[fred_is_fred]

Speaking as someone with kids, many people I know rejected all of these. The eye ointment that they gloss over is to protect from gonorrhea. Which presumes that everyone having a kid has it in the first place. This is easy to test for before the baby comes though - what about Vitamin K?

[brendoelfrendo]

Per the article: "All newborns lack vitamin K. No matter how much vitamin K a mother consumes, it doesn’t sufficiently pass through the placenta, and breast milk contains only small amounts." Even vitamin fortified formula may not be enough to provide infants with enough vitamin K to prevent bleeding. The open question in the medical community is not which newborns lack vitamin K (they all do), but why some vitamin K deficient newborns develop bleeding while others don't.

I guess I don't see the point in rejecting the shot. It's a vitamin, it has a clear benefit, and no drawback.

[i_think_so]

> Even vitamin fortified formula may not be enough to provide infants with enough vitamin K to prevent bleeding.

Whoever told you that is selling something. Vitamin K is fat soluble and even the cheapest, lowest quality formulae can deliver enough of a dosage for an elephant. Unless the newborn is already bleeding, immediate supplementation is unnecessary. (Unless you're expecting to injure the newborn, in which case please get in the back of the squad car, sir, and don't bump your head.)

I suppose it's possible the newborn is already bleeding, in which case somebody should probably figure out why and address that first.

> I guess I don't see the point in rejecting the shot. It's a vitamin, it has a clear benefit, and no drawback.

Please don't give medical advice. You're not good at it.

A big whack of K (either form) in a shot can't be pulled back if it turns out to be too much for the child. If the placental diffusion just so happened to be higher for a particular child, and their levels were not so very deficient, now you've got an overdose condition to deal with.[1] Normally that's not the end of the world, but to say there's "no drawback" is just wrong. Further, it's entirely unnecessary when there are safer, titratable methods that don't involve poking a hole in the newborn, such as adding K to pumped breast milk or painting the mother's nipple. Oral dosage can be spread out over many feedings, and at the slightest indication of excess (jaundice, for example) can be discontinued without further risk.

But of course, this requires the mother to have the wherewithal to remember to do the supplementation, and modern hospital protocols are designed with the assumption that the mother is incompetent at her job. Some of us have higher opinions of women and their ability to do what women have routinely done for millennia. A cynic might also point out that the hospital can't charge you as much for a bottle of cheap gel caps as an injection.

By the way, K1 is the plant-derived form, which some of us feel is a bit better to supplement with than K2, particularly when coupled with fat intake. On the other hand, if you do intend to let the hospital shoot up your newborn instead, maybe ask to see the vial first.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20251206091225/https://www.vinme...

[brendoelfrendo]

> Vitamin K is fat soluble and even the cheapest, lowest quality formulae can deliver enough of a dosage for an elephant.

Vitamin fortified formula can supplement vitamin K, though my understanding is that most formulas still contain insufficient vitamin K. Maybe parents who plan to formula-feed can have that conversation with their doctor. Oral administration still comes with the risk of vitamin K deficient bleeding, so I would encourage parents going this route to still carefully consider why a shot is considered the best standard of care.[1]

> now you've got an overdose condition to deal with.[1]

Funnily enough, I've read the same article, and didn't come away with the idea that vitamin K excess was a possibility warranting much concern. The symptoms of vitamin K overdose can be concerning, but typically require large repeated doses of vitamin K. I guess, if I am making an assumption, it's that since we have been doing this for decades with no real negative consequences, that doctors and nurses are well aware of the doses required to boost infant vitamin K without harming them. My understanding is that allergic reactions are the most common complication, and even those are rare.

https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/facts-and...

[ceejayoz]

The people who won’t let a kid get ointment aren’t gonna consent to a mandatory STD test either.

(The ointment is also primarily for chlamydia these days.)

[UncleMeat]

Vitamin K is needed for clot formation. Babies are born with a Vitamin K deficiency. This makes any bleeding much more likely to be fatal.

[i_think_so]

If your newborn is bleeding there is something wrong and you need to address it.

See my longer comment above regarding this vitamin deficiency, why shots should not be the first response, and hints at why we have this status quo.

[brendoelfrendo]

If your newborn is bleeding in their brain, you may not realize something is wrong until there are irreversible consequences. Preventative supplementation with vitamin K seems to be the best thing you can do to address it before it happens.