Vitamin K?

[Raven67]

Hi, I am 36 weeks along, and making a decision about vit K. I have been doing some research, and I think I want to go with vit k drops adminstered orally. I just ordered a bottle from birthwithlove.com. Anyone have thoughts on this? Have you opted out of vit k? It sounds to me that the risk of problems is very small if you don't do the shot. But, the shot carries risks of increased jaundice, and possibly increases risk of childhood cancer. I feel like the oral drops might be a good compromise. My midwife is neutral on the issue, but says if I do the drops, I will have to administer them myself as she can't take responsiblity for it. So, if you did choose oral vit K, how did you do it? I was thinking of supplementing myself for a week before and after the birth. Then, I would give one drop to baby (contains 2mg) after birth, and another one a few days later. Then, another drop at 4 weeks. This is per the recs on the birthwithlove.com site.

[katt]

I would forgo it completely unless there was some indication of needing it (bruising, circumcision asap etc...)

If All babies are born with a deficiency, then how is it a deficincy (sp?)?

As long as you are healthy and are eating well, and breastfeeding, all should be good. Besides, their own vit K kicks in about 8 days later (perfect for a bris, if you're jewish

[ljpmom]

I agree with katt on going without the vitamin K. We chose to do without since we were not circumcising our DS. We really did not see it being a neccessity for him.

Megan

[julie128]

We opted out of the vit K shot, though we would have done it under certain circumstances (bruising, signs of jaundice or other bleeding or liver trouble, traumatic birth, or if we'd had a boy, we would have had to consider giving it to him because we would have circumcised him, though at 8 days--when his natural supply would have been built up--because we're Jewish). I understand that the oral vit K doesn't work very well. I also understand that neonatal hemorrage was not uncommon before they started doing the shots. I think that, under normal neonatal conditions, it's probably not necessary, though possibly helpful. My daughters' ped pointed out that it is unlikely for vit K to be related to cancer because nearly every baby gets it and childhood cancers are so rare.

[mamaroni]

Like the previous posters, we opted not to have the vit K shot (didn't even consider the oral) since there was no birth trauma and no circ for ds.

[Ixcuina]

We are opting for an oral Vit. K. My midwife has access to the version they use in Germany (where oral is common). It is in an oil-based formula since Vit. K is fat soluble. The thing to be aware of is that most of the recent research shows that it is actually breastfed babies that tend to have more problems w/Vit. K deficiency. Our diets are not what they used to be....our food sources are not as rich in vitamins and minerals due to soil depletion. Anyhow, here are two links with some info about breastfed babes and Vit. K (there are tons more out there too):

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/enews/enews0344.asp

http://www.naturalchildbirth.org/nat...tfeeding24.htm

I do agree that it is more important when there has been some birth trauma or a difficult birth. Also, you can make sure your own Vit. K stores are good by adding things to your diet during pregnancy. I have been taking alfalfa tablets for a few months now.

Good luck to you.

[beanma]

i'm 35 weeks and have been doing some research about this, too. we did it with our first -- whole hospital birth thing, but this time we're going to a birth center. i talked with one of the midwives about it and she says it's our decision, but she's been practicing for a long time (20+ yrs) and has seen a baby die because of the parents' refusal of the vit k. the state investigated and that was the conclusion. i was glad she told me that. she wasn't trying to push me, but just trying to let me know where she was coming from, which i respected. anyway, she gave me a couple of articles to read -- one refuted the link btwn cancer and vit k and one from "Midwifery Today" basically said that there's just not enough in breastmilk. the author said she started the article expecting to find that vit k administration was just another unnecessary medical intervention, but came away convinced that there's just not enough K there. i looked for that one online, but i think it was from '96 and was too old to be online. it's a hard decision to make.

i don't know what we're going to do yet, but i'm leaning toward it now. i guess i'll do some more reading. i don't know if this was helpful at all, but indecision loves company!!:

[Cinder]

How woul you go about denying the vitamin K shot if you were having a hospital birth? We were told that in Michigan if you deny the vitamin K shot and the eye antibiotic junk that the hospital does have the right to contest your parental rights, so we just went with it last time (and DD had horrible jaundice). We really do not want to get it this time (unless of course there is some reason for it, like a vaccuum or forceps delivery, an obvious bruise or cut...).

[mamaroni]

Cinder--Wow, I had no idea! My babes were born at McLaren hospital in Flint, with a CNM, and basically we just had to "deal" with the hospital pediatricians (explain why we didn't want any of that stuff) and then sign a bunch of release forms. We didn't have ANY of the "standard" procedures, left ds intact, and left the hospital less than 12 hours after birth each time.

There is another MDC member (Sparklin) that lives in your town and she is very knowledgeable about this stuff. She can probably be of more help (if you look her up and send a PM) in getting past the hospital issues. THat's just crazy that they'd contest your parental rights!! (unless of course there was birth trauma and vit K was needed, and you had a veneral disease that made the eye gunk necessary). Who told you that?

when are you due?

[Cinder]

Originally posted by mamaroni
Cinder--Wow, I had no idea! My babes were born at McLaren hospital in Flint, with a CNM, and basically we just had to "deal" with the hospital pediatricians (explain why we didn't want any of that stuff) and then sign a bunch of release forms. We didn't have ANY of the "standard" procedures, left ds intact, and left the hospital less than 12 hours after birth each time.

There is another MDC member (Sparklin) that lives in your town and she is very knowledgeable about this stuff. She can probably be of more help (if you look her up and send a PM) in getting past the hospital issues. THat's just crazy that they'd contest your parental rights!! (unless of course there was birth trauma and vit K was needed, and you had a veneral disease that made the eye gunk necessary). Who told you that?

when are you due?

We denied getting the Hepatitis shot, and we denied the PKU test (but did have it done later at the ped's office, I just didn't see the point in doing it to a baby who was only 12 hours old..she hadn't metabolized enough food yet!), but we got the eye goop and vitamin k. We were told in child birth classes that they can contest your parental rights over those issues. I don't know how often that happens though, I'd doubt it's common! I'm not due till April, so I have a while to figure this out...the only think I know is that this little one is not getting the vitamin K! Janelle's bilirubin levels got to like 23, and I'm not going through that again if I can avoid it, it was really scary. I'd like to avoid the eye gunk too (which I am so lost about, they did freakin 4 complete pap smears while I was pregnant, plus slides and cultures to try and figure out why I wouldn't stop bleeding...they KNEW I didn't have anything, why did they think my baby needed antibiotics in her eyes?), but it is not as important to me.

[mattjule]

We had a homebirth with our first baby. Our mw was very neutral on the issue as well, but my dh and I agreed that we didn't want to be franticly checking our baby for bruises and such all the time-we'd rather just enjoy him those first few days. Also, the info we received said that the oral isn't as good as the shot and if it doesn't work you have to give them the shot anyway. We thought it was easier to just give him the shot after he was born. Since he didn't have any other tests done to him or any other traumatic events, we felt it wasn't that big of a deal. We were both really concerned about the seriousness of vit K deficiency-mental retardation, death. We thought it was too serious to gamble with. This time around we will probably do the same-just to ease our minds in the early days of having our baby with us.

[hotmamacita]

We opted for oral Vit K only (no other newborn procedures) with our firstborn and we were glad we did. A few days later she ended up in a situation where she needed that in her system.

With our son and then later with the twins, we decided not to and we didn't need it.

It sounds like, RAven, that your instincts are leading you in a very wise direction. YOur plan sounds really good!!!

[teniprice]

With our first delivery, dd got everything that the hospital "recommended". I was so nieve and didn't research anything. With our second delivery, I knew better. I refused the vit. K shot, the eye antibiotics, the hep. shot, the PKU test (later done at ped. office), and no circ.
My ds is perfect and did not need any of those things. I was not even aware that they gave the newborns a hep. shot. Why would they do that to a newborn???
Anyways, I've wised up and learned that I can't always trust what my dr. recommends.
I don't know anything about the oral vit. K drops, but if you feel that your baby needs it, then go ahead and get it.