Vitamin K is essential for blood clotting. Your body also uses vitamin K for cell growth and strengthening your bones. A vitamin K deficiency can be very serious, especially for infants, which has led to the common practice of giving infants a vitamin K injection soon after they are born.
Infants and Vitamin K
Newborn infants are particularly at risk for vitamin K deficiency because vitamin K doesn't cross easily across the placenta and newborns don't yet have the bacteria in their intestines that can make vitamin K. Also, breastmilk tends to be low in vitamin K, so infants that are exclusively breastfed may not get enough vitamin K through their diet. Approximately 1 in 10,0000 babies develop vitamin K deficiency soon after birth, leading to sudden bleeding in the brain, which can be fatal.
Benefits
Giving infants a vitamin K shot soon after birth or giving them vitamin K orally can help prevent the potentially fatal vitamin K deficiency-associated bleeding. This is a very simple way to keep babies from dying unnecessarily, as a single shot can protect a baby from vitamin K deficiency for up to three months.
Risks
The standard amount of vitamin K given to infants may be too high for babies that are born prematurely, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, so premature babies may need a lower dose. Two studies showed a small increase in the risk of childhood leukemia for infants given vitamin K shots, however, all later studies showed no association.
Considerations
If you are worried about the slim chance that vitamin K shots may increase the risk for leukemia, ask your doctor for oral vitamin K for your child, as the oral administration of vitamin K has never been linked with increased risk for cancer. However, some people do not follow the oral regimen properly and there is a chance it will not provide sufficient vitamin K, notes the Stanford School of Medicine. Although no oral vitamin K supplements are approved for use in the U.S., the injected form can be used orally as well.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute; Vitamin K; Jane Higdon, Ph.D., et al.; May 2008
- MedlinePlus: Vitamin K
- Stanford School of Medicine: Guidelines for Vitamin K Prophylaxis
- "Pediatrics"; Prevention of Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding in Breastfed Infants: Lessons From the Dutch and Danish Biliary Atresia Registries; P.M. van Hasselt, et al.; April 2008
- Healthy Child; Are Vitamin K Shots Necessary?; Randall Neustaedter, OMD, LAc, CCH
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