Oral Vitamin K vs. Shot

[Annie]

One of my current clients has asked me to provide further information to her about the Vitamin K. I would like to provide more information about both the Shot and the Oral. I thought before I started reasearching it extensively and compiling the information, that I would check and see if any of you had a handout already done or had some good sources to provide to this client.

-Annie

[amymaew]

I have one that I'd be happy to email you, but it's more 'to get or not to get' Vit K instead of oral vs. injection if that makes sense. Let me know

[MyDoulaStacia]

My client researched it and was wanting it but the hosptial didn't offer it.
So they just said NO then and they would do it at the doctors office instead.
They said we are breastfeeding. The baby is a girl so a circumcision isn't needed (for blood clotting issues) and all is well in our minds with our decision.
BUT, the doctor called and told them how their child could DIE of a brain hemorage and the pain of a little shot for one second wasn't worth THAT outcome!
So, they gave in and had a heck of a time nursing for the rest of the evening with babe nursing and then crying from the shot for a sec and then nursing and crying. Those shots in the thigh really smart!
Ok, where was I going with this one................yes, check and make sure your hosptial offers it.

[Annie]

Thanks for the advise Stacia!

This client was actually a referral from another doula in a different part of the state. With this hospital being 1 1/2 hours from me it isn't a hospital I usually have any interaction with. I will have to put in a few calls, I hadn't even given the availability much thought. I appreciate your bringing that to my attention.

I appreciate the handout you sent Amy, I'm going to give it a closer look at the kids naptime.

Thanks again!
Annie

[fearlessbirth]

Isn't the only difference whether or not it's painful for the baby? Just clarifying for my own knowledge...

[MyDoulaStacia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fearlessbirth Isn't the only difference whether or not it's painful for the baby? Just clarifying for my own knowledge...

From what I understand, yes.

[AMotz]

I thought the oral was in more than one dose as well, whereas the shot is just one shot? I could be wrong. I haven't looked up much on vit k since my dd was born.

By the way, the nursery did the shot, without asking me. I would have declined, so much for that.

[Annie]

I have done some more research on this and thought I would share my findings with you. I would like to fist say I have only really done a tidbit of research about this and have not verified my sources as well as I normally would. So only let this serve as a jumping off point for you.

Yes, one major benefit of the oral vs. the shot is the less pain associated with it.

As Ashley pointed out oral does require more doses as well, the number of dosages seems to vary in what I found though, but always more then the one shot.

Also in support of the oral is this site: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/137/4/251
It says: “Giving vitamin K when stopping warfarin increases the rate at which the international normalized ratio (INR) returns to normal. Although many clinicians give vitamin K subcutaneously, it appears that oral vitamin K reduces INR more rapidly.” However, when you look up all the terms and process what this is saying, you will realize this isn’t much of a big consideration as most babies will not have these conditions. This is further understood by reading this site: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...-vitamink.html. To learn:
“Warfarin is prescribed by doctors for people with various conditions such as atrial fibrillation, artificial heart valves, history of serious blood clot, clotting disorders (hypercoagulability), or placement of indwelling catheters/ports.”

This site: http://www.rcp.gov.bc.ca/guidelines/....NB12.VitK.pdf
has many issues against the oral, but offered this information in support of it, which I have paraphrased… Study reported a link between intramuscular (IM) of vitamin K and childhood cancer. (I later found a source which pointed out flaws of this study.)

That was the only real information I found in support of the oral vitamin K.

However against it this site: http://www.rcp.gov.bc.ca/guidelines/....NB12.VitK.pdf
(which was mentioned above) offers this information which I have paraphrased so if you are seriously looking into the difference I would encourage you to read the info yourself. Basically it says… Oral vitamin K is not absorbed as well as IM vitamin K.
Several doses of oral vitamin K are needed for several weeks, compliance may be an issue.
May be unreliable intake = variable absorption or regurgitation
An appropriate oral form of vitamin K has not been licensed in North America
The efficiency of oral vitamin K has not been fully established.

Some other interesting information….

I found at this site: http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/vitktop.html, that in a sense any hospital could give an oral dosage, by drawing into a syringe a double dosage of the vitamin K and then removing the needle and pushing the vitamin k into the side of the baby’s mouth. As you can imagine with there being no standard for the amount of oral vitamin K, this is a practice which is highly criticized on other sites. I did also find several mentions of getting a specific vitamin k from a midwife or ordering it from birthwithlove.com or Scientific Botanicals. So there does appear to be some actual oral vitam K, which is not simply the injection put into a syringe. However, I never found any indication it was FDA approved. But, I will admit I did not search much for the FDA approval on it.

I know this is a long post, but I wanted to post my findings in order to help you learn as I did. I read Cathy’s post about the lack of pain was the only difference between oral and injection and was really wondering if it was true. I hadn’t considered it was the only difference. But, then I got to thinking, wow maybe it is and decided to look into it. I actually expected to find much more in favor of the oral, but that wasn’t what I found.
Please any info in favor (or more against) the oral, do share. I love learning about new topics and hope some of you do as well, so I thought the effort for this post may help someone learn at some point.

Again, only slightly researched and not verified in multiple places.

-Annie

[DL]

Great post and interesting thread! With the difficulties that you had in getting it to post, I'm thrilled to see it. Thank you for looking a bit more deeply into this. The time and effort is greatly appreciated! It will serve as a great spring board, I'm sure, for others to look into it as well. Nice job.

[1stimestar]

My concern is that anything other then breastmilk introduced into the baby's gut, interferes with the sealing off of the gut with the intended sterile breastmilk. Personally, I didn't do Vit. K for Olivia at all.

[ctowndoula]

I'm with Georganne, b/c all babies have "low" levels there must be a reason for it. The midwives I had with my last two kids only suggested it if the birth was quick and baby had the likehood of bruising or trauma from it, or you had a boy that you were circ (espcially before day 7).
Not studies, I know...but my gut feeling.

[amymaew]

I chose not to give Henry Vit K b/c he had one tiny bruise and we weren't circing. We kept an eye on his bruise, but for us, it wasn't enought to warrant vit K. Now, if we were going to circ him, or if he had an instrumental delivery, or if he was really bruised, we would have opted for the shot. So there are times when it's warranted, but in a normal, non traumatic birth with no bruising it isn't as 'necessary' as drs make it out to be. (Assuming there won't be a procedure like circ within a week or two!)

[Annie]

I'm right with you, I didn't give my son the Vitamin K in either form. But, this mother feels a need but wanted more info on the oral vs. shot. So that was why I was trying to learn the difference between those two and not having it vs. not.
-Annie

[amymaew]

Well, this link is, um, interesting.

http://www.medicinenet.com/vitamin_k...on/article.htm

[Bex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amymaew Well, this link is, um, interesting. http://www.medicinenet.com/vitamin_k...on/article.htm