https://drthornburg.com/products/vitamin-k-drops
Discussion and recommendation of Vitamin K Oral Drops and Injection for Newborn babies with touch points on contraindications, dosing, and references provided in the links.
References: http://www.thornburgpediatrics.com/research-summary-safety-efficacy-of-vitamin-k1-oral-versus-injectable-in-newborns/
Hello my name is dr. Brian Thornburg and I’m a board-certified pediatrician and I want to speak today about vitamin K vitamin K is given to babies at birth because vitamin K is not transported across the placenta very well and vitamin K is needed to help clot so we
Want to make sure that the baby has adequate amounts of vitamin K so they don’t have a problem called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn and parents are very concerned about injecting their newborn baby with a needle to administer the vitamin K they want to know if there
Is a healthy safe alternative that is pain-free in order to administer the vitamin K the good news is the answer is yes oral vitamin K is as effective and safe as injectable vitamin K but there’s a couple qualifications that you must know if you’re considering this option
First the baby must be term that means for 40 weeks or 39 weeks preterm babies do not absorb well and so we don’t want to administer a medicine by mouth if we’re not certain how well they’re absorbing second the baby must be healthy we don’t want to give oral
Medications to a sick baby because like the preterm baby they may not absorb well and we don’t want to be left in a situation where there’s a vital vitamin K is not being absorbed the third reason is if mom has taken seizure medicines if mom has taken seizure medicines that
Blocks absorption of vitamin K so this baby definitely needs injectable vitamin K right at birth so how do we administer oral vitamin K if we have a healthy term newborn whose mom has not taken anti-seizure medications first is on the day of the baby is born they take two
Milligrams and then each week after that for the next 11 weeks for a total of 12 weeks they take one milligram per week now with all of that said there is one concern with oral vitamin K and that is if the baby has liver disease which we
Do not routinely screen for at birth they will not absorb the vitamin K well problem is is we don’t know which babies have liver disease since one we don’t screen and two we don’t know it until they start to show symptoms so please talk to your pediatrician
And euro B about what options are best for you and your family thank you and come back for more information from a practical common sense functionally holistic pediatrician
