Newborns typically receive an injection of vitamin K soon after birth. This substance is a critical component in enabling blood to clot. There is very little transmission of vitamin K across the placenta, in breast milk, or in formula. An oral form of vitamin K does not get absorbed adequately in infants and newborns, so the injection at birth provides a universal safeguard to all infants, as it prevents life-threatening hemorrhage. The American Academy of Pediatrics has been recommending this since the 1960’s.
Adults and children obtain vitamin K from the diet as well as from the gut. bacteria that produces it. This gut bacterial production takes several months to develop, so newborns in the first several months of life are particularly susceptible to consequences of inadequate vitamin K in the clotting process. Lack of vitamin K can lead to minor issues such as bleeding at the umbilical stump in the weeks following birth or easy bruising from a minor bump to severe life-threatening brain hemorrhages and internal bleeding.
Why Not Get This Shot?
In recent years, the vitamin K shot has been lumped with vaccines and conventional medical interventions as a whole, leading to increased resistance in newborns receiving this at birth. Families who are concerned about external medical interventions, especially in the newborn period, and who prefer natural births with no medical treatments, have been more and more reluctant for their babies to receive any injections, including vaccines. While vitamin K is administered as an injection and is not a vaccine, it has become bundled into the anti-vaccine rhetoric, leading to the current unprecedented rise in measles cases in the U.S. Overall lack of public trust of health agencies and health professionals has led to increased resistance of receiving traditional medical care, especially for infants and children.
How Many Newborns Don’t Receive the Vitamin K Shot?
Since 2017, parental refusal of the newborn vitamin K shot has nearly doubled. A study published in JAMA Network in late 2025 reviewed over 5 million newborns between 2017 and 2024 throughout the U.S. In 2017, 2.9% of parents refused the vitamin K shot. In 2024, that percent jumped to 5.1%. The percent rose gradually each year over the seven-year review period. A JAMA Pediatrics review of over 2 million infants born between 2003 and 2021 in Sweden showed a less startling albeit notable rise in vitamin K shot refusal. In 2003, approximately 0.66% newborns did not receive the shot. In 2021, this rose to over 1.5% of newborns.
What Can Happen Without a Vitamin K Shot?
Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding, or VKDB, is a devastating event in a newborn, where the presentation may be that of mental status changes, falling unconscious, or severe intestinal bleeding. The study out of Sweden found that infants who did not receive the shot at birth had a 1.54-fold increased risk of any bleeding, and a 3.18-fold increased risk of bleeding in the brain. These episodes are often hard to diagnose initially, until birth records and absence of vitamin K is identified in each patient. Treatment of VKDB, which can occur in the first days of life to up to six months later, involves administration of vitamin K and occasionally surgical intervention to stop the bleeding. Those with intracranial (brain) bleeding due to VKDB may have permanent neurologic damage.
Unfortunately the general lack of trust of healthcare and traditional treatments is taking a toll on newborns and infants, and will likely not revert until clear messaging and respect for science is returned.
