Re: [ozmidwifery] Maternal Vitamin K?

[Sue Cookson]

Hi Mary, Vitamin K does not appear to cross the placenta in major quantities - some thoughts that low vitamin K levels in baby's blood is to do with the need for cells to replicate at an enormous rate and that high levels of K can inhibit that... (don't have the reference off the top of my head and there is more research looking for the reason...). Vitamin K maternal supplements post birth have been found to increase baby's serum K levels - Greer (not Germaine!) has done reserch on this and was on the NH&MRC party who wrote the last guidelines for Vit K. Apparently colostrum is higher in K than breastmilk due to its fat content which would also mean that hindmilk is higher in K than foremilk - more and more reasons to allow nature to be!! Colostrum also provides the bacteria which initialises production of vit K in the newborn gut. A lot of the vitamin K debate seems to be around the definition of vitamin K deficiency bleeding - having liver function problems or gut problems appears to be the major reason why baby's own supply of K would suffer - and liver problems can be caused by infections with viruses, bacteria, maternal intake of various drugs/poisons, and gut problems being coeliac disease, ulcerative colitis etc. There is no doubt that in 3rd world countries fewer babies die after supplementation of K. The question here would obviously still revolve around maternal and fetal/newborn health/nutrition etc. K is my 'pet' subject through my BMid course. I usually pass on information to parents to assist in their decision making by discussing the fact that not all developed countries routinely give IM Vit K to newborns ; the Netherlands give 1mg oral K at birth then daily supplements of K drops up to 3 months I think, Denmark gives 1mg at birth then weekly and both have levels of VKDB equivalent to those gained by the more invasive IM route. Same sort of riks/benefits as any vaccination concept - oral vs IM route with IM bypassing normal modes of K intake which is either dietary or produced in the gut, IM including preservatives etc within the product. Hope all this helps, Sue Midwives et al...   Is there any way maternal Vitamin K can be accumulated prior to birth and therefore passed on to her baby, in order to prevent the newborn requiring neonatal Vitamin K???   Thanks in anticipation...   Mary Doyle Early Parenting Manager Alpine Health __________ NOD32 1.1454 (20060321) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.nod32.com