Vitamin K controversy?

Vitamin K is given to infants to helps their blood clot, there is the option of a oral dose of Vitamin K, however it is not as effective as a shot directly into the blood stream.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR602165

Doctors become pediatricians because they like children because they want to help children survive. They have dedicated a lot of their life learning and understanding how the body develops and grows. If you really feel that your doctor isn't doing what is in the best interest of your child then find another doctor.

Doctors don't and under no circumstances make decisions based on what they "FEEL" is the right decision, they make decisions based on what they have been "EDUCATED" on by studying the human body and reading what is the factual evidence based SCIENCE!

If you truly do feel that your doctor is only in their office to make money, your sorely wrong they do it for the people they help. Do they make money at it, sure but there are other fields of medicine that are a lot more profitable.

Vitamin K was given to my son, I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen because I read what the current practices for child birth and the reasoning behind them. I knew that our doctor was doing what was in the best interest of my child because he has 5 children of his own, we talked with him as much as we could about what was going to happen.

To this day he is still excited when we run into him, he remembers my son's name because he loves children and what he does for people.

Do practices change over time sure, they change because Science evolves as we learn more about the human body, do doctors have all the answers NO if they did we wouldn't have to worry about disease. Do doctors know a lot about the human body YES. Is there room for improvement? YES. With more study, not with anecdotal evidence and not with fear mongering of "Big Pharma."

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we've done a lot of reading on this...our first is due in three weeks. there was a lot of discussion of it in our bradley classes.

from what we've read, vitamin k shots became standard procedure in the 60s and 70s when forcepts births became standard. the forcepts were, in some cases, causing bruising on the brain for delivered babies, and due to the lack of clotting, the some babies had hemmorages and died. the vitamin k helped to counteract this.

nowadays, forcepts deliveries are far less common. the other issue is that the dosage given is so incredibly higher than what a normal ADULT has in their system. studies show that waiting to cut the cord for at least 5 minutes after birth will allow the placenta to send clotting agents to the newborn...however, in the US, we tend to cut the cord immediately, which is sad, because this is when the baby is getting so much good stuff from the placenta immediately following birth.

one might suggest that the mother take vitamin k supplements before birth? but interestingly, the fetus will not receive any vitamin k from the mother before birth...it just doesn't pass through to the baby. as my husband noted, kind of makes you think nature knows what the baby needs, eh?

we are opting for oral supplements post-birth. i will take them orally, and they will be passed to the baby through breastfeeding, in normal doses. we're also waiting at least 5-10 minutes to cut the cord (or until the cord stops pulsating). she'll still get what she needs, and it will be naturally given to her, rather than in a painful shot with far more vitamin k than her little body needs.

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Karen, the reason we didn't want the shot is because we had wanted our baby to come into this world peacefully, without the terrifying and painful procedures that are usually done on newborns (cord clamped and cut before it has a chance to stop pulsing, shots, eyedrops, bath, etc).

I agree with Megan that the cord should be left alone until it stops pulsing. It took 20 minutes before my son's cord stopped pulsing. The benefits go to both the baby and mother: baby get nutrients from the cord blood and mother bleeds less from the birth.

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Most interventions used today are as a result of practices done in the past or because of little or no understanding of the benefits of a "natural" no-intervention birth.

First, ob's used silver nitrate in the eyes to get rid of gonorrhea - they stopped that when they noticed an increase in glaucoma and other complications. Using antibiotics (literally - anti-life) is a terrible thing to introduce to a newborn. Gonorrhea does NOT lead to blindness or glaucoma or other eye issues - it DOES increase risk but does not LEAD to it!

Vit K was also necessary because of interventions to the mom before and during birth. Overuse of IV, morphine, etc. But maybe the worst was the common practice of clamping the umbilical cord immediately after the baby was born - there are vital nutrients and copious amounts of blood (including vital stem cells) that the baby needs.

Why is it that we think Doctors can do things better than nature - only to find out later, that they can't!

Eugene - statistics and studies can easily be manipulated! To quote Jenny McCarthy - "my son is my study - vaccines cause autism!"

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We did accept the standard Vitamin K procedures following birth, but we probably could have declined them if we had really wanted to.

However, I never really felt uninformed as mentioned in the post. There was no element of surprise. We attended a childbirth class through the hospital that outlined all the procedures and all the potential procedures and they gave us a big binder that we could keep with all the information about pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care in it. We met with our baby's pediatrician's office before she was even born and the procedures were explained. The procedures were explained again by my OBGYN.

I do believe that every parent should be informed and make the decision that they feel is best for the child. I certainly felt that I was was well informed regarding Vitamin K and eyedrops. Our family decided to pursue the treatment, while others did not. I do find it hard to believe though that the use of both could catch someone completely off guard.

Jen
http://furoreandfrenzy.com

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Sometimes it just seems like there's too much to worry about. I know we shouldn't blindly follow what our doctors say, it's important to be informed and knowledgeable about what procedures, vacinations, medications, etc., are given or recommended for our kids. But, I like our pediatrician. He seems informed, helpful and caring. It's obvious the care of my kids is important to him. As a result, I put my kid's health in his hands. I might be well read, but he's the one with the true knowledge and experience. Sometimes as a parent I think you just have to trust, and let someone else do the worrying.

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I am a naturopath, a licensed midwife, and an RN. I had my 4 babies born at home and here is what I know about vitamin K. Vitamin K is made by the (good) bacteria in our gut (lactobacilli etc). Babies have a sterile gut when born. It takes about a week for babies to have sufficient bacteria to make sufficient levels of vitamin K to protect them against blood clotting problems. Interestingly, in the jewish tradition, circumcision is done at 8 days- which probably came to be after they watched babies who had problems with bleeding too much with the procedure and figured out that at a week most babies were fine.
Many naturopaths suggest that mothers take vitamin K in either a supplemental form, or make sure to get it in their diets, in the last month of pregnancy to pass it along to the baby (it is a fat soluble vitamin and passes through the placenta).
There was concern in 1990s (by 2 studies) that there was a higher risk of leukemia in babies who had injectable vitamin K- in 2003 the American Acad of Peds rebutted this.
Oral vitamin K has to be given in several (4?) doses over time to get vitamin K levels at adult levels-- babies probably do not need adult levels though.
So-- what to do? It is unclear, I think. I took vitamin K supplements since I could not guarantee eating vitamin K in sufficient amounts, and planned on oral vitamin K for my first. When he was born, after a long pushing phase, he had a huge bruise on the crown of his head, and so I decided a shot of vitamin K was appropriate. I was more concerned about the bruising/bleeding on the forst week of life. However, he is 10, and my biggest fear is that he will be diagnosed with leakemia. Thankfully, he is healthy, but I still worry if I made the right call.
As an aside, breastfeeding is one of the best things to do for vitamin-it passes thru the milk, plus the baby gets great amounts of good gut bacteria from the breast and breastmilk itself. http://jhl.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/1/8

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Here in Holland they do oral Vitamin K, no drops in the eyes, and no bathing for 24 hours or more. They wipe the vernix into the baby's skin.

I'm glad I live here for certain things like that!!! I would def be refusing if I were in America still.

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