Vitamin K shots for Newborn Infants

Vitamin K shots for newborns prevent vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB)

Vitamin K shots for newborns are safe and effective, and have been used for decades to prevent catastrophic vitamin K deficiency bleeding.  Pediatricians (including all of us at Piedmont Pediatrics) have been formally recommending vitamin K shots for all newborn babies since 1961.  There has been some misinformation circulating about this shot and so more parents are starting to refuse this important and potentially life-saving vitamin dose.


The reason that newborns need vitamin K shot at birth are:

  • Vitamin K does not pass through the placenta easily so newborns do not get enough vitamin K before birth
  • Newborns are not born with enough of the intestinal bacteria that make vitamin K
  • Breast milk does not provide enough vitamin K to prevent vitamin K deficiency bleeding


If we do not give the vitamin K shot (which is safer and quicker / more effective than oral versions of vitamin K), then newborns are at risk for:

  • Early-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which occurs in the first 24 hours after birth
  • Classical vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which occurs 2 days to 1 week after birth. Classical and early-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding can occur in 1 in 60 newborns who do not get the shot
  • Late-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding (1 week to 6 months after birth), occurs in 1/14,000-1/25,000 infants who don't get the shot


Facts about vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB):

  • 1 out of 5 (20%) of babies with VKDB dies
  • About half of babies with VKDB bleed into their brains, which can lead to permanent brain damage
  • Other babies with VKDB bleed into their stomach or intestines and may need emergency blood transfusions and surgery
  • VKDB can occur quickly, silently, and without warning

Here are some good articles with more information about Vitamin K for neonates: