The Importance of Vitamin K Shots for Newborns

There is a great article out this week by Rebecca Dekker of Evidence Based Birth on the evidence for giving Vitamin K shots to newborns. If you are like me, you probably don't even know the reason that babies are given these shots, and thus are not equipped to make a good decision about whether or not to get the shot for your newborn. I recommend that you read the full article, which you can find here, to learn more, but since it is relatively long, I will summarize it here.

• Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin needed for blood clotting. Babies are born with very low stores of Vitamin K, and if they are exclusively breastfed, do not start building up Vitamin K until they start eating solid foods, particularly leafy green vegetables. 
• Because their blood is not able to clot properly, babies with low levels of Vitamin K sometimes develop Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, which can be life threatening causing brain damage and sometimes death. These babies can start to bleed suddenly and without warning. Because these bleeding often begins in the brain or gastrointestinal tract, it is often not spotted immediately.
• In 2013 five babies were admitted to the same Tennessee hospital with life threatening bleeding. All of their parents had refused Vitamin K shots at birth. 
• Vitamin K shots virtually eliminate the possibility of classic and late Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, while the cons include only slight pain and bruising at the shot site. 
• There is a lot of misleading information out there on the internet linking Vitamin K shots to increased risk of diseases like leukemia. In fact, the first result when I googled "vitamin k shot" is an article about the "dark side" of vitamin K. Several peer-reviewed research studies have shown that there is no link between Vitamin K injections and increased risk of any disease. 
• Vitamin K shots have been recommended for newborns by the American Academy of Pediatrics since 1961.

There is also a nice interview with the author of the Vitamin K author on Lamaze International's Science and Sensibility blog, which you can find here.