RE: vitamin K injections for newborns & cord blood

January 7, 2002

Deanna -

I'm pregnant now. I've done a lot of research on the vitamin K issue and the

cord blood. Here is what I learned:

Vitamin K helps blood clot, and it is a necessity if you circumsize a boy,

especially before the 8th day after birth. Interesting that Jews choose the 8th

day to circumsize, because that's about when the baby's body starts to produce

(or synthesize, i'm not sure which) vitamin k itself. There is some vitamin K

in breastmilk that helps the first week, but, from what I understand, not a

significant amount.

My midwives told me that there is a very slim chance of any problems if we don't

do the shot, but it has to be done if a baby boy is circumsized.

Re: cord blood - I'm not sure if this gives the baby vitamin K, but there are

studies which show that allowing the cord to pump blood into the newborn for a

few minutes (until the cord stops pulsating) significantly increases the baby's

red blood cell count, and in many cases eliminates any yellow pallor in the

newborn (which my first one had because we didn't know the importance of letting

the cord blood run out), and it reduces the risk of full-blown jaundice as well.

During this time, the baby is also still receiving oxygen through the cord, and

therefore has more time to get used to breathing on his/her own.

We have decided that we are not going to do the vitamin K shot, and we are going

to let the cord stop pulsating before cutting it (I've been told it actually

just comes out easily without cutting after it's done its job).

We are still going to allow the heel stick test of the baby's blood, which is

routine in California.

we are also going to store cord blood, as we did with our firstborn's. However,

we are told that we can expect to harvest fewer stem cells if we let the cord

blood run out into the baby, but that's the option we're choosing, because we

already have a full harvest of one child's stem cells from the cord. The second

is just a back up. If you want information about teh company we're using for

storage, please contact me separately. They also take the heel stick blood and

test for about 50 additional disorders.

----- Original Message -----

From: Deanna Buck

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 1:22 PM

Subject: vitamin K injections for newborns & cord blood

Is anyone familiar with this practice - giving newborns injections of vitamin

K to help with blood clotting.

I am due at the end of May and have been informed by my Midwife group that

this is routine, although it is optional. However, they are extremely resistant

to my suggestions that the shot is not necessary. It seems to me that if I

consume enough vitamin K, that my baby will have an adequate amount. Plus, it

appears that the shot is given intramuscularly - not my idea of a pleasant

experience for a newborn.

I have read that allowing the baby to receive all of its cord blood might

eliminate the need for vit. K injections. - But, I am unfamiliar with umbilical

cord practices. How does one know that the baby has received all of its cord

blood (and how long does this take)? Is the medical profession familiar with

this?

I would just like to be armed with more information about this practice when I

discuss this again with the Midwives.

Thank you,

Deanna

January 7, 2002

Thank you very much Dana.

None of this really makes sense to me. If infants have low amounts of

vitamin K, and there are low amounts of vitamin K in breast milk - it seems

that nature intended it to be this way.

On another note, have you made any decisions about vaccinating?

Deanna

----- Original Message -----

From: " Dana Milmeister " <danamilmeister@...>

< >

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 4:32 PM

Subject: Re: vitamin K injections for newborns & cord

blood

Deanna -

I'm pregnant now. I've done a lot of research on the vitamin K issue and

the cord blood. Here is what I learned:

Vitamin K helps blood clot, and it is a necessity if you circumsize a boy,

especially before the 8th day after birth. Interesting that Jews choose the

8th day to circumsize, because that's about when the baby's body starts to

produce (or synthesize, i'm not sure which) vitamin k itself. There is some

vitamin K in breastmilk that helps the first week, but, from what I

understand, not a significant amount.

My midwives told me that there is a very slim chance of any problems if we

don't do the shot, but it has to be done if a baby boy is circumsized.

Re: cord blood - I'm not sure if this gives the baby vitamin K, but there

are studies which show that allowing the cord to pump blood into the newborn

for a few minutes (until the cord stops pulsating) significantly increases

the baby's red blood cell count, and in many cases eliminates any yellow

pallor in the newborn (which my first one had because we didn't know the

importance of letting the cord blood run out), and it reduces the risk of

full-blown jaundice as well. During this time, the baby is also still

receiving oxygen through the cord, and therefore has more time to get used

to breathing on his/her own.

We have decided that we are not going to do the vitamin K shot, and we are

going to let the cord stop pulsating before cutting it (I've been told it

actually just comes out easily without cutting after it's done its job).

We are still going to allow the heel stick test of the baby's blood, which

is routine in California.

we are also going to store cord blood, as we did with our firstborn's.

However, we are told that we can expect to harvest fewer stem cells if we

let the cord blood run out into the baby, but that's the option we're

choosing, because we already have a full harvest of one child's stem cells

from the cord. The second is just a back up. If you want information about

teh company we're using for storage, please contact me separately. They

also take the heel stick blood and test for about 50 additional disorders.

----- Original Message -----

From: Deanna Buck

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 1:22 PM

Subject: vitamin K injections for newborns & cord blood

Is anyone familiar with this practice - giving newborns injections of

vitamin K to help with blood clotting.

I am due at the end of May and have been informed by my Midwife group that

this is routine, although it is optional. However, they are extremely

resistant to my suggestions that the shot is not necessary. It seems to me

that if I consume enough vitamin K, that my baby will have an adequate

amount. Plus, it appears that the shot is given intramuscularly - not my

idea of a pleasant experience for a newborn.

I have read that allowing the baby to receive all of its cord blood might

eliminate the need for vit. K injections. - But, I am unfamiliar with

umbilical cord practices. How does one know that the baby has received all

of its cord blood (and how long does this take)? Is the medical profession

familiar with this?

I would just like to be armed with more information about this practice

when I discuss this again with the Midwives.

Thank you,

Deanna

January 7, 2002

I agree re: God's intentions on Vitamin K.

I did one set of vaccinations on my first baby (DPT) and meningitis and then no

more. I didn't like her reaction (listless for a few days), and I was even more

alarmed after reading about mercury content in vaccines. Check out

www.mercola.com for more info. on that front.

we might do one meningitis vaccine shot for this new baby, but only because it's

such a scary disease. Fever that leads to brain swelling and then death soon

after. Not a risk I'm willing to take, especially since a lot of college kids

have been getting the disease in recent years. But we're still undecided on

that one as well, because there is a very low occurrence of meningitis in

breastfed children. We are definitely not doing MMR.

----- Original Message -----

From: Deanna Buck

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 1:52 PM

Subject: Re: vitamin K injections for newborns & cord blood