Vitamin K

[midget em]

All I really know about this is that it helps to prevent haemorrhagic disease of the new born. Which is classed as a rare bleeding disorder.

I'm going to ask my midwife for more info on it but thought I'd also see what you ladies thought about it.

Anyone strongley for or against it?

(I'm also going to ask in 2nd tri)

Thanks

 

[ChrissiK]

Didn't have it with my first two, would only consider it if it was a traumatic birth.

I am a little taken aback by the claim that ALL newborns lack Vit K - wouldn't that be the "normal" then rather than supplementing all?

 

[Mervs Mum]

Here's a an article from the AIMS journal.

https://www.aims.org.uk/Journal/Vol13No2/vitk.htm

 

[midget em]

Thank you that was a really interesting article and just what I wanted to know. I looked for some myself but they weren't all that imformative.

I think we may still go ahead with the injection but at least now I understand why and its a more informed decision.

I totally agree that if all babies are born with low levels then clearly this is the norm and not something they 'need'. That being said I've not found any adverse reason not give it to them either.
My DH thinks as long as it doesn't do any harm he'd rather we give it than not so think thats prob what we'll do.

 

[NaturalMomma]

I'm not for or against it. I didn't do it with ds2. My MW brought it with just incase she though he would need it, which he didn't.

 

[Sam Pearson]

We didn't give it to our babies. If there were signs of a problem we would have them tested for Vitamin K deficiency before administering a Vit K injection. I'd rather my baby have an actual need for such a thing before I'd give it to them.

 

[ljo1984]

I'm not for or against it, personally I decided for both mine to have it. Xx

 

[ttclou25]

We have decided we dont want to go ahead with the vitamin k unless i have a traumatic birth where i would consider it. There is a slight worry for me how it has links to leukemia in later life for the child, from what i have read from articles and journals on this. But you just cant win with these things its the same for me with the flu jab , theres always a link to something else to worry about.

One article i read

' A higher level of available vitamin K could prevent the tragic intracranial bleeding.The downside of this practice however is a possibly 80% increased risk of developing childhood leukemia. While a few studies have refuted this suggestion, several tightly controlled studies have shown this correlation to be most likely.4,5 A more recent analysis of six different studies suggests it may be a 10 or 20% increased risk. This is still a significant number of avoidable cancers.'

 

[Sam Pearson]

The link to Lukemia also bothered me as well as the fact that no controlled studies have been carried out on the safety of the injection. If you read the manufactures insert it lists the adverse reactions which include anaphylactoid reaction as well as other unpleasant reactions.

 

[midget em]

Ok so there are my reasons not to give it. Thanks ladies I'll do a bit more research still plenty of time to go I guess.
I'm just a bit bowled over by this new realisation that we shouldn't just trust and believe everything told to us by medical practitioners. It's recently opened up a whole new world for me!!!!

 

[Sam Pearson]

I'm just a bit bowled over by this new realisation that we shouldn't just trust and believe everything told to us by medical practitioners. It's recently opened up a whole new world for me!!!!

It's so wrong isn't it especially given The Hippocratic Oath of "Do no harm". With my firstborn I was so blindly trusting. I birthed in hospital, they mucked me around. Then from day one it was bullshit from the baby health nurse at the Baby Center (I think these are called different things in different countries). After that I was given a bum steer by no less than 10 doctors (I kept changing). I was given antibiotics for my child with a virus, I was told my son needed to be circumcised when he didn't, he was diagnosed with asthma which he didn't have, I was told by a GP that my milk had no nutrition after 1 year etc.. Fortunately, I was a person very much into research so each time I was given advice I'd seek more info only to discover I was being lied to - either that or all of these doctors were dumber than I was.

So I took control. I would only go to a doctor if I want my own diagnosis confirmed or for physical injuries. My eldest is 21 years old and I haven't taken my children to a GP in 14 years. Aside from last year when my 7yo broke her arm requiring a trip to emergency and surgery we have done just fine ourselves. Even with the broken arm I had to fend off poor advice- they wanted to give her antibiotics with no sign of any infection. I have taken my children to Chiropractors, naturopaths and have a lot of books with old fashioned home remedies - some of them are so old they are out of print but a good one that is still available is "Natural Health and Healing for Children - How to provide drug free care for your child at home - and when to call the doctor - For children 0-12 years by Marcea Weber". I also trained as an aromatherapist 17 years ago and we use essential oils often. I also don't take my pets (1 dog, 2 cats and 2 mince) to vet but treat them myself so far with 100% success - my oldest pet is my 15 year old cat and like my kids she's healthy and happy.

I never forget that medcine is a business, doctors are businessmen and profits is the name of the game. There are some special good doctors out there but few and far between in my experience.

 

[ljo1984]

Mmmmm I feel a bit bad now for letting my lo's have the vit k!!! Imogens birth was traumatic for her, pulled out with forceps and a massive heamatoma on her head for 6 weeks, but Freya was fine despite the transfer to hospital I kept myself calm and she was born fine, but rather quickly which might have shocked her ha ha. Think I'll refuse next time especially if I get the perfect hb I want.

Freya recently had conjunctivitis in one eye and been so tiny the last thing I wanted was to put chemicals in her eyes, id seem something on here once about breast milk to treat it and I was amazed at how something you would just think of as food can be used to treat a variety of ailments. I'm not one for rushing to drs though either. X

 

[Mervs Mum]

Mmmmm I feel a bit bad now for letting my lo's have the vit k!!! Imogens birth was traumatic for her, pulled out with forceps and a massive heamatoma on her head for 6 weeks, but Freya was fine despite the transfer to hospital I kept myself calm and she was born fine, but rather quickly which might have shocked her ha ha. Think I'll refuse next time especially if I get the perfect hb I want.

Freya recently had conjunctivitis in one eye and been so tiny the last thing I wanted was to put chemicals in her eyes, id seem something on here once about breast milk to treat it and I was amazed at how something you would just think of as food can be used to treat a verity of ailments. I'm not one for rushing to drs though either. X

Don't ever feel bad for doing the best by your Los. We all do the best we can with the information we have. It's not our fault lots of information is conveniently omitted to ensure compliance. And I'd say forceps is definitely a Vit k situation!

I was given a tip about sticky eyes that won't shift with breastmilk.

Apparently you dissolve 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda in 1oz of boiled water and keep it in the fridge (changing every 24 hours). Someone on the Facebook group posted this today and said it cleared her baby's in 48hrs

 

[Mrs.Ping]

considering the daily recommend dose for an adult is only 80 mg and what they give the baby is i believe around 20,000 x the normal level of a newborns original vit k level!

 

[Mervs Mum]

It's easy to say 'it's not harmful' but we don't know that for sure. As the pp said there's not enough longer term research. Its possible that the effects are not seen till later life and not necessarily correlated with Vit k......Just to add 2 of mine had it and one didn't so I'm being objective but realistic as I very much sit on the fence. There are NO perfect parents. We have or will all make choices we feel are right the others may feel are controversial. However we ALL have our children's best interested central to the decisions.

 

[ChrissiK]

At least you are starting to get conscious of the fact that docs in labor often do what's easiest of them NOW. A lot of moms have traumatic first births and then start researching...

 

[ljo1984]

At least you are starting to get conscious of the fact that docs in labor often do what's easiest of them NOW. A lot of moms have traumatic first births and then start researching...

That's exactly what I did. Really opened my eyes to everything since having Imogen. X

 

[Tink1o5]

I did not give it to DS2, after i became more educated on the subject. From what I have read they give 20,000 times the "average" dose in the injection, and it can cause the baby to be jaundice.