Why Is Vitamin K Essential For Newborns?

What is Vitamin K

Vitamin K is essential to the human body to prevent bleeding disorders. It is a fat-soluble vitamin that performs many duties throughout the body and is found in the liver, bones, heart, and various other parts of the body.

What does Vitamin K do?

Vitamin K has many responsibilities in the body and helps prevent bone and heart diseases. However, none of these are more important than helping your blood clot. Blood clotting is important to prevent a bleeding disorder known as Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, which happens when you don’t have enough Vitamin K.

Because newborns don’t naturally have enough Vitamin K, they are at high risk for developing Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding. Newborns also cannot produce adequate amounts of Vitamin K on their own, and they do not get it from their mothers, which means you need to supplement Vitamin K through other means.

Dangers of Vitamin K deficiency bleeding

Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB) is one of the most dangerous conditions for newborns. Because their bodies don’t have enough Vitamin K, babies are especially prone to VKDB. Vitamin K is an essential component when it comes to helping your blood clot. The inability of blood to clot can lead to losing dangerous amounts of blood due to a small cut. It can also lead to internal bleeding or bleeding in the brain, both of which can be fatal for newborns.

Benefits of Vitamin K for newborns

There are many benefits when it comes to Vitamin K for newborns. In addition to helping their blood clot to prevent the dangerous complications of Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, here are some of the other benefits of Vitamin K for newborns.

• Vitamin K increases bone density and helps with osteogenesis, the process of creating new bones.
• Vitamin K helps strengthen the heart and prevent the potential for heart problems.

Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding can affect newborns until they’re up to 6 months old. For that reason, it is important to maintain their Vitamin K levels until they can eat food other than milk.

Signs of low Vitamin K in newborns

Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding is the biggest risk related to low Vitamin K levels in newborns. As such, it is important to know what warning signs of low Vitamin K to look for, including the following.

• Reddish or purple bruising just below the skin, specifically around the face and head
• Nose or umbilical bleeds
• Paleness of the skin that gradually increases over time
• Yellowing of the eyes, specifically the typically white areas
• Bloody, dark, sticky, or reddish stool
• Excessive drowsiness, sleepiness, and sluggishness
• Irritability and occasional seizures

Unfortunately, Vitamin K deficiencies don’t always show signs and symptoms, especially when there is internal bleeding or bleeding in the brain. Therefore, you must be extra vigilant if you suspect an infant has a deficiency.

Best way to supplement Vitamin K for newborns

Although newborns desperately need Vitamin K, they are born without adequate amounts. Vitamin K insufficiencies result from three things.

• Vitamin K is one of the only essential vitamins and minerals that doesn’t pass through the placenta easily, meaning the baby does not get much before birth.

• The intestines of unborn babies are not developed enough to create Vitamin K.
• Neither formula nor a mother’s breast milk contains enough Vitamin K to protect a newborn.

For these reasons, babies are born without enough Vitamin K to guarantee their safety. As such, it’s up to you to supplement their Vitamin K. Here are some of the best options.

Vitamin K shot

Vitamin K shots are the best and most popular way to supplement Vitamin K for newborns. In fact, because of the known dangers of Vitamin K insufficiency, Vitamin K shots are nearly as popular as the typical vaccination a newborn receives. A single shot contains enough Vitamin K to last your baby until they are six months old and can create Vitamin K sufficiently on their own.

Oral Vitamin K

For parents who do not want to give their newborns more shots than necessary, oral Vitamin K is also an option. Typically, oral Vitamin K is given to newborns in the form of liquid drops. However, babies don’t absorb oral Vitamin K drops into their system as well as with a shot, which means that they may need several doses of oral Vitamin K.

Regardless of your preferred method, it’s essential for babies to have enough Vitamin K in their system. Without it, they are prone to Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding and other potentially life-threatening issues.