By Kia McCarthy, NP
Department of Pediatrics
Vitamin K is essential to help a newborn baby’s blood clot normally. This is why it is given as a shot within minutes to hours after birth. Vitamin K has been given to babies as standard medical practice since the early 1960s.
The shot makes sure your baby has enough of this important vitamin to prevent vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), a life-threatening health problem. In fact, half of all babies who develop VKDB suffer from bleeding in the brain, which is very dangerous and hard to detect.
Unfortunately, vitamin K is not sufficiently passed on from a mother to her child before birth. There is also very little vitamin K in breast milk. A single shot of vitamin K just after birth helps protect an infant until they start producing and then consuming vitamin K on their own after eating solid food.
It’s important to know that vitamin K is not a vaccine. It’s simply a vitamin – an important nutrient your baby needs for good health. Vitamin K is most effective when given as a shot rather than taken as a pill or capsule. So, for the health of your child, please make sure they get their vitamin K shot!
About Kia McCarthy, NP
A graduate of Connecticut College and Simmons College, Kia started her career as a nurse in 2004. “I have nurses in my family and have been very lucky to work with extremely dedicated and talented nurse practitioners during my career,” she explains. “When the opportunity presented itself to expand my knowledge as a nurse practitioner to provide more comprehensive care, I decided to jump right in.”
For Kia, there is no more...
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