Posted December 6, 2019
Giving a dose of vitamin K can help babies, most of whom are born with insufficient vitamin K levels, to avoid potentially life-threatening internal bleeding, including in the brain or intestines, but the vitamin K shot is not the only solution. Oral vitamin K can also be used, as can naturally increasing the infant’s levels via breastfeeding (which requires that the mother’s vitamin K levels be optimized). Some parents, therefore, choose to refuse the vitamin K shot for their newborn, a medical decision that’s well within a parent’s rights in most U.S. states. Read more.