Why your baby needs Vitamin K vaccination

Vitamin K helps to prevent excessive bleeding by aiding the clotting of the blood. It is therefore seen as essential that parents ask that new babies are vaccinated with Vitamin K. Babies who are born newly do not have enough of it stored in the body and they can neither produce enough of the amount they need to help them on their own.

A baby who is given the injection is the one who is protected from too much blood loss, if he has an injury to his delicate blood vessel or it bursts all of a sudden to cause excess bleeding.

Without the protection provided by this compound, baby stands a serious risk of serious brain hemorrhage.According to medical experts, bleeding which are due to Vitamin K deficiency used to be rare but more cases have been recorded in recent times because some parents are turning down the option of including the injection in their immunization plan, although the blood lost as result of excessive bleeding is enough to cause permanent brain damage, they warn.

What is Vitamin K?
On the main, Vitamin K groups are not seen as food supplements, but are known as a group of compounds, the most popular being Vitamin K1 and Vitamin K2. They are naturally derived from leafy green vegetables like spinach, asparagus, broccoli and soya beans. They are derivable also from eggs, strawberries, meat and cheese. They are broken down by bacteria.A single injection of this Vitamin is what a newborn baby needs for protection.

Why they are necessary
Although Vitamin K deficiencies are rare in adults, but those who are at risk include people who have diseases that hinder absorption in the digestive tract. Those who take drugs that hinder Vitamin K absorption should opt for it. It is recommended for the severely malnourished as well as to those who drink alcohol excessively.

The use of Vitamin K to treat cancer has not received expert approval and their efficacies in the control of symptoms of morning sickness are yet to receive the approval of researchers.

It has also been touted as a remedy for removal of veins but expert opinions about these claims differ still and neither is it authentic that Vitamin K2 treats Osteoporosis and steroid-induced loss of bone mass.

The Right Doses
In the main, we get enough of Vitamin K from our diets. But these are recommended needs both from our diets and other sources:
. Children from zero age to six months should subsist on two micrograms of Vitamin K a day.
. From seven months to 12 months, 2.5 micrograms daily
. Infants who are up to one year ought to have a daily intake that is up to 30 micrograms.
. Four years to eight years need up to 55 micrograms; while nine to 13 years must have up to 60 micrograms for maximum protection.
. Girls who are in age bracket of 14 to 18 years need 75 micrograms while women 19 years and above should have a minimum of 90 micrograms.
. Pregnant women and those who are breast- feeding should have a daily recommendation of 90 micrograms.
. Boys who are between 14 and 18, 75 microgram daily, while men, 19 and above, should ensure that their intake of the Vitamin is not less than 120 micrograms daily.

Side effects are rare if the right doses are adhered to. Drugs like antacids, blood thinners, antibiotics and aspirin may interfere with the absorption of Vitamin K. Others that may not agree with it are drugs used in cancer treatment, seizures and high level of cholesterol.

Do not use unless recommended by doctor. Those already taking particular drugs for heart conditions, clotting disorders may have to watch their diets closely in order not overdose on Vitamin k.

But those who champion it for newborn babies stress that paediatricians have given it to babies for up to 50 years. They say that there are no known risks to babies except the brief pain as the injection is administered on the thigh. Vitamin K is given after birth, but a mother who is scared of the injection could ask for the oral dose where and if it is available.