vit K at birth and other vaccinations?

lovin life23

Wondering what the natural birth community had to say about vit K at birth and other vaccinations for baby...what will you choose to do/not do? any books/websites you would recommend on this? thanks!

vintagejjane

You will find mixed feelings here just like everywhere else. For me, we had a home birth and did not do any vaccines at birth. She won't receive Hep B vaccination till she is school age if our doctor still recommends she gets it. We did not do the Vit. K. All other vaccines like Dtap and HIB are on a delayed schedule.

aylafsu88

I did the Vit K shot.   Newborns are born without vitamin K, which plays an important part in the blood clotting cascade. I think the vitamin K is important and to me the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks.

I am all for vaccinating.  There is a good book by Dr Sears The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child that I would highly recommend you read.  It gives a modified vaccine schedule and talks about the pros/cons of each vaccine.  Dr Sears recommends vaccinating but on a modified schedule. 

oliversmommy32912

There was a thread about Hep B and Vitamin K last week. You may want to check it out. There were a lot of responses.

We are a pro vaccine family. We are currently vaccinating on an altered schedule because that's what our pedi recommends. They basically start a little later and spread the vaccines out so that they are not giving more than one new vaccine per visit. We have a family history of bad vaccine reactions do we are very comfortable with this arrangement. We did not do Hep B at birth. We will do the series before LO is in school or if he ever has to go to daycare. Hep B is primarily transmitted through needle sharing and sex, and while another poster pointed out to me that Hep B can be transmitted through dried blood, the conditions have to be perfect for it to live and that almost always happens when the child is living with or being cared for by someone with Hep B. My husband and I are negative so for we feel the risk is negligible.

I think Vit K is very important and the risks definitely outweigh the cons. We did give LO Vit K. However, now that I have done more research on the subject we have decided we will use oral Vit K with the next baby instead of the injections. That's just our personal preference.

I think The Vaccine Book by Dr Sears is a great book to check out. There are not many books with unbiased information out there and this one comes as close as I have seen. It's worth a look.

pantherRN

I think the benefits of vitamin K outweigh the risks. We will do it at birth. 

Personally, we will likely vaccinate on the CDC schedule, minus varicella, rotavirus, and we'll delay HBV. Alternative schedules are fine too, if that's what works for your family. 

Everyone else told you about the Dr. Sears book, but try to stick to websites that are .org or .edu or journal articles for on-line research. 

Runaway22

Ha, I just posted a thread quite similar to this one on this board

I'll be declining the vitamin K and Hep B shots at birth, barring some kind of necessity/emergency situation. I'll also decline the antibiotic eyedrops. If for some reason vitamin K seems necessary, I'll ask for the oral drops rather than the jab. I want my tiny LO poked as little as possible in those first hours/days. Just my personal preference. 

KateLouise

I'm in NZ Hep B at birth and eye drops are not routine practice here.

 We did Vit K injection at birth. DD2 was quite bruised. Can't remember about DD1 but prefer the benefits of Vit K. We're not personally worried about an injection vs oral drops. 

kdjudd

I refuse to vaccinate. Simply reading the ingredient list in the vaccines and the side effects of the toxins was enough for me. Now that I've had time to look into things even further I am completely against them. My daughter is healthy and happy and I am confident in my decision. Basically, my advice is to do your research and come to a decision that you can live with. 

JCWhitey

Nothing at birth.  Everything on an altered schedule and at the first pedi appt.

laurenluor

I had a homebirth and decided to wait until after baby was born to decide whether or not to give vit k. The pushing was pretty prolonged and his shoulders got stuck so I felt comfortable giving him the vit k injection. He didn't even notice the shot.

My husband and I don't feel confident either way with most vaccines yet, so we are delaying for the time being until we can look into it further. We will be getting him the pertussis vaccination for sure though. 

pinksweetpea2

I waited till birth to decided to do Vit. K and ended up not doing it with my first because it was unnecessary, but having the oral dose given to my second because she had a small amount of bruising on her forehead.  

Yes, infants are born without VIt. K, but they start producing it by day 8.  I have to think that there is a reason that they do not produce it from day one, and unless necessary (like risks from bruising), I do not like to mess with her body doing what it was designed to do.

We did the oral dose because the shot is something like 20,000 the newborn level- that is crazy to me. 

We delayed Hep B till her first round of vaccines and skipped the eye ointment. We follow the typical vaccination schedule otherwise.

I like this site for breakdowns about Vit. K, Hep B and the eye goop: https://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/newborn-vitamin-k.html 

AMarie1214

aylafsu88:

I did the Vit K shot.   Newborns are born without vitamin K, which plays an important part in the blood clotting cascade. I think the vitamin K is important and to me the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks.

I am all for vaccinating.  There is a good book by Dr Sears The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child that I would highly recommend you read.  It gives a modified vaccine schedule and talks about the pros/cons of each vaccine.  Dr Sears recommends vaccinating but on a modified schedule. 

Will you please do some research and stop posting this nonsense? They are NOT born without it.. its simply a lower level than what is tested in adults.

and to the OP, please read the other thread about Vit K.. I posted a few links that go through why the shot is given and pros and cons. Its a matter of research and making the best INFORMED decision for your family. 

OrangeGrove

kdjudd:

I refuse to vaccinate. Simply reading the ingredient list in the vaccines and the side effects of the toxins was enough for me. Now that I've had time to look into things even further I am completely against them. My daughter is healthy and happy and I am confident in my decision. Basically, my advice is to do your research and come to a decision that you can live with. 

In the interest of educating myself on this topic, can I ask if electing not to vaccinate has or will causes issues for those putting their child in daycare or school settings? Don't most require children be inoculated?

Mrs E in Oregon

For most babies Vitamin K isn't essential. There is the oral dose that works very well for many and is a good inbetween. We'll be going with the oral vit k if our midwives believe it is necessary, or the injection if that is considered necessary, it is more effective. I have a problem with the stuff they put in their eyes. I am prego-braining right now so I can't remember what it is called but it made a huge negative difference in my sister in law's babies vision enough that it noticably effected the bonding. I don't want that unless absolutely necessary.

As for vaccines, I have been doing my research and my naturopath/pediatrian focuses a lot of her continuing education on vaccines. We will be delaying the vaccination of our children and will be looking at the options available for each one as we approach them so we are fully informed of risks, etc. She says it is really important to break up the MMR. The only reason we would go on the regular schedule is if we had to put her into a daycare, but it looks like grandparents and in home care is going to be what we're going with during the first year.

gy86

Yes, but nearly every state has a personal/religious exemption form these days, so it's quite easy to get around. 

I'm torn on the vaccine thing as I really can't stand how Big Pharma is out to make a buck off everybody these days -- but ultimately decided to, since my daughter was going to be in a public facility from 6 weeks on.  I live in a major urban area, we travel by air quite frequently, and there's no telling what the other parents/kids/staff members could expose her to.  The point of vaccinations is to prevent serious illness and death due to harmful pathogens, and it scares me that we are losing our"herd immunity" and seeing rises in measles and other nearly-eradicated diseases due to pockets of anti-vaccine communities becoming more and more prevalent in our global society.  I just wish there was more overlap between life-saving advances in medical technology, and a holistic/wellness-based approach to disease prevention. So far the two schools of thought seem to be very at odds with one another, but both sides claim to desire the same thing: a healthy child.

I did postpone all the newborn procedures until the postpartum checkup, which usually happens a few days after giving birth.  I figured birth would be traumatic enough for my daughter, and she was born without any complications with labor or delivery so nobody protested when I signed the non-co.  At the 3-day-old checkup with the pedi she got her Hep B and PKU heel prick. 

SunnyMuffin

OrangeGrove:

kdjudd:

I refuse to vaccinate. Simply reading the ingredient list in the vaccines and the side effects of the toxins was enough for me. Now that I've had time to look into things even further I am completely against them. My daughter is healthy and happy and I am confident in my decision. Basically, my advice is to do your research and come to a decision that you can live with. 

In the interest of educating myself on this topic, can I ask if electing not to vaccinate has or will causes issues for those putting their child in daycare or school settings? Don't most require children be inoculated?

I did vit K because my baby was born via vacuum. Vitamin K isnt a vaccine.  We dont vaccinate otherwise.  As for school/daycare, it isn't a requirement in Canada. 

dreadiemama

pinksweetpea2:

IYes, infants are born without VIt. K, but they start producing it by day 8.  I have to think that there is a reason that they do not produce it from day one, and unless necessary (like risks from bruising), I do not like to mess with her body doing what it was designed to do.

I hold this sentiment too. Maybe I am an idealist but there must be a reason why a newborn's body is born with low amounts of Vit K. This kind of reminds me of the gaul bladder or appendix arguments- that years ago they were taking these organs out with the idea that they didn't do anything. Now we know that the gaul bladder plays an important role in managing waste. 

StefandTodd

With my first son, I did vitamin K because we were in the hospital and the mw and nurses told me I should "just in case."  With my second, I had a home birth and my mw had it on hand in case she thought it was necessary but she didn't think it was, so we skipped it.

nyki06

We didn't do the Vit K and we chose to do the Dr. Sears alt. schedule. I'm happy we did because my daughter recently had a reaction to one of the shots and because we only do two at a time I was able to find out which one it was. 

mrsodonnell12

We are skipping the eye ointment and hep b vaccine at birth. We will be doing Vit K orally. I would do the shot if oral was not an option. I think its important.

For vaccines in general, we plan to stick pretty close to the Dr. Sear's Delayed Vaccine schedule.