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Vitamin K for your baby

Front cover of Vitamin K for your baby
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Gold Members: 
		Download the Womens booklet
Platinum Members: 
		Download the fully referenced booklet
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At birth, a baby is born with very low stores of this vitamin and these are then quickly used up over the first few days of life. Once milk feeds are established the baby then gradually builds up its own stores. The initial low levels just after birth can leave a baby vulnerable to severe bleeding (haemorrhage) because they are less able to form blood clots.

They can also develop a condition referred to as vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) which is a rare but very serious condition that affects 1 in 10,000 babies. Therefore, the current advice is that levels of vitamin K should be increased for the first few weeks of life to offer protection until a baby starts to produce its own vitamin K stores, which will then minimise the risk of this condition. This leaflet looks at the current evidence around vitamin K and how it can be given to your baby.

To view the full text on this topic, you can either purchase the individual topic PDF or sign-up to a Gold membership. Gold members have unrestricted access to all 25 information topics.



Contributors include:
Mr. Peter Young, MB; ChB; MRCOG;
Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist
Prof. Moira Plant, RN; RMN; PhD;
Professor of Alcohol Studies
Anne Viccars, MA; BSc (Hons); PGDipEd; RM; RN;
Senior Lecturer in Midwifery
Dr. AP Madden, MA; BM; BCh; FRCA;
Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr. Julie Dallison, MSc; DPhil
Dr. Jenny Ingram, PhD; BSc (Hons)
Dr. Mary Stewart, PhD; RN; RM; ADM; BSc (Hons);
MSc; PGDipHE
Prof. Christine MacArthur, PhD;
Professor of Maternal and Child Epidemiology
Dr. Sally Marchant, PhD; RN; RM; ADM; DipEd
Prof. JG Thornton, MD; FRCOG;
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Rona McCandlish, RM; RMN; RN; MSc (Epid);
Sarah Beake, MSc; RM; RN; Research Midwife
Prof. Alison Macfarlane, BA; Dip Stat; C Stat; FFPH;
Professor of Perinatal Health
April Bolding, DPT; Childbirth Educator; Doula, USA
Dr. Helen Churchill, PhD; BA (Hons); Senior Lecturer
Dr. Louise Howard, PhD; MSc; MRCP; MRC Psych;
Senior Lecturer in Women's Mental Health
Sharon Hodgkiss, RN; RM; DipHE; BSc (Hons); MPH;
West Midlands Regional NSC Antenatal & Child Health
Screening Coordinator
Vicky Carne, MSc; BA (Hons); ADM; RM; RN;
Head of Midwifery, MIDIRS
Glenda Augustine, MPH; BSc (Hons); RM; DipHV, RGN
Debra Kroll, MSc; PGCEA; ADM; RM; RN;
Midwifery Lecturer in Practice
Michelle Lynn, BEd (Hons); ADM; RM; RN;
Midwifery Advisor, Nursing and Midwifery Council
Chrissie Hammonds, MSc; RM; RN;
Midwife Ultrasonographer
Sara Wickham, MA; BA (Hons); RM; PGCE (A);
Midwife & Author
Dr. Sandy Oliver, PhD; BA; Reader in Public Policy
Sally Cottrell, RM; BSc; MSc; MICG; NNEB; Consultant
Midwife Public Health, Women & Family
Dr. Gillian Flett, FRCOG; FFSRH; MIPM; Consultant in
Sexual and Reproductive Health Clinical Lead, NHS Grampian
Amanda Mansfield, BSc (Hons); MSc; RM;
Consultant Midwife
Dr. Joyshri Sarangi, MBBS (Lond.); MBA; MRCP (UK);
MRCGP; FFPH; Consultant in Communicable Disease Control

Purchase this item Gold Members: 
	Download the Womens booklet Platinum Members: 
	Download the fully referenced booklet

There is a minimum purchase of 2 booklets, or why not subscribe to access all the information - starting at just £12.95 for a Gold membership.

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Registered office: 9 Elmdale Road, Clifton, Bristol. BS8 1SL. Email: support@choicesforbirth.org. Tel: 0800 581 009.
Terms & Conditions

The MIDIRS Informed Choice website is provided for reference information only. MIDIRS is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made by a user based on the content of the website. Although great care is taken to ensure reference information is both suitable and accurate, MIDIRS is not liable for the contents of any external internet sites referenced, nor does it endorse any commercial product or service mentioned or advised on any of these sites.


Informed Choice titles
Support in labour
Listening to your baby`s heartbeat during labour
Ultrasound scans - what you need to know
Alcohol and pregnancy
Positions for labour and birth
Epidural pain relief in labour
Feeding your baby - breast or bottle?
Is my baby alright?
If your baby is in the breech position, what are your choices?
Where will you have your baby?
Do you want a waterbirth?
When your baby is overdue
Eating well - for your baby and for you
Non-epidural pain relief
Caring for yourself and feeling well after you have had your baby
How will your baby be born?
Caesarean section and subsequent births
Vitamin K for your baby
Information for women who are Rhesus negative
Mood changes after childbirth
Sickle cell and thalassaemia disorders: screening offered to mothers and babies
Sexual health and contraception before and after childbirth
Anaemia - preventing, detecting and treatment in pregnancy and beyond
Infections in pregnancy - prevention, detection and treatment
Health for parenthood - practical advice on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle for you and your baby