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Vitamin K Shots
You’re used to hearing about vitamins like A, B, C, and D, but what’s up with Vitamin K? What is it and why do they need to give it to your baby? For most healthy people, when we bleed, we know that the bleeding will eventually stop. We have Vitamin K to thank for that. Blood clotting is an extremely important process that causes us to stop bleeding, and Vitamin K is necessary for blood clotting to happen. If blood cannot clot, the bleeding will continue, which can be dangerous. Unfortunately, newborn infants don’t have enough of their own Vitamin K. This is especially true for preemies. Babies can bleed internally if they don’t have enough Vitamin K to help clot their blood. Some may suffer from a rare but potentially life-threatening condition called Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), which can cause bleeding in organs like the brain and intestines. In order to help supplement the baby’s own Vitamin K and prevent uncontrollable bleeding, nurses give a Vitamin K shot in the thigh muscle of newborns.
VITAMIN K INJECTIONS
Erythromycin (Antibacterial) Eye Ointment
Aww!! Look at the precious baby with the…slimy film over her eyes??? If you’re a parent, you may recall the clear goop the nurses put on your baby’s eyes. If you’re not a parent, you’ve probably seen pictures. Well that goop is actually an antibacterial ointment that is placed onto both of the newborn’s eyes within one or two hours of being born. The ointment protects the newborn from bacteria that may have been passed from mom to baby as the newborn traveled through the birth canal. Sounds simple right? Here’s where the controversy comes in. Full transparency: The specific bacteria that erythromycin ointment is provided to help protect against are the ones responsible for gonorrhea and chlamydia, which can cause an eye disease called ophthalmia neonatorum or ON in newborns. ON can ultimately cause blindness. Some moms are offended by this. After all, it sort of implies that there’s a chance, however slight, that the mother has either of the two sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). At some point in the 3rd trimester, most women will get routine testing for both gonorrhea and chlamydia. The test results assist some women with making their decisions about the eye ointment. Three things to remember:
- Depending on the mother’s sexual activity, it is important to remember that the STD status can change between the time of testing and delivery.
- There is always the risk of a false negative. A false negative occurs when the test says you do not have an infection, but you actually do. In this situation, if a mom declines the ointment, her baby may be at risk of becoming infected and developing an eye disease that can lead to blindness.
- Erythromycin may help protect the newborn’s eyes from other non-STD-causing bacteria, but the evidence on this is also conflicting.
For these reasons, many state laws and hospital policies require all newborns, even those delivered via C-section, to receive antibacterial eye treatment after birth. Note: Some doctors may not push it as hard for babies delivered by C-section, but this will frequently depend on hospital policy and state laws.
ERYTHROMYCIN (ANTIBACTERIAL) EYE OINTMENT
Hepatitis B Vaccine
For parents being pummeled by an onslaught of competing and conflicting perspectives on vaccines, the Hepatitis B vaccine will be your first big test. This is the first vaccine that most children receive in the U.S., in many cases, shortly after birth. Hepatitis B is a virus that can cause severe and potentially life-threatening liver damage, such as cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer, and chronic liver disease. The virus can be passed from mother to child at birth. Because children love sharing bodily fluids, the Hepatitis B virus is also commonly passed from one infected child to an unvaccinated child. People with Hepatitis B oftentimes don’t have symptoms and can unknowingly pass the disease along to unvaccinated children. For newborns, the Hepatitis B vaccine is usually given in 3 separate doses, with the first dose being given shortly after birth. Hepatitis B vaccination schedules may differ, depending on the specific vaccine.