The Health Council already gave the advice to inject vitamin K in 2017. This concerns babies who are breastfed. For newborns who are bottle-fed, the current oral administration of vitamin K is sufficient. This vitamin is also in the type of food they receive. However, this does not apply to babies who are breastfed. They absorb the vitamin less well and therefore run a greater risk of bleeding, the Health Council stated in 2017.
An increase in the oral dose in 2011 did not reduce bleeding, so it recommends an intramuscular (through muscle tissue) injection of one milligram of vitamin K for newborn breastfed babies.
Oral alternative
The Health Council understands that there are parents who do not want their children injected and advises these parents to give their child two milligrams of vitamin K three times orally. This should then be done immediately after birth, after four to six days and after four to six weeks. Nothing changes for babies who are bottle-fed from the start. With the advice, the council hopes to reduce the number of annual bleeding.
Good information
According to midwife Margot van Dijk, it is important that parents and midwives know that there is an alternative. She can imagine that not all midwives want to inject a baby just like that. Van Dijk also thinks that the Health Council’s proposed alternative is just as effective. “The only reason that has not been chosen now is that the injection seemed to work just a little better. But the sick babies in the study had all not received the full vitamin K dose,” she said in an interview with Algemeen Dagblad.
By: National Care Guide
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