Vitamin K Injection
Links for Vitamin K information:
***http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/vitktop.html - Excellent source for information and even provides links to other sources and studies
This article shows that a mother supplementing with Vitamin K will increase levels substantially in her milk. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/99/1/88
Vitamin K Inserts:
AquaMephyton (Merck):
Konakian
- Why are newborns given Vitamin K at birth?
- What is the risk of hemmarhage in a healthy child?
- What makes a child more likely to suffer hemmarhage?
- What are the ingredients in the vitamin K injection? The vitamin K injections administered by hospitals and manufactured by Merck and Roche and Abbott contain benzyl alcohol as a preservative. The 1989 PDR states that, "there is no evidence to suggest that the small amount of benzyl alcohol contained in AquaMEPHYTON (Merck's vitamin K injection product), when used as recommended, is associated with toxicity." Interestingly, in November 1988, the French medical journal, Dev Pharmacol Ther, published a paper regarding benzyl alcohol metabolism and elimination in babies. The report stated that "...we cannot directly answer the issue of safety of 'low doses' of benzyl alcohol as found in some medications administered to neonates. This study confirms the immaturity of the benzoic acid detoxification process in premature newborns." Roche's vitamin K product KONAKION contains ingredients such as phenol (carbolic acid-a poisonous substance distilled from coal tar), propylene glycol (derived from petroleum and used as an antifreeze and in hydraulic brake fluid) and acetic acid (an astringent antimicrobial agent that may drastically reduce the amount of natural vitamin K that would have otherwise been produced in the digestive tract). As reported in the PDR and as published in the IM vitamin K packet inserts for Merck, Roche and Abbott, "Studies of carcinogenicity, mutagenesis or impairment of fertility have not been conducted with Vitamin K1 Injection (Phytonadione Injection, USP)."
- What are known risks - both long-term and short-term - of the injection?
The Vitamin K shot has been linked to leukaemia, including acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which is characterized by an increased number of white corpuscles in the blood, and accounts for about 85 percent of childhood leukaemia. Research carried out by Dr. Louise Parker, of the Sir James Spence Institute of Child Health in Newcastle upon Tyne, produced the most startling results. Dr. Louise Parker was quoted in the British Medical Journal in 1998 as stating, "It is not possible, on the basis of currently published evidence, to refute the suggestion that neonatal IM vitamin K administration increases the risk of early childhood leukemia.".
The British Journal of Cancer published "Factors associated with childhood cancer" by J. Golding, et al, in 1990. The report indicated that universally administered IM vitamin K injections significantly increase our children's chances of developing childhood cancer. A follow-up study published two years later in the British Medical Journal (Golding J, Paterson K, Greenwood R, Mott M. Intramuscular vitamin K and childhood cancer. BMJ 1992; 305:341-346.) reinforced the findings of the previous study. The authors' comments, in keeping with scientific style, are conservatively stated, but parents who are concerned about the health of their babies will read "danger" between the following lines: "The only two studies so far to have examined the relation between childhood cancer and intramuscular vitamin K have shown similar results and the relation is biologically plausible. The prophylactic benefits against haemorrhagic disease are unlikely to exceed the potential adverse effects from intramuscular vitamin K..."
The chance of your child developing leukaemia from the Vitamin K shot is estimated to beabout one in 500 (MIDIRS Midwifery Digest, Vol 2 #3, September 1992)
Interestingly the common problem that occurs these days of jaundice in newborns has only been reported since the introduction of Vitamin K administration.
According to the product insert, adverse reactions include haemolysis (or hemolysis - American spelling) (meaning breakdown of red blood cells), haemolytic anaemia (a disorder characterised by chronic premature destruction of red blood cells), hyperbilirubinemia (too much bilirubin in blood) and jaundice (yellow skin and eyes resulting from hyperbilirubinemia), and allergic reactions include face flushing, gastrointestinal upset, rash, redness, pain or swelling at injection site and itching skin. It also warns that large enough doses can cause brain damage in infants and/or impairment to liver function. Hypoxia has also been published as having occurred in infants after Vitamin K administration.
- What are succesful alternatives to Vitamin K injection? Although vitamin K doesn't pass easily from the mother's bloodstream to the newborn through the placenta, it DOES pass easily through breastmilk. (Doesn't this seem like a strong clue that nature is actually protecting the baby somehow by managing the clotting factors in a very specific way?) Women who eat lots of fresh, leafy green vegetables will pass the vitamin K through to their babies, and this will protect them from late-onset HDN.
- When should one consider the vitamin K injection or oral solution? Some maternal medications interfere with vitamin K, such as anticonvulsants, anticoagulants, and antibiotics. [Maternal vitamin K supplementation that is administered prenatally may prevent this form of HDN. *Vitamin K generation is also inhibited in babies who have received antibiotics. *A very few babies will have a liver disorder that prevents the normal production of vitamin K in the newborn's gut; symptoms tend to appear slowly. *Other risk factors include diarrhea, hepatitis, cystic fibrosis (CF), celiac disease, and alpha1-antitrypin deficiency
The following comes from gentlebirth.org:
Early or "Classic" HDN (also called Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding) occurs in the first week of life. It is an iatrogenic condition, meaning that it is caused by medical care:
- premature clamping/cutting of the umbilical cord deprives babies of up to 40% of their natural blood volume, including platelets and other clotting factors
- the use of vacuum extractor or forceps often causes bruising or internal bleeding, which uses up the baby's available clotting factors
- the use of antibiotics inhibits the baby's generation of clotting factors
Late-onset HDN
- For breastfed infants, an oral vitamin K preparation (Konakion MM) given in 3 doses of 2 mg at birth, 7 days, and 30 days of life results in higher plasma vitamin K concentrations than a single injected dose at birth. [The preparation must be Konakion MM, which contains lecithin and glycocholic acid; vitamin K requires emulsification and the presence of bile salts for its absorption.] (Greer et al, Arch Dis Child. 1998 Oct;79(4):300-5.) [Konakion MM Paediatric from the manufacturer, Roche, including administration instructions.]
No comments:
Post a Comment