To dose or not to dose, that is the question.
For us, it's not to dose. After researching the pros and cons of vitamin K right after birth and the risk of vitamin K deficiency, we decided against it. It's a personal decision for parents to make before the birth of their child. If you decide against vit K, your health care practitioner will likely have you sign a waiver before labor day.
In most hospitals, vit K is given to all newborns across the board. As a parent, you do have a choice in the matter.
For us, it is important to eliminate any unnecessary pain to our baby or unnecessary substances to our baby's system. If you opt out of vitamin k, you can still have your baby dosed in cases of a traumatic birth causing alot of bruising or scarring.
Since the 3rd trimester, I've been drinking nettles and red rasberry leaf tea daily.
http://andeverything-in-between.blogspot.com/2009/10/red-raspberry-leaf-and-nettle-leaf-tea.html
At 39 weeks, I added an extra cup per day in preperation for birth. This will give my colostrum and breastmilk a vit k boost. It will not give baby as much as an injection or oral dose would, but I feel it will be sufficient enough for an average, non traumatic home birth. We also will delay cord clamping/cutting so baby won't be deprived of their natural blood volume.
Again, this is a personal decision for parents to make. Just know that you do have a choice in what happens to your baby during and after birth.
Helpful websites
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/vitktop.html
http://www.womens-health.co.uk/vitk.asp
No comments:
Post a Comment