Vitamin K Injection Newborn Procedure

At birth the baby s intestinal tract is sterile containing no bacteria to manufacture the vitamin but after the first weeks.

Vitamin k injection newborn procedure. This helps prevent a rare bleeding disorder called haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Your midwife should have discussed the injection with you while you were pregnant. In australia babies are generally given the konakion brand. In order to prevent this a synthetic form of vitamin k1 is offered to all.

Many of today s parents are questioning the procedures that are routinely done to babies at birth and in their first days of life. Administration of vitamin k. Vitamin k is standardly administered to newborns immediately after birth. At the time of my research back in the 1980 s i didn t ask for the ingredients of the vitamin k oral and or injection nor did i ask where the vitamin k was sourced.

There are different brands of vitamin k depending on where you live. Vitamin k deficiency in a newborn results in a rare but life threatening condition known as vitamin k deficiency related bleeding vkdb. Research and practice shows that giving vitamin k by injection at birth is safe and effective. Usually given in the first 24 hours of life the vitamin k injection increases blood clotting ability and therefore has been shown to decrease vitamin k deficiency bleeding.

The goal is to prevent a rare condition called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn or vitamin k deficiency bleeding. Please read the document vitamin k prophylaxis. The injection contains synthetic vitamin k and the amount being administered to newborns is considerably higher than there rda so it s no surprise that there are risks. Babies in new zealand and in many other countries have been given vitamin k injections for many years without problems.

You ll be offered an injection of vitamin k for your baby. I had chosen not to go ahead with the procedure so there was no need to investigate any further. Vitamin k deficiency is common in newborns. In a small percentage of newborns cerebral hemorrhage can occur which spurred the universal practice of newborn vitamin k injections in the united states.

If vitamin k is not replaced babies are at risk of vitamin k deficiency bleeding vkdb which can be serious or even fatal. Vitamin k is a naturally occurring vitamin in humans that helps the blood to clot and is created by bacteria in the intestinal tract. It is now considered that there is a reason why these newborn develop vitamin k deficiency related bleeding such as liver problem. Newborn vitamin k injection.

All newborns are born with a low level of vitamin k which is responsible for preventing hemorrhage by enhancing the blood s clotting ability. Vitamin k injection what is the vitamin k injection. Vitamin k for newborn babies. Dangers of the newborn vitamin k shot.