Administering Vitamin K drops to newborn ...

[taecocoro1]

Hi, I'm due to give birth later this month. We have decided we don't want our baby to have the Vitamin K injection. We have chosen instead to use Bio K Mulsion Vitamin K drops rather than the Oral Konakion. We are panicked however about how we will administer the drops to our newborn. If there are any midwifes or other medical professionals out there who have experience on this and could offer advice on the best way to administer drops to a newborn that would be really appreciated. The drops are potent and we don't want to make any mistakes. And anyone that's used the Bio K Mulsion drops, how has your baby reacted to them? Thank you

I did drops with all mine, a while ago now but I don’t remember any issues at all with any of them.

Please, please read with an open mind:

www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/01/31/among-the-vitamin-k-anti-vaxxers/

I did oral for DS1 years ago because I didn't like the idea of an injection, and we did oral for DS2 because oral is standard in Germany and he was born there.

Choosing oral over IM is not "anti vaxing" nor is it refusing vitamin K, it's just a different method of delivery. However if I was giving birth in the UK I would probably opt for injection - it's meant to be more effective, and the worries about childhood leukemia have been disproven. I don't know about the differences between the two brands mentioned. You could certainly ask your midwife.

If you do opt for oral - it's very easy, don't worry. It comes in a small syringe and you just put it inside their cheek and gently squirt. They have a swallowing reflex at that age but you can also do it immediately before a feed so they get the milk straight away to wash it down. It's likely that the midwife will do the first dose at birth anyway, and the later doses you take home on discharge. Opting for oral isn't especially rare in the UK so don't worry - the hospital staff will be familiar with it and show you what to do.

There hasn't been any reaction either time, perhaps a bit of a surprised facial expression at the taste.

Had drops for my dd (now 2)
Don't think she liked the taste but tbh at that age its super easy to drop medicine into their mouth (syringe) little by little and get them to just swallow.
Like pp said, I did mine and then fed (also because it settled her after her other immunisations)
No other reactions.
Midwife that gives you the drops should tell you how to administer (or on a leaflet) but as far as I'm aware let's you physically give it to them.
Will be doing the same with dc2, because no newborn should get pricked so many times if I can help it!

I had drops for both of my DC. The health visitor administered them at home.

Sorry not HV, it was the midwife.

The drops aren't as effective as the injection. Newborns are deficient in vitamin k dependent clotting factors, and the risk of that is bleeding, most seriously into the brain.
Surely that's worth a simple injection? If you're breast feeding while the injection is being done then that ameliorates the babies pain response.

Maybe speak too your midwife again?

I would say that if you're worried about getting the drops wrong then you should go for the injection as then you know the baby is getting the correct dosage.

Out of curiosity, why do people choose the drops over the injection? (Just as a few people on this thread have).

The reason the drops are considered less effective than the jab is because of failure to administer follow up doses. If you make sure the follow up doses are given then it’s fine.

The reason it’s also considered less effective is because baby can spit up the oral solution, which obviously they can’t with the injection.

Ensuring the follow up with the oral solution is really important if this is the route you chose.

I think a lot of posters have misread the OP - OP is NOT choosing oral Konakion, which is the normal vitamin K that the NHS offers and that many people here will have had/used. NHS midwives are happy to administer oral Konakion. The OP is choosing to use a different brand. I doubt NHS midwives would administer a drug they are not familiar with, so OP will have to administer it themselves.

@taecocoro1 is there a reason why you don't want to go with Konakion? I'd speak to your midwife about the protocol for vitamin K in your area. Your midwife can discuss with you in principle how to give syringe medications to a newborn, but the dosage and observing baby for a reaction to the drug afterwards will be your responsibility.

Nerr I chose drops because I find injections very painful and I didn't want my newborn to have one if there was a safe alternative.

Mussie - I didn't realise that a different brand would change the protocol (I didn't actually know there were different brands available.) Possibly other posters aren't aware of this either.

We did the drops, got given them before we left hospital and the midwife showed us how to do it on home visits. Very easy to do and any tears over the taste are quickly solved with boob. I just didn't like the idea of my tiny newborn being in pain unnecessarily.

I would say as someone who's DS had the injection, my DS seemed to find the injection much less traumatic than any medicine we had to give him.

Yes, in hindsight - newborns' tastebuds are probably just as sensitive as their nerves, but I think I made the right choice, DS1 has always been distraught at injections whereas DS2 is slightly alarmed and then fine - he complains more at the concept of sleeves.

I couldn't have known this of course and they could have been the other way around.