Has anyone declined vitamin k at birth for their baby?

[lou4791]

Hi Ladies,
I wonder if anyone can help me.
After lots of research myself and DH declined vitamin K for our baby at birth back in September. Our little one was born at home with no complications and neither of us have any medical problems. But sadly, 6 weeks later our baby suffered a brain haemorrage due to vitamin K deficiency disease. To cut a long, difficult and guilt- ridden story short, he has recovered, and although still under consultant care, seems to be developing normally. However, finding information about babies who have not been given vitamin K is very difficult.I have questioned consultants about the possibility of there being a link between my little one's problem and my previous recurrent miscarriages, or symptoms of obstetric cholestasis (blood tests showed no problem)in pregnancy, but even they have no clue as they have never come across another case in their careers.
Has anyone else declined vitamin k for their baby? If so, what was the outcome for you?

Lou x

[Irons]

Hi, just wanted to say sorry about your situation and hope your baby makes a full recovery. I also hope you get some answers.

[QTPie]

Ditto. No similar experience, but wanted to wish your baby and you well x

[Spidermama]

I didn't give it to any of my four and have had no adverse effects.

Sorry for what you've been through.

[BertieBotts]

I declined giving it straight away and elected to give it orally. He had the first dose at 8 hours, when the paediatrician checked him over. We did the second and third doses at home.

We had no problems at all apart from him not liking the taste.

Glad your little one has recovered now.

[asuwere]

we also declined Vitamin K for all 3 of ours and had no adverse effects.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Sorry to crash the thread, but I didn't realise there were any potential adverse effects of giving the vit K injection?

[Shaz10]

I have to admit I always thought the decision re Vit K was a bit of a no-brainer. But I am prepared to be educated!

[vidia]

I had obs cholestasis when pregnant both times. For the final 3 weeks of pg, I had to take vit k tablets every day and at the births, they both had the vit k injection.

Obstetric cholestasis is not well diagnosed in many hospitals. Some just use generalised liver function tests which may not show the condition. Some don't have the facilities on site to do the proper test that it needed.

OC could be the reason. If you get pg again, I would make sure the hospital has the facilities to run the proper tests for OC so that you can be sure whether you do or don't have it.

Sorry about your experience.

[omack]

The UK is the only country in Europe where doctors are too frightened to just give Vit K to all newborns. In every other country, doctors are generally thought to know more than prospective parents about medical matters.

[TaurielTest]

Nice first post omack .

[curlywurlycremeegg]

I think your baby had what is known as "late onset haemorrhagic disease of the newborn" and as such I am not sure vitamin k at birth prevents this, only the early onset bleeding. I am just on my way out but didn't want to read and run. I think there may be some stuff on the AIMS website about late and early onset bleeding and vit K. If you can't find it I will have a trawl round to find the research/info for you later. Good to hear your baby is on the mend and try not to blame yourself

[curlywurlycremeegg]

Just had a quick look and can't find the papers I am lloking for but will carry on searching for you.

[BertieBotts]

Leonie (sorry for slight hijack) I answered your mooncup thread the other day, not sure if you had seen it. Here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/9/937125

The reason I chose to give vit K orally was mainly because I didn't think it was very nice to give a newborn baby an injection as soon as they are born, but also because as pistachio and Leonie say, why assume nature has got it wrong? I have also done some reading and believe that delaying cord clamping reduces the risk of haemorrhage and that colostrum has high levels of vitamin k. It was ages ago so I don't have any links now, sorry.

[bumpybecky]

None of my four had Vitamin K, but all were straight forward pregnancies and deliveries.

I hope your ds continues to improve

[Linnet]

I declined Vitamin K at birth for both my dd's.

When dd1 was born nearly 13 years ago now there was a lot of talk of the injections causing childhood leukeamia so we read the info and decided to decline. Dd1 was fine and has never had any problems.

When dd2 was born 6 years ago we again declined,although the paed checking her over before discharging us was very pushy and kept asking us if we wanted to reconsider but we had made our informed choice and stuck to it. She wasn't very happy but told us what to watch out for just incase something should happen and we needed to rush dd2 back to hospital but again nothing happened and she was fine.

I'm sorry your little one had problems and I hope he continues to recover well.

[BigWeeHag]

DS1 had the first oral dose at birth, but the follow up doses were not given, and I forgot. He was fine. DS2, I went to the hospital and got the doses and gave them myself. In the first case, the MW had "assumed" I would be FF by 4 weeks and therefore oral vit k would be redundant.

I am so sorry about your child, that must have been horrifically worrying for you - but guilt is a waste, we all make the best choices we can using the information we have available to us at the time. Hope you get some answers.

x

[lou4791]

Thanks to everyone for their posts and good wishes. Good to know we aren't the only ones to decline and also good to know that nobody else has had a problem with their babies.

Vidia- Thanks for your comment. I'm going to contact the hospital to view my notes to see what blood tests I had when I presented with OC symptoms. I know I had a general liver function test which was normal. Do you know what other tests i need to be looking for?

Omack- Even after our experience, I am happy to live in a country where parental consent is needed before a child is injected with any substance, except in an emergency.

CurlyWurlyCremeegg and Octopusinabox- Thank you for searching for that information. I remember coming across it when I was pregnant and it making complete sense to me then, as it does now.

BertieBotts- We did delayed cord clamping( physiological third stage) and little one had as much colostrum and breast milk as he wanted. Things were really as nature intended. Were really were very unlucky.

Thanks again. Any more info gratefully received.

Lou x

[curlywurlycremeegg]

Octopus, thanks, I did look at that one but couldn't find what I was looking for there. However have now found an article that states late onset bleedinf is often associated with liver disease, hence the conection to OC as stated by vidia, and is not preventable by administartion of vitK. Source is Enkin M et al, Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth, 3rd Ed, Oxford Press, 2002.

Re OC testing, bile salts is a common test, however they bloods are sent to regional centres as most local hospitals do not have the equipment to perform the testing. There is usually a 2-5 day delay in you recieving your results from these compared to the other bloods taken (such as LFT and FBC) at the same time. Hope you get some answers soon.

[curlywurlycremeegg]

Sorry for all the typos, easter hols and children climbing all over me!