Vit K

For the last few days I have been doing research about giving bubs Vitamin K. I don't want to start an arguement or debate or anything I just wanted to know how many of you chose or chose not to give your babies Vit K.

Have so far seen about a 5-10 percent increased risk in leukemia rates in those who had it.. but this was in once study out of 5.. so I 'm still thinking about the shot and reasons for and against.(have several thoughts for an against but just wanted experienced people's opinions..

Hi kawwwww, I was the same as you with regards to should I/ shouldnt I. As it was Tom was born with a ventouse delivery and had the shot anyway. To be honest I didnt even know it had happened as so much else was going on. It was the last thing on my mind as they took the wee guy to NICU. I made so many big decisions really fast (and easily) because I had to. I had no regrets and was amazed at how easy those decisions were when push comes to shove. Tom had a lumbar puncture at 3 days!!!

One thing that made vit k sit easier in my mind was the fact that we would have had it as a child and we seem ok.

good point nzpiper.. i guess its just one thing i knew nothing about and thought i had better look into..its so hard to find unbiased research about anything these days.. :( !!!

I guess it depends on the studies you read and how legitimate they actually are. You'll get told a lot of info about it at AN classes. Basically if you don't give it to your baby, it has an increased risk of haemorraging because it doesn't have the Vit K to assist with the clotting factor. That sounds worse to me that a slim (and possibly not even as high as what you said as you then said about it only being in 1 study) chance of leukemia. You can also give it to bubs through injection or pills, but the injection is easier and has a better success rate.

I haven't even thought twice about not giving it to our baby, I wouldn't want to have to worry every time he gets a bump or bruise about if his blood will clot properly. Just my opinion though, DH and I are human pincushions so it was really a no-brainer for us with immunisations and injections etc (my DH is even immunised against rabees so go figure! )

nzpiper...good point:) easier than when they are bigger and know what to expect when they get shots..:(

i assumed they would have spoken to us about it during the labour class..last week..but we still have four to go so maybe they will then.. yeah the risk is 1 in 60-250 my mw thing said (read yesterday while i was there) and 1 /10,000 have a major problem.. they do get it themselves through breast milk but its much harder to do and they do eventually store it i think?(correct me if wrong) ..

I'm not going into the immunisation debate its raging fiercely on the American site i go to.. boy if you said it was a no-brainer over there they'd go nuts..lol..

I'm 99% sure we will do it..i just wanted to know others thoughts on it .. as for immunisations I've been a teacher for years and totally agree with them(though i did try to get immunised against hep A and B and it didn't work even though i paid for 4 shots(apparently 8% of the population just dont get immune..lucky me:) )

My DH a carpenter so he's had like a million shots esp tetnus(sp?) :)

Hey Kawww. We chose not to give it to Spencer and I will explain a bit our reasons and also that we didn't make the final decision until the birth.

The research about leukemia is a bit sketchy, from what I found one study found a link then another didn't and then one found a link to child hood cancers but not specifically leukemia, but my general view of the research is that there needs to be more before it is conclusive.
We found that the placenta actually doesn't pass Vit K to the baby (hence the reason they are born deficient) many docs believe this is because vit k inhibits brain development and that is why it is not passed to baby. Vit K is passed in breastmilk so baby will get it. The injection is extremely high dose and contains other crap which quite frankly I didn't want put in my baby. A study in Britain found that if they only gave the injection to high risk babies rather than all babies there would be 7 preventable deaths per year out of hundreds of thousands of babies born, so it is insignificant (statistic wise). The uk are actually looking at stopping mandatory injections. The Vit K injection causes jaundice as well.

Ok. In some instances there is a very good reason for giving the jab, i.e traumatic births, those involving vontuesse (sp?) or forceps, some emergency c/s. So I am not for one minute saying that babies should never be given it. We told the m/w who oversaw my c/s that we did not want the Vit K unless the paed thought that there was cause to give it, in which case the paed would have to come and discuss those reasons with myself (if able) and DH at which point we would decide whether we thought it was reason enough to change our minds. His birth went without any problems and he had no bruising etc and the paed was happy not to give the jab.

Now if you decide not too, expect to have to state it at least 20 times, expect some people to look at you strangely and speak to you slowly like you are mental.......Vit K is informed consent and you have a right to say no, so don't let them rail road you if that is what you choose. Make sure it is written on all of your notes and that everyone knows that you don't want it.
Also if you choose not to do it, you have been on antibiotics as was I and that effects your Vit K production (is produced in the gut and antibiotics would have killed the good stuff that you need). So speak to a health shop, I took probiotics and alfafa to make sure that my Vit K levels were good and that he would get if via my breastmilk.

Ok I think thats it, good luck.........all these decisions are so bloody hard.

Kawww there is less in breastmilk but it is all absorbed where as the shot isn't which is why they ram so much into bubs at once.

Natures knows best if you ask me, but then we didn't immunise either and that's a whole other thread....hehehe

lol about the immunisation thing:) (yes it is another thread) nature does know best(generally) but don't get me started on the immunisation thing again:)

yeah it said in the research about how you have to feed a specific way for him to get enough vit K etc.. but yes if i decided not to do it I would be finding out exactly what i had to do.. i think it said something about supplements while I am feeding.. yeah its just so hard to find research that isn't one way or the other.. just stated facts in a pamphlet would be great!!!:)

yeah there are lots of decisions aren't there!!!

yeah i can see that point as well... i was concerned as to why it is the only vitamin that doesn't go to baby through the placenta..

At the end of the day Kawww, I guess you need to weigh up the risks and benefits for you personally. If Vit K inhibited brain development, there would be a lot of morons walking around. I had it and I think I'm quite intelligent

If the cancer risk really bothers you, then don't go for it. But I guess then you should be ruling out coke, oranges, sun, chewing gum etc as well as they all have a 'link' from some research that says they cause cancer.

So the main things I guess to worry about would be:
-do you think your child would have his/her brain development lessened because of this? If so, why do they advocate it? If you're worried about it, you could opt for the oral method which isn't as effective but would let you feel OK about brain development.

-if you have a family history of cancers in young people, that may sway your decision too. I do wonder about this one though, because surely if Vit K can give your child cancer, the risk is there whether you give the injection or not if your breastfeeding.

And then like MeganGrace said above, maybe if you are still undecided, you could put something in your birth plan about only giving the injection in certain circumstances.

I just remember that while mother nature is a wonderful thing, there's a reason why they give this injection and have done for many years (as the number of children being haemophiliacs (sp?) and having other issues with clotting was quite high)

Edited by emz