Vitamin k shot and eye ointment for baby at birth

[RainbowSprinkles]

I never questioned before... Am about to google it. But wanted to see what opinions are on the vitamin k shot and the eye ointment on this board.

 

Did you do it? Did you decline? Why?

[TXBeth]

I allowed the eye ointment even though I think it's probably unnecessary, simply because it is not risky.

 

I declined the Vitamin K shots because it inflicts pain for no reason.

[PentecostalMom]

We do not do the eye ointment. Vitamin K we plan to do with this baby because it is a boy and we will have him circumcised at the hospital. Vitamin K promotes blood clotting which is the only reason we will give it. If my memory serves, the body beging to create it's own K at around day 8, so I see no reason to give it to a girl.

 

However, now that you have me thinking about it, I will do more research myself! We may change that decision. We haven't done anything since ds was born in 1993. Both dd's had nothing done at birth.

[Veritaserum]

I skipped both because I do not have STDs (no need for abx eye drops) and none of my babies have had bruising or a need for neonatal surgery (no need for Vit K). I do allow fetal blood from the placenta and cord to pump into the baby prior to clamping.

[higginszoo]

We didn't do the eye ointment, but did do the vitamin K since dh has a genetic clotting disorder (not hemophilia, but similar though not as severe), and it was impossible to tell at birth if any of the dc had inherited it.

[SonshineLearner]

if you wanna do the k, you can do it in pill.. smushed with breast milk or whatever... given... and the ointment... if there's a problem... there's still time ;)

[Sandy in Indy]

Skipped the eye ointment but did have Vit K for our boys.

[Whereneverever]

I skipped both because I do not have STDs (no need for abx eye drops) and none of my babies have had bruising or a need for neonatal surgery (no need for Vit K). I do allow fetal blood from the placenta and cord to pump into the baby prior to clamping.

:iagree:

[Mrs Mungo]

The hospitals in Germany did oral vitamin k, so we did both with the younger ones after they nursed the first time.

[chepyl]

We did the ointment and vitamin K for both kids. They don't really give a choice here on the ointment. We did not do the Hep B shot.

[kalanamak]

I wasn't offered K. I did the drops, because unless *I* was completely celibate after a negative test, one just never knows (even you ladies who are sure you do), and I think the risk:benefit ratio is favorable.

 

I did decline the hearing screen. It would have delayed us hours, and I thought I'd notice a problem early at home. Indeed, after having my dog bark daily at my gravid abdomen for 3 months before birth, kiddo would pause fussing when he heard our beloved girl barking in the other room.

Edited September 20, 2011 by kalanamak
spelling, again

[LittleIzumi]

I skipped both because I do not have STDs (no need for abx eye drops) and none of my babies have had bruising or a need for neonatal surgery (no need for Vit K). I do allow fetal blood from the placenta and cord to pump into the baby prior to clamping.

:iagree: and no Hep B either.

[LMD]

declined here too (hep B + vit K, not sure what eye ointment is?), but I made sure the midwives didn't allow the cord to be cut until it stopped pulsing. I would have agreed to vit K if the birth was long/traumatic for baby (bruising).

[nd293]

DD was a homebirth, and our midwife advised that neither was necessary. My own research confirmed this.

 

DS was an emergency C-section. He was struggling to breathe, and I declined the offer to hold him immediately in preference to them taking him off the the high care unit - I have absolutely no idea what they did to him, and once it was done there seemed no point in asking about it.

 

In other words: - my preference is against unnecessary intervention, but I don't think either the giving or withholding of eye ointment or Vit K are critical decisions.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

We did the ointment and vitamin K for both kids. They don't really give a choice here on the ointment. We did not do the Hep B shot.

 

 

:confused: My son was born in an Oklahoma hospital and I declined the ointment.

[RainbowSprinkles]

Thank you for the replies. I will talk to my midwife on Thursday about them too and get her opinion, but I'm 90% sure I will decline both the vitamin K and the eye ointment. (I was already going to decline the HepB shot and she knows that.)

 

Thanks again!

[Pretty in Pink]

We have always done both Vit. K and the eye ointment. We did delay Hep. B with our 3rd and 4th sons while we were sorting through all of the vaccination information out there. This baby will receive the Hep. B vaccine at birth.

[Hannah C.]

My mother declined the vitamin K shot with all of my siblings. Then one of them developed late onset vitamin K deficiency. Thankfully it manifested as blood in the stool and spitup. Usually there are no symptoms until the brain hemorrhage. Because she showed symptoms she was able to get treatment and she's fine today.

 

Because of what happened to my sibling, I wanted the vitamin K shot for DD. They also did the eye ointment. In TX it's recently become mandatory. I think you can get around it, but it's complicated and I didn't really mind. The midwife didn't do the Hep B shot so it was easy to avoid that one, as we didn't go to a pediatrician until later.

[RainySunday]

(homebirths here) We didn't do the eye ointment, as knowing my personal history, it was unneeded, and can interfere with baby's eyesight in those first few hours. We didn't do the K shot, but did do oral vitK drops on a schedule for the first few weeks. We also don't do Hep B at birth

[abbeyej]

I decline. The drops are unnecessary based on lifestyle. I would do vitamin K for a child who had a traumatic birth (bruising, etc) or who was facing surgery, etc. I also make sure that the cord is *not* cut right away so that the baby has the benefit of receiving all of the cord blood.

[Momof3littles]

I did eye ointment w/ my first but not my 2nd birth (birth center) or 3rd birth (HB). This was an easy decision for me.

 

I did vit K with my oldest, but not with baby #2 or #3. I think that was the toughest to decide on of the 3, when looking at the evidence. I would say that one is one to weigh carefully.

 

When my DS1 was a baby, our very mainstream ped asked us to wait until the 2 month visit for Hep B. We did it at that time. I didn't give baby #2 or #2 the Hep B vaccine.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Momof3littles

[Slartibartfast]

We declined the ointment, I allowed Vit K because it was a rough pregnancy and birth.

[Nakia]

We did both for all three girls.

[ElizaG]

We do the vitamin K; we've heard stories of a few cases of hemorrhage and are unwilling to take the risk, even if it's small. We don't do the eye ointment. They make us sign a waiver form, and the pediatrician on call has hassled us about it a couple of times.

[PentecostalMom]

Well, to update my initial response.....after reading more about all of the newborn procedures, we have decided to do the same thing we did with both dd's, nothing. If the birth turns traumatic, of course we would reconsider. We have a midwife this time, but no birth centers nor home birth options nearby, so we are going to a hospital. My pediatrician is two hours away (one that does not hassle us about vaccinations) and I have a nurse friend locally that has found a pediatrician that will accomodate my in hospital wishes.

[Tigger]

We do not do the eye ointment. Vitamin K we plan to do with this baby because it is a boy and we will have him circumcised at the hospital. Vitamin K promotes blood clotting which is the only reason we will give it. If my memory serves, the body beging to create it's own K at around day 8, so I see no reason to give it to a girl.

 

 

 

We did the vitamin K with both DS's since they were getting circumsized and declined the antibiotic eye ointment since both were delivered via c-section. We also declined the HepB.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Tigger

[Elizabeth in MN]

We refused based on the fact that in elbenty billion years of evolution I think the newborn has all the vit K it needs, and I had a c-section so all those "evil" bacteria that are in my vagina never met the baby.

[StaceyinLA]

though we did do eye meds, even at my home birth (though we waited until initial nursing time). My dh was not faithful and, even though I never had a problem with anything, I felt it was necessary to be sure my babies were protected. I didn't circumcise, so it wasn't an issue with my ds, but, even if I would have, I would've waited until day 8 and taken him to a urologist.

 

Dd did the eye drops after dgs' birth because she had a questionable pap smear, and it just wasn't worth the risk. She did Vitamin K even though she did not circumcise dgs because the hospital there was EXTREMELY pushy about it (and they weren't about many things), she had a long labor and dgs' head was positioned face forward for a while before straightening and coming on out. He also had a very tight cord around his neck and had to be resuscitated. I think at that point she just wasn't willing to risk a possible unknown, so she agreed to it.

 

They didn't give her nearly the grief for refusing the Hep B, although it was a military hospital and they are very much pro-vax.

[JessicaLady]

I allowed the eye ointment even though I think it's probably unnecessary, simply because it is not risky.

 

 

We decline the ointment for baby #2 b/c my son DID have an allergic reaction to the ointment. His eyes were swollen, red and blistered for several weeks after delivery. He now has permanent (although fading) scars.

 

J

[Quiver0f10]

The hospitals in Germany did oral vitamin k, so we did both with the younger ones after they nursed the first time.

 

I did oral Vit K with my last one, who was born at home. We skipped the eye ointment.

[funschooler5]

We had both with our first two babies (hospital births). We declined with our 3rd, which was a homebirth. We will do the same for baby #4.

 

ETA: We also did delayed cord cutting with baby #3, and plan to do so with #4.

Edited September 21, 2011 by funschooler5

[Sputterduck]

We refused both at birth but got the Vitamin K shot at 1 week because the ped literally scared us into it. He had a read a case where the parents brought in a very sick baby and were accused of all sorts of abuse and the law was called and then their ped realized the baby had had no vit. K shot and that was the cause of his illness. It was rather scary for a week postpartum and a first time mother.

[happypamama]

We have skipped the eye ointment with all of our babies; I do not have any STDs, and if I have to worry about that, I have bigger concerns on my plate (like HIV). Sometimes that has meant signing a waiver stating that we were offered it and declined it. I'm cool with that. I didn't want anything interfering with their eyesight, and also, we have allergies to a lot of drugs in the family, including erythromycin, so I don't particularly want to take any chances there.

 

I wanted to skip the vitamin K with DD, but the midwives were pretty firm on it. It wasn't a huge deal to me, whereas the eye ointment was. She was born sunny-side-up, so maybe it was warranted. With DS1, I wanted to wait and see if the vitamin K was warranted, and the MW was cool with that, but then she felt his birth was a little rough and that the vitamin K was a good idea. She was hands-off otherwise, so I felt okay with that. With the two little boys, we would only have done the vitamin K if the MW felt it was necessary; she did not in either case (and we have not circumcised), so we skipped the vitamin K shot. We also do delayed cord cutting, and for at least one baby, that was really, really important.

[pfamilygal]

Declined both and hep b for the last 3.

[juelle]

We decline, and sign off on the refusals. If there were cause to need either, I would reconsider. We also vaccinate only after 6 mos, on a delayed schedule.

[zookeeper]

We followed the rules blindly with the first 5. Skipped K and the eye ointment with #6 and the on-call ped called CPS. :glare: Found a ped willing to work with us for #7 and had no problems declining everything and leaving the hospital 6 hours later.