useful to havea read. My MW handed me a couple which I found wre balanced. There is a small incidence of a higher rate of childhood cancers in those that have hadthe jab vs those that had the drops. With the drops you are never sure exactly how much they spat out but with the jab you know exactly what dose they had. We decided after much reading that we would go for hte drops but as I was induced both times with PET it was strongly advised we gave the injection and we listened as we trusted our MW. I think she presented a balanced amount of info but the game changed once my condition emerged.

 

[pimento1979]

Hubby and I declined the jab. But when Eva was born with some bruising on her head, we opted for the oral version. But in Oxford (UK), it's a real pain in the arse! They don't make it easy to get it orally. I had to go back to the labour ward on day 5 and then for the day 28 dose, I had to get a prescription from my doctor, take it to the pharmacy who had to order it in, and then go back to the surgery to have it adminstered by a practice nurse.

 

[special_kala]

RIver had the injection but this baby will be having it orally.

I hated the way River screamed after that injection (although of course alot of babies dont even notice it) and dont feel the need to do that again

 

[Tacey]

I found this a helpful factsheet when deciding. I had put in my plan that I didn't want the baby to receive any form of vitamin K unless the birth was traumatic, but when the midwives looked appalled and said "surely you mean you want it orally?!" I went along with it. I regret doing that now, but you live and learn. (They also recorded my reason for doing so as because I have needle phobia! I am needle phobic, but that had no bearing on my decision.)

 

[pea-in-pod]

Just wanted to say thanks everyone for these replies, this is very helpful!

Pea

 

[beingamother]

I didn't read about any negative effects from vitamin K shots, so we decided to give it to our baby. I don't see the harm in a little extra vitamin K just in case.

 

[oread]

I have been pretty torn on this as well, but I think we decided we will give them the Vit K. I hope there is an oral option here though because I really would rather not give them a shot, and preferably a smaller dose than the shot. It does seem to make a big difference in a few cases and really couldn't find any good reason not to. From the research I found it is associated with a slightly higher rate of childhood cancers (1.5 out of 100,000 births) but the chances of serious complications or death from not enough Vit K are 1.8/100,000
I do plan on skipping the antibiotic eye drops though.

 

[mamato2more]

I wanted to pop in here really quickly..I have declined the shot in most of my kids because they are not getting circed at birth, all natural births, and because I just have a hard time believing that God screwed up when he made the levels low..They get enough from breast milk when it comes in, and I find it interesting, and I'm not Jewish, that they dont do the circ right away, that it's done on the 8th day after the child is born, plenty of time to get k.