Why do newborns get vitamin k
Protect Your Baby from Bleeds – Talk to Your Healthcare Provider about Vitamin K
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Protect Your Baby from Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding
Before having a baby, most parents don’t give much thought to the vitamin K injection (shot) for their newborn. It’s just not something that is talked about during prenatal checkups, even though babies have been routinely given this important shot at birth since the practice was first recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1961.
Vitamin K is needed for blood to clot normally. Babies are born with very small amounts of vitamin K in their bodies which can lead to serious bleeding problems. Research shows that a single vitamin K shot at birth protects your baby from developing dangerous bleeding which can lead to brain damage and even death. Ask your healthcare provider about the benefits of Vitamin K before your delivery. Protect your newborn by making sure he or she gets the shot after birth.
What is vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB)?
Vitamin K deficiency bleeding or VKDB, is a condition that occurs when the baby does not have enough Vitamin K.
Without enough vitamin K, your baby has a chance of bleeding into his or her intestines, and brain, which can lead to brain damage and even death. Infants who do not receive the vitamin K shot at birth can develop VKDB up to 6 months of age.
How can I prevent VKDB?
The good news is that VKDB is easily prevented. The easiest and most reliable way to give babies vitamin K is by a shot into a muscle in the leg. One shot given after birth will protect your baby from VKDB.
What is vitamin K?
Vitamin K is a vital nutrient that our body needs for blood to clot and stop bleeding. We get vitamin K from the food we eat. Some vitamin K is also made by the good bacteria that live in our intestines.
Babies have very little vitamin K in their bodies at birth because:
Why does my baby need a vitamin K shot?
- Vitamin K from the mom is not easily shared with the developing baby during the pregnancy
- The intestine of the newborn baby has very little bacteria so they do not make enough vitamin K on their own.
Without enough vitamin K, blood cannot clot well. As a result, bleeding can occur anywhere in the body. This means not only that bleeding from a cut or bruise may continue for a long time, but that uncontrolled bleeding into the brain and other organs may occur.
About half of all babies who develop VKDB bleed into their brains.
Is Vitamin K safe?
A study from the early 1990’s found a possible link between getting vitamin K and developing childhood cancer. Pediatricians became very concerned about this and have done many studies since then, in many different ways, trying to see if this link was true. None of the studies found this link again, even though doctors and scientists looked very hard for it.
Does my baby get vitamin K from breast milk?
Yes, but not enough to prevent VKDB. There is only a little vitamin K in breast milk. Breastfed babies are low in vitamin K for several weeks until they start eating regular foods, usually at 4-6 months, and until the normal intestinal bacteria start making vitamin K.
Should all babies get a vitamin K shot at birth?
Yes. Babies do not have enough vitamin K at birth and are, therefore, at risk for having serious bleeding. Thus, it is very important that all babies get a vitamin K shot to prevent VKDB.
Where can I get more information?
For more information, please visit our website at:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/vitamink/index.html
Why Your Newborn Needs a Vitamin K Shot
By: Ivan L. Hand, MD, MS, FAAP
There's a lot going on when your baby is first born. They're weighed and measured. Their noses are suctioned out and their vital signs are tested. They may have ointment or drops put in their eyes. They get a complete checkup by your pediatrician.
Most newborns get their first hepatitis B vaccine in the hospital. They also routinely get a vitamin K shot.
But what exactly is vitamin K, and do newborns really need it? Read on to learn more.
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 bleeding. 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. 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 vitamin K deficiency bleeding (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.
Can my newborn get oral vitamin K instead?
Some parents may ask for oral vitamin K instead of the shot. But babies can't absorb the oral form very well, so it doesn't work well to prevent VKDB. A vitamin K shot is the safest and best option for all newborns.
Does breastfeeding give my baby vitamin K?
Breast milk does give your baby a little bit of vitamin K. But it's not enough to prevent VKDB. Babies who are exclusively breastfed are at higher risk of developing VKDB because their vitamin K levels are low.
This all changes when your baby is old enough to start eating solid foods, usually between 4 and 6 months. The bacteria in your baby's intestines will also start making vitamin K once they're eating solid foods.
What are the signs of vitamin K deficiency bleeding?
In most cases, there aren't any warning signs to let you know beforehand that something serious—and possibly life-threatening—is happening.
When babies develop VKDB, they might have one or more of these signs:
Bleeding from the umbilical cord or nose
Paler skin or, in dark-skinned babies, pale gums
Bruising easily, especially around the face and head
Bloody stool or black, dark, sticky stool
Vomiting blood
A yellow tint to the white parts of the eyes 3 weeks or more after birth
Seizures, irritability, excessive vomiting or sleeping too much
Remember
It's easy and safe to prevent VKDB with a vitamin K shot at birth. If you have any questions or concerns, be sure to talk to your pediatrician. They can help you weigh the benefits and risks.
More information
- Newborns Need Vitamin K Shortly After Birth to Prevent Bleeding Disease
- Vitamin K and the Newborn Infant (AAP Policy Statement)
About Dr. Hand
Ivan L. Hand, MD, MS, FAAP, is Director of Neonatology, Kings County/Health & Hospitals and a Professor of Pediatrics at SUNY-Downstate School of Medicine.
He was selected as a 2022 New York Super Doctor and is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research. Within the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Dr. Hand is a member of the Committee on Fetus and Newborn.
The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.
Why are newborns given vitamin K injections?
At Mother and Child clinics, we recommend vitamin K injections for all newborns to prevent hemorrhagic disease.
Hemorrhagic disease (HRD), or vitamin K-deficient hemorrhagic syndrome, is a disease manifested by increased bleeding in newborns and children during the first months of life, due to a deficiency of blood coagulation factors, the activity of which depends directly on vitamin K.
Vitamin K of plant origin, which is called vitamin K 1 or phylloquinone, enters the body with food - green vegetables, vegetable oils, dairy products. Another form of vitamin K, vitamin K2, or menaquinone, is of bacterial origin. Vitamin K 2 is mainly synthesized by the intestinal microflora, which is extremely poor in newborns.
In healthy newborns, the level of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors in blood plasma is 30-60% of that in adults. Their concentration increases gradually and reaches the level of adults by the sixth week of life. In almost all healthy full-term infants in the first five days of life, there is a decrease in the level of procoagulants, physiological anticoagulants and plasminogen. nine0003
For the newborn, the only source of vitamin K is mother's milk, formula or medicine. Moreover, the amount of vitamin K received by a child depends on the type of feeding. The level of vitamin K 1 in breast milk is from 1 to 10 µg/l, on average 2-2.5 µg/l, which is significantly lower than in artificial milk formulas (about 50 µg/l in mixtures for full-term babies; 60 -100 mcg / l - in mixtures for premature babies).
Thus, newborns, due to their physiological characteristics of the coagulation system and vitamin K metabolism, are predisposed to the development of vitamin K-deficient hemorrhagic syndrome. nine0003
PLEASE NOTE! Poor blood clotting is a condition dangerous for the body, in which bleeding or hemorrhage is noted in various organs. This pathology develops in 0.25-0.5% of newborns.
RISK FACTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHD
• Exclusive breastfeeding
• Lack of prophylactic administration of vitamin K immediately after birth
• Chronic fetal hypoxia and asphyxia at birth
• Giving birth
• Intrauterine development delay
• Giving birth by cesarean section
• Nedness
• The use of a wide range of
• Long -term parenteral nutrition in the conditions of inadequate supply of
• Diseases and condition of the child that contribute impaired synthesis and absorption of vitamin K
• malabsorption syndrome (cystic fibrosis, diarrhea with fat malabsorption lasting more than one week)
• short bowel syndrome;
• cholestasis;
• pre-eclampsia
• maternal diseases (liver and intestinal diseases).
Why a newborn needs a vitamin K shot
Most newborns receive their first hepatitis B shot in the hospital.
They also get regular vitamin K shots.
But what is vitamin K and do newborns really need it?
CHILD HEALTH: LEARN MORE ABOUT MEDICHILD by visiting the booth at EMERGENCY EXPO
What does vitamin K do?
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble nutrient that helps our bodies form blood clots. We need to blot the clots to stop the bleeding.
Vitamin K is also important for bone health.
Adults and older children get vitamin K from foods such as leafy greens, leafy vegetables, meats, dairy products, and eggs.
The healthy bacteria in our gut that make up our microbiome also produce some vitamin K.
However, babies are very low in vitamin K at birth.
This puts them at risk of bleeding.
Fortunately, VKDB is easily prevented with a vitamin K injection.
The injection is given in your baby's thigh within 6 hours of birth.
One shot is enough to protect your baby from bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency.
This is why we, as pediatricians, have recommended that all newborns receive a vitamin K vaccine at birth since 1961. nine0003
Why aren't babies born with enough vitamin K?
The two main reasons newborns need vitamin K are:
- They don't get much vitamin K from their mother during pregnancy. Unlike many other nutrients, vitamin K does not cross the placenta very easily.
- Babies don't have a lot of bacteria in their gut, so they can't produce enough vitamin K. nine0095
- Early onset: This starts within the first 24 hours after birth. This usually happens when the mother takes certain medications that interfere with vitamin K production.
- Classic: This occurs between 2 days and 1 week after birth. Doctors don't know exactly what causes most of these cases. Early onset and classic VKDB occur in 1 in 60 to 1 in 250 newborns.
- Late onset: This occurs between 1 week and 6 months after birth. This is rarer than early or classic VKDB, occurring in 1 in 14,000 to 14,000 children. Infants who were not vaccinated with vitamin K at birth are 81 times more likely to develop late-onset VKDB than those who are vaccinated.
nine0092
- When children develop VKDB, they may have one or more of the following:
- Bleeding from the umbilical cord or nose
- Pale skin or, in dark-skinned children, pale gums
- Bruises easily, especially around face and head
- Bloody or black, dark, sticky stools
- vomiting blood
- Yellow tint of the white parts of the eyes 3 weeks or more after birth
- Convulsions, irritability, excessive vomiting or too much sleep.
What is bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency?
Newborns who do not receive vitamin K vaccination and have low vitamin K levels are at risk of bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency (VKDB).
This happens when the baby's blood cannot clot and the body cannot stop the bleeding.
Bleeding may occur outside the body.
This can also happen inside the body where the parents cannot see it.
nine0003
The child may have bleeding in the intestines or brain before the parents know something is wrong.
Cerebral hemorrhage occurs in about half of all children who develop VKDB and can lead to brain damage or death.
There are three types of bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency:
VKDB instances seem to be increasing.
This is partly due to the fact that more and more parents refuse to vaccinate their newborns with vitamin K.
VKDB is quite rare, so many parents do not know how dangerous the consequences of this disease can be.
Are vitamin K injections safe?
Yes, vitamin K shots are very safe.
Vitamin K by injection is stored in your child's liver and released slowly over several months. nine0003
This gives your child the vitamin K he needs until he gets it from solid food and makes it on his own.
You may have heard of a 1990s study about a possible link between vitamin K vaccination and cancer in children.
It was not only the parents who worried; Both doctors and scientists were concerned.
Since then, experts have conducted many different studies to test this connection.
None of the studies have been able to find this link again. nine0003
Can my newborn get oral vitamin K instead?
Some parents may ask for oral vitamin K instead of an injection.
But babies can't absorb the oral form well, so it's not very good at preventing VKDB.
Vitamin K vaccination is the safest and best option for all newborns.
Does breastfeeding give my baby vitamin K?
Breast milk does give your baby some vitamin K.
But that's not enough to prevent VKDB. Exclusively breastfed babies are at a higher risk of developing VKDB because they have low vitamin K levels.
This all changes when your baby is old enough to start eating solid foods, usually between 4 and 6 months of age .
The bacteria in your child's gut will also begin to produce vitamin K once he starts eating solid foods.
What are the signs of bleeding due to vitamin K deficiency? nine0062
In most cases, there are no warning signs to notify you in advance that something serious and possibly life-threatening is happening.
