Some Alberta doctors say they're seeing a troubling recent trend of new parents either questioning or refusing vitamin K injections that have been given to newborns as standard practice for decades.
Canadian babies are regularly exposed toeven vitamin K injections because they are usually born with low levels of the vitamin, which is important for blood clotting and preventing serious bleeding.
Canadian Pediatric Societyalong with other renowned medical organizations, recommends that all children be vaccinated within six hours of birth.
“I'm seeing a significant increase in people saying they don't want to give vitamin K to their baby,” said Calgary high-risk obstetrician Dr. Stephanie Cooper.
Cooper said parents tell her they don't trust the injections but can't explain why.
Others, she said, are falling victim to misinformation on social media sites such as TikTok, and some parents mistakenly believe the injection causes autism.
“I'm concerned because this is just one of many things where people make choices about medical decisions … and use sources of information that are not based on science, experience or evidence,” she said, noting that she has noticed a change over the past couple of years.
“There will be people who will potentially follow this trend… and tragedies will result.”
Risk of serious bleeding
Babies are usually born with low levels of vitamin K, which is one of the factors needed for blood clotting, since very little vitamin K passes through the placenta. Breast milk does not contain significant amounts of vitamin K, and it takes time for babies to develop the ability to produce it themselves.
Calgary pediatrician Dr. Carra Bouma said vitamin K injections have been administered safely for decades.
“This has been the standard of care in Canada since the '80s and recommended since the '60s,” she said.
According to Bouma, who works at the Peter Lougheed Centre, Alberta Children's Hospital and has a community practice, children who do not receive a vitamin K shot into the thigh muscle are at risk of spontaneous bleeding.
“I have serious concerns that infants may experience complications from serious and preventable side effects, such as serious intestinal bleeding or serious brain hemorrhage, which could leave the baby with life-long disabilities such as cerebral palsy or the need for intensive care unit care,” Bouma said.
Doctors warn that bleeding can also occur during procedures such as circumcision or tongue tying.
According to US Centers for Disease ControlThe condition, known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB), can develop any time in the first six months of a baby's life and can lead to brain damage and even death.
“If a child has a stroke because they don't have enough vitamin K, we can't go back and stop the stroke. We can't reverse the injury,” Cooper said.
Although the vast majority of families Bouma sees agree to receive vitamin K shots, she sees growing hesitancy.
“The families I've found over the last year or so have been reluctant to take the injection; they wanted to give medications orally,” she said.
These parents, she said, also refuse the drops sold at the hospital pharmacy and prefer to purchase them themselves, which also worries her.
The Canadian Pediatric Society recommends injections instead of drops, which should be given over several weeks. He warns that parents should be warned that the drops are not as effective and that children receiving them remain at risk of bleeding, including brain bleeding.
Bouma said a lack of trust appears to be at the root of some of the resistance she's seeing.
“It has an excellent safety profile. There are really no downsides to taking vitamin K and no side effects other than the injections,” she said, noting that those side effects may include some pain and bruising at the injection site.
American organization notes increase in vitamin K refusal
Another major medical organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, has noted increased resistance from parents.
“In recent years, the number of parents who refuse [vitamin K injections] for their newborn children and a consequent increase in late-onset VKDB cases,” the association said in its 2022 policy statement.
“Because VKDB remains a relatively rare occurrence, most families are unaware of the serious consequences of the disease and should be informed of the risk of failure.”
Publicly available data shows vitamin K intake among newborns in Alberta has risen to 95.71 per cent in 2023 from 92.76 per cent in 2007.
CBC News asked Alberta and Provincial Health Services for more recent data. None of them gave an answer.
Older data shows a fall in consumption in the southern zone (to 94.05 percent in 2023 from 97.3 percent in 2007). The northern zone remained relatively stable, with rates of 93.9 percent in 2023 and 94.04 percent in 2007. The remaining zones showed general growth.
the province has identified a similar problem more than a decade ago, indicating clusters with higher failure rates in Grand Prairie County in the North Zone, Cochrane and Springbank areas in the Calgary Zone, and Red Deer County in the Central Zone.
At that time, recommendations were made to increase parental awareness of the health risks associated with not taking vitamin K.
