Injections after birth - what did YOU do?

[cheshiremama89]

Vitamin K for baby, very recommended by midwife at birth class but discredited in hypnobirthing book.

Same with the injection to encourage a quick delivery of the placenta after birth...

Also with the above injection, can anyone recall it being bigger than usual? Watched a recommended positive birth story yesterday and the injection was a whopper!

Kind of feel pressured to have both, but would love to know what everyone else did/thinks xx

My plan was to hang fire with placenta, but inject if hadn’t come by itself after an hour (risks of bleeding and haemorrhage increase after this). Discussed with home birth team and that was fine. I couldn’t see any thing particularly persuasive to not have the vit k injection, so I had it. As it was he was born by caesarean so moot point. The hospital have a policy of delaying cord clamping and skin to skin in theatre where possible though.

Some information on the use of vitamin K to prevent brain haemorrhage in newborns (worth reading as it has info about mother’s diet, injection v oral).

www.nct.org.uk/parenting/vitamin-k

I had planned on a physiological 3rd stage (and a homebirth) but I was induced and the midwife jabbed me with the stuff without really checking. That is appalling when you think about it but to be honest it was the right thing in the end as it meant everything was OVER quickly.

For me the vit k injection was a no brainer. I'm pro innoculation anyway for personal safety and herd immunity so there comes a point when clearly I'm prepared to trust the science and I wasn't planning to keep the kids chemical free (no chance of that anyway). The risk otherwise is maybe not high but horrible.

We did oral vitamin K which made sense given the state of research at the time but a few years later new research came out which seemed pretty convincing that injected works better, so if I were making that choice again I'd do the injection (assuming there's no even newer research saying the opposite!) So on that one, beware old books.

For the other, we delayed, but I haemorrhaged so ended up having it anyway. No drama, no reason to decide to have it immediately that I'm aware of, but of course there are circumstances where it's needed, even lifesaving.

Dd had oral vitamin K over a few days given by the HV when she visited once we were home.

I didn't have the injection for the placenta, it only took about 10 minutes after DD was born to come out. I really hate injections and wanted everything to be as natural as possible. I ended up having to have an MMR before I left the hospital though as my blood tests showed I wasn't immune to rubella annoyingly.

I don't think whoever wrote your book knows much about haemorrhagic disease of the newborn- we give vitamin K to prevent catastrophic brain/ gut bleeding, which classically occurs towards the end of the first week of life but can be weeks later, especially in babies who are breast fed only. It happens without warning and is very hard to predict, which is why vit k is offered to everyone.

And my kid got the injection :-)

Had both. Original plan was to just wait to deliver the placenta but in the end I just wanted everything to be over with and had the injection. I do remember the needle hurt enough for me to say ouch, even after 20 hours of labour!

AFAIK the vitamin k one is important for clotting. The one for the placenta, I was told about after labour but didn't actually see the needle. You could wait for a while to pass the placenta but retained tissue from the placenta can poison your body so rather than refuse, maybe ask the mw/consultant about it at an antenatal check so you can decide before the birth.

Vitamin K is essential for all sorts of bleeding issues, not just umbilical cord.

It's a low risk but injection better, a small percentage of babies have things like a bleed on the brain at birth, if slow, it can take several days to pick up and oral won't kick in until some damage done.

Why would you risk it when the consequences can be so severe?

Placenta injection i had with first baby. It took over 2 hours and they were about to take me to theatre. Think midwife with foot on the bed it was so stuck! With my second baby I opted to go with a physiological 3rd stage and i think it was 15 minutes max before it essentially fell out. Planning to do the same this time around too. As for vit k both mine had it as i felt very coerced sadly.

Vitamin k given, no placenta jab needed as I had an elective section. I'd had previous issues with retained placenta so my surgeon made sure I got a really good clean out afterwards.

Well, excellent argument from that book...

The level of Vitamin K gives babies 'a lot to deal with'. Or you know, it saves their life on their very first day.

Hypno birthing? Have you ever been in labour before OP?

@FlippingFoal don't discount it. I know I was lucky enough that baby was positioned well but I did hypnobirthing and apart from a bit of leg cramp, it was only crowning that I found painful

Vit k definitely yes

To eject the placenta I didn't want this but had to have it first time due to pph and was advised to second time because of the increased risk of pph

@FlippingFoal first timer

Why wouldn’t you give your child the vitamin k?

Had injection with all four of my births. Didn't feel anything.
All my babies had Vit k drops. First two because that was the procedure at the time second two because the MW was daft enough to mention 'in passing' that there was researching linking injections to childhood leukemia.
As my eldest had recently died from leukemia that remark couldn't be unsaid so went for drops even though it was an insignificant piece of research

Hypnobirthing is wonderful. Totally recommend it as part of pain relief toolkit.
Wouldn't say it replaces anything its definitely worth exploring.

All mine had vitamin k - a friend of mine lost a sibling to vitamin k deficiency in the 80’s; not a chance in hell I was risking it.

I had the injection for the placenta all 3 times too. I don’t even remember feeling it.

@cheshiremama89 i had my first at home. It's perfectly possible. Yes, hypnobirthing isn't the be all and end all and no it won't guarantee a smooth labour but if baby is positioned well and you stay calm, you have the best chance possible of a pain free labour.

My first labour wasn't without its discomforts - I had awful cramp in my leg. The midwives were teasing me because that's all I was complaining about. I didn't like the pressure of my muscles squeezing on my ribs during contractions but apart from that it was manageable.

I'm not saying my labour was superior to anyone elses but I do consider that I had it easy. Don't freak out by people being condescending towards you just because it's your first time giving birth

Vitamin K stops babies dying and acquiring life-changing disabilities from brain haemorrhage.

I would suggest that your hypnobirthing book may not be the most reliable font of scientific fact.

I didn’t have the injection (placenta one) with dc1 or dc2. After experiencing haemorrhage with dc2, I had the injection with dc3, which was straightforward and prevented a recurrence of the excessive bleeding.

Honestly after you've given birth you won't even notice the injection for the placenta. Or even the ones in your vagina to numb it to stitch you back up

Totally forgot to say, all my dc had the vit k. I saw no good reason to decline.