vitamin K, eye goop, and other hospital stuff « Back to Group Discussions

[birthmommomx2]

so is anyone opting out of the first hospital things like the vit. k shot, eye gel, and don't they do a hep b shot...i forget. i remember opting out for my son but don't remember how...my dr thinks i am a little crazy for not wanting it but will do whatever so I wanted to see who else did this and why.

[Carlin]

We opt out of eye goop. I'm pretty sure I'm free of chlamydia and Goneria, so I'm not concerned about that. Despite a complete lack of risky behaviour, I do allow testing for them when I do the whole blood/urine early pregnancy tests so that negative results are on my records if I get any flack about it.

I plan to play the vit. k shot by ear. If baby looks more bruised than expected or we have a rough birth, I'll do it. We didn't feel any need to with DD, but if my intuition (or our midwife's) says it's a good idea, I'm open to it.

Hep B isn't generally given to newborns here, but it it was I'd definitely opt out.

We will definitely do the metabolic screen, although our midwives usually do that after a few days, not right away.

[MadiMamacita]

Mw doesn't do goop but we are going to do a heel prick and she will do a panel that tests for over 40 hard to diagnose later chromosomal disorders. Vit k tbd. No hep b.

[katt]

Pretty much the same here.

We're opting out of: Hep B, Eye Goop, and initial PKU.  

Vit K is TBD.  If it's a rough birth and bleeding seems likely then yes, we'll stick 'em.  If not, then no vit K.

PKU, we'll do that after my milk comes in so that baby's system will have digested food.

The only reason we do PKU is that DH requested it.  I don't know if he'll want to do it again, but since i get my way MOST of the time re: baby/birth stuff, I can bend on a few.

[WindyCityMom]

We opt out of all of them.  My midwifery office has a third trimester packet that includes refusal forms for the Vit K and eye goop, but you're on your own for Hep B.  

[ameliabedelia]

I will definitely not do eye ointment or Hep B.  We might do oral Vitamin K.  And, I do plan to do metabolic screening.
 

[nukuspot]

Same as Amelia . Except we will definitely do oral vit K.

[MissE]

Where do you get oral VitK from? Can you order it somewhere? I was thinking about opting out the eye goop, I mean...I've been married for 7 years to the same guy and haven't been sleeping around so I guess I'm fine, right?

We're definitely opting out of HepB, everything else I will have to look up.

[Carson]

Yes, oral vit is avail. Places that sell homebirth supplies usually have it.

For us no hep or eye goo. Yes to PKU, and probably vit k.

[MissE]

Sorry to ask...what is PKU?

[katt]

PKU stands for a disease or something that the test looks for.  I'm not sure what it's called.

It is the metabolic screening heel prick.

[MissE]

I looked it up, thank you. The page i found said that the prick is pretty much worthless if done before the baby has anything in it's belly. I don't know when this test has been done on my kids before, I know DD had one right after birth (but don't know when) and then about two weeks after birth. With DS I don't remember at all. I will definitely look into all of what's been brought up in this thread.

[Carlin]

MissE, that's what I'd read too. With DD, I think she was about 5 days old when we did the metabolic screen. I'd definitely decline it until baby had a chance to nurse and digest a little, or they'll just need to do it again anyways.

I've considered doing the oral vit.K drops, but I've heard conflicting reports on their effectiveness. Does anyone have any links about oral vs injected vit.K?

[katt]

MissE - that's the reason we waited until my milk came in before testing.  I think it was only 3 days, so we just had the MWs do it at a baby check.  :)

[nukuspot]

The effectiveness of oral vitamin K if done in the UK protocol (one drop at birth, one at 1 week and one at 4 weeks) is extremely close to the injectable form. 99% vs 100% effective against VKDB. I did a huge research project on it in MW school. The commonly used one in this country is from Scientific Botanicals which is awesome, as it's a herbal form from nettles, alfalfa, and green tea in a base of olive oil. It's not a drug product do many MDs don't know it exists. It is equal in dosage to Konokian which is the drug companies' oral K which is used extensively throughout Europe. In many regions of Europe oral is just what they use, and they only use IM if the baby has risk factors for VKDB or there is doubt about parental compliance of dosing (as parents must give the 3 doses of oral.). However, if any baby is born with severe bruising I always recommend parents use the injection since that is immediate action and the risk of VKDB is increased in traumatic births resulting in bruising. For everyone else the oral is a great alternative.

As far as the PKU we do it at the one day pp visit and again at 1 week. That's pretty standard. You want the baby to have nursed and digested milk first to be able to accurately screen for galactosemia.

[nukuspot]

Sorry I meant to write the second PKU is at 1-2 weeks..

[Carlin]

Thanks Nukuspot. :) That's great info as usual!

[Flower of Bliss]

We'll skip eye ointment and hep B (my girls are both completely unvaxed).  I'll play the vit K by ear.  We'll do the PKU at our 24 hour midwife visit and rush results, and again at our 1 week ped visit.  My first cousin (my mother's sister's daughter) has lost 2 babies (the first suddenly at 3 days old) to a metabolic disease they test for.  Her first came back with the PKU results after her death (since then they test in utero and have 2 healthy children, one a carrier and one with the disease).  The likelihood that both DH and I are carriers is pretty slim, but it's worth doing and rushing the test to me.

[hyde]

No Hep B, vitamin K depends. Possibly goop, leaning towards not at the moment, but if so, delayed for a couple of hours. I wouldn't want to do it immediately regardless, but am just starting to gather info and I'm seeing suggestions that STDs aren't the only potential source of infection.

The laws around these things are so ridiculous- TX requires my midwife to administer eye goop within one hour; it's a misdemeanor if she fails to do so, but assault if she does it without my consent. Most of her clients opt out anyway and it's never been an issue, but man. I'm not sure which is worse, that or NY (I think it is?) that immediately refers the parents to DCFS if they decline certain procedures? Ugh.

[ArtificialRed]

Hyde where have you been seeing that the antibiotics protect against anything other than STDs? We're planning on declining (even though it's not technically legal here) but I'd be interested to know if there was some reason to think it could actually help.

We'll go with Vitamin K, decline Hep, and PKU is standard at 24 hours-- although I might wait until right before discharge if that happens to be later.