Vitamin K Injections for Infants
Because the child is vitamin K deficient, there is an impaired production of the various coagulation factors that are required for proper blood coagulation. The liver produces these factors.Newborns are relatively vitamin K deficient at birth for various reasons. Prior to birth, the placenta does not pass vitamin K to the baby sufficiently. This means at that the child typically has low stores of the vitamin K at birth. To compound the issue, breast milk has low levels of the vitamin and the gut flora has not yet reached the stage where it can produce vitamin K for the child naturally.
