Benefits and Risks of Vitamin K for Newborns

Pregnancy Podcast

Vanessa Merten

Newborn, Parent, Homebirth, Vbac, Kids & Family, Doula, Firsttimemom, Midwife, Pregnancy, Doctor, Parenting, Pregnant, Vanessamerten, Physician, Csection, Prenatalcare, Breastfeeding, Naturalbirth, Nursing, Birthcenter, Family, Baby, Hospitalbirth, Health, Obgyn, Research, Trimester, Expecting, Labor, Mom, Diet, Dad, Birth

4.5 • 948 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2024

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newborns naturally have low levels of vitamin K at birth. The danger of low vitamin K levels is the risk of vitamin K deficiency bleeding. This is a rare but severe complication. You can decrease the risk of vitamin K deficiency bleeding by giving your baby a vitamin K shot shortly after birth. Administering vitamin K to newborns is standard in the United States and many other countries. As with any intervention, there are pros and cons to consider. This episode examines the evidence on the efficacy and safety of the vitamin K shot so you can make an informed choice for your baby.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the pregnancy podcast with Vanessa Merton.
0:11.0	Hello, thank you for tuning into the pregnancy podcast. In today's episode, we're talking
0:16.9	about the benefits and risks of vitamin K for newborns. Newborns naturally have low levels of Vitamin K at birth and the danger of
0:26.2	low Vitamin K levels is the risk of Vitamin K deficiency bleeding. This is a rare but very serious complication. The good news is you can
0:36.4	decrease the risk of vitamin K deficiency bleeding by giving your baby a
0:40.8	vitamin K shot shortly after birth.
0:44.6	Administering Vitamin K to newborns is standard in the United States and many other countries.
0:50.7	As with any intervention, though, there are pros and cons to consider.
0:55.0	This episode examines the evidence on the efficacy and the safety of the Vitamin K shot
1:01.0	so that you can make an informed choice for your baby.
1:04.7	You can find the complete article and all of the resources for this episode at pregnancy
1:10.3	podcast.com You're currently listening to the public feed of the podcast.
1:18.0	That means that you will hear advertisements and have access to the last year of episodes. You can become a pregnancy
1:26.0	podcast premium member and get access to the entire back catalog. All of that
1:32.0	content is ad-free, plus when you sign up you're going to get a copy
1:36.4	of the Your Birth Plan book.
1:38.8	It takes a tremendous amount of time to dig through research for these episodes. Your support of this
1:44.4	podcast as a premium member makes it possible for me to spend weeks diving into a
1:49.5	topic and distill it down into one short podcast episode for you. Become a pregnancy
1:55.6	podcast premium member at pregnancy podcast.com slash premium. In the US and so many other Western countries, administering the Vitamin Case shot to newborns is standard procedure at all hospitals and birth centers.
2:12.0	In most cases, just because at all hospitals and birth centers.
2:13.1	In most cases, just because something
	...

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