Only 6 weeks to go! I'm starting to hope its even less than that. Summertime is here and I'm ready to enjoy some time with our new precious baby girl.
July 21, 2012
July 17, 2012
33 weeks, 3 days
That point in pregnancy where all your shirts start to roll up. Just over 6 weeks left!
July 10, 2012
Vitamin K Shots for Newborns
Chris and I decided not to give Brenden the Vitamin K shot as recommended by our midwives and we were so glad that we made that decision and this article just kind of validates our decision.
Vitamin K at Birth: To Inject or Not
Posted By Dr. Ben Kim Children's Health Issues Healthy Pregnancy
Before my wife gave birth to our first child, our primary midwife asked us to think about whether we wanted our child to receive a vitamin K shot after he was born or not.
Vitamin K shots are routinely administered to newborn babies because 1.8 out of every 100,000 babies who do not receive vitamin K injections suffer permanent injury or death due to uncontrolled bleeding in the brain that may be the result of having extremely low levels of vitamin K in their systems.
Our instinct was to decline the shot for our baby, but after our midwife gave the vitamin K shot a strong endorsement due to an experience she had of seeing an non-injected baby die from intracranial bleeding, we felt enough uncertainty to go with her recommendation.
Most fortunately, our son had no problems with his injection and is thriving as he approaches 22 months of age.
In preparing to welcome our second child this coming summer, we recently decided to do some more research into the pros and cons of giving vitamin K shots to newborns. After reading through several papers and discussing the matter over many days, we decided that for our second child, we will decline the vitamin K shot.
After reading about some of the potential problems that can result from administering vitamin K shots to newborns, we decided that we feel more comfortable having my wife each plenty of vitamin K-rich foods late in her pregnancy and while she nurses our baby.
What follows is the most balanced and informative article on this topic that we encountered during our research. If this topic is of interest to you, please be sure to read the entire article that follows. Do not be alarmed when you first encounter the references to vitamin K shots being linked with an increased risk of developing cancer. When you get to the section that is subtitled "The Numbers," you will see that the statistics do not clearly favor giving or not giving a vitamin K shot to newborns.
If you are expecting to have a baby, we hope that you find this information to be useful as you make a decision that feels right for your unique circumstances.
***
Reprinted from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Newsletter, September/October 2002 Issue
UPDATED May 19, 2004
by Linda Folden Palmer, DC (http://babyreference.com)
Newborn infants routinely receive a vitamin K shot after birth in order to prevent (or slow) a rare problem of bleeding into the brain weeks after birth. Vitamin K promotes blood clotting. The fetus has low levels of vitamin K as well as other factors needed in clotting. The body maintains these levels very precisely.(1) Supplementation of vitamin K to the pregnant mother does not change the K status of the fetus, confirming the importance of its specific levels.
Toward the end of gestation, the fetus begins developing some of the other clotting factors, developing two key factors just before term birth.(2) It has recently been shown that this tight regulation of vitamin K levels helps control the rate of rapid cell division during fetal development. Apparently, high levels of vitamin K can allow cell division to get out of hand, leading to cancer.
What's the Concern?
The problem of bleeding into the brain occurs mainly from 3 to 7 weeks after birth in just over 5 out of 100,000 births (without vitamin K injections); 90% of those cases are breastfed infants (3) because formulas are supplemented with unnaturally high levels of vitamin K. Forty percent of these infants suffer permanent brain damage or death.
The cause of this bleeding trauma is generally liver disease that has not been detected until the bleeding occurs. Several liver problems can reduce the liver's ability to make blood-clotting factors out of vitamin K; therefore extra K helps this situation. Infants exposed to drugs or alcohol through any means are especially at risk, and those from mothers on anti-epileptic medications are at very high risk and need special attention.
Such complications reduce the effectiveness of vitamin K, and in these cases, a higher level of available K could prevent the tragic intracranial bleeding. This rare bleeding disorder has been found to be highly preventable by a large-dose injection of vitamin K at birth.
The downside of this practice however is a possibly 80% increased risk of developing childhood leukemia. While a few studies have refuted this suggestion, several tightly controlled studies have shown this correlation to be most likely.(4,5) The most current analysis of six different studies suggests it is a 10 or 20% increased risk. This is still a significant number of avoidable cancers.(6)
Apparently the cell division that continues to be quite rapid after birth continues to depend on precise amounts of vitamin K to proceed at the proper rate. Introduction of levels that are 20,000 times the newborn level, the amount usually injected, can have devastating consequences.
The Newborn's Diet
Nursing raises the infant's vitamin K levels very gradually after birth so that no de-regulation occurs that would encourage leukemia development. Additionally, the clotting system of the healthy newborn is well planned, and healthy breastfed infants do not suffer bleeding complications, even without any supplementation.(7)
While breastfed infants demonstrate lower blood levels of vitamin K than the "recommended" amount, they show no signs of vitamin K deficiency (leading one to wonder where the "recommended" level for infants came from). But with vitamin K injections at birth, harmful consequences of some rare disorders can be averted.
Infant formulas are supplemented with high levels of vitamin K, generally sufficient to prevent intracranial bleeding in the case of a liver disorder and in some other rare bleeding disorders. Although formula feeding is seen to increase overall childhood cancer rates by 80%, this is likely not related to the added vitamin K.
The Numbers
Extracting data from available literature reveals that there are 1.5 extra cases of leukemia per 100,000 children due to vitamin K injections, and 1.8 more permanent injuries or deaths per 100,000 due to brain bleeding without injections. Adding the risk of infection or damage from the injections, including a local skin disease called "scleroderma" that is seen rarely with K injections (8), and even adding the possibility of healthy survival from leukemia, the scales remain tipped toward breastfed infants receiving a prophylactic vitamin K supplementation. However, there are better options than the .5 or 1 milligram injections typically given to newborns.
A Better Solution
The breastfed infant can be supplemented with several low oral doses of liquid vitamin K9 (possibly 200 micrograms per week for 5 weeks, totaling 1 milligram, even more gradual introduction may be better). Alternatively, the nursing mother can take vitamin K supplements daily or twice weekly for 10 weeks. (Supplementation of the pregnant mother does not alter fetal levels but supplementation of the nursing mother does increase breast milk and infant levels.)
Either of these provides a much safer rate of vitamin K supplementation. Maternal supplementation of 2.5 mg per day, recommended by one author, provides a higher level of vitamin K through breast milk than does formula (10), and may be much more than necessary.
Formula provides 10 times the U.S. recommended daily allowance," and this RDA is about 2 times the level in unsupplemented human milk. One milligram per day for 10 weeks for mother provides a cumulative extra 1 milligram to her infant over the important period and seems reasonable. Neither mother nor infant require supplementation if the infant is injected at birth. (11)
The Bottom Line
There is no overwhelming reason to discontinue this routine prophylactic injection for breastfed infants. Providing information about alternatives to allow informed parents to refuse would be reasonable. These parents may then decide to provide some gradual supplementation, or, for an entirely healthy term infant, they may simply provide diligent watchfulness for any signs of jaundice (yellowing of eyes or skin) or easy bleeding.
There appears to be no harm in supplementing this vitamin in a gradual manner however. Currently, injections are provided to infants intended for formula feeding as well, although there appears to be no need as formula provides good gradual supplementation. Discontinuing routine injections for this group alone could reduce cases of leukemia.
One more curious look at childhood leukemia is the finding that when any nation lowers its rate of infant deaths, their rate of childhood leukemia increases.(12) Vitamin K injections may be responsible for some part of this number, but other factors are surely involved, about which we can only speculate.
Note from Ben Kim: To learn more about Dr. Linda Folden Palmer and her work, please visit: BabyReference.com.
Vitamin K at Birth: To Inject or Not
Posted By Dr. Ben Kim Children's Health Issues Healthy Pregnancy
Before my wife gave birth to our first child, our primary midwife asked us to think about whether we wanted our child to receive a vitamin K shot after he was born or not.
Vitamin K shots are routinely administered to newborn babies because 1.8 out of every 100,000 babies who do not receive vitamin K injections suffer permanent injury or death due to uncontrolled bleeding in the brain that may be the result of having extremely low levels of vitamin K in their systems.
Our instinct was to decline the shot for our baby, but after our midwife gave the vitamin K shot a strong endorsement due to an experience she had of seeing an non-injected baby die from intracranial bleeding, we felt enough uncertainty to go with her recommendation.
Most fortunately, our son had no problems with his injection and is thriving as he approaches 22 months of age.
In preparing to welcome our second child this coming summer, we recently decided to do some more research into the pros and cons of giving vitamin K shots to newborns. After reading through several papers and discussing the matter over many days, we decided that for our second child, we will decline the vitamin K shot.
After reading about some of the potential problems that can result from administering vitamin K shots to newborns, we decided that we feel more comfortable having my wife each plenty of vitamin K-rich foods late in her pregnancy and while she nurses our baby.
What follows is the most balanced and informative article on this topic that we encountered during our research. If this topic is of interest to you, please be sure to read the entire article that follows. Do not be alarmed when you first encounter the references to vitamin K shots being linked with an increased risk of developing cancer. When you get to the section that is subtitled "The Numbers," you will see that the statistics do not clearly favor giving or not giving a vitamin K shot to newborns.
If you are expecting to have a baby, we hope that you find this information to be useful as you make a decision that feels right for your unique circumstances.
***
Reprinted from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association Newsletter, September/October 2002 Issue
UPDATED May 19, 2004
by Linda Folden Palmer, DC (http://babyreference.com)
Newborn infants routinely receive a vitamin K shot after birth in order to prevent (or slow) a rare problem of bleeding into the brain weeks after birth. Vitamin K promotes blood clotting. The fetus has low levels of vitamin K as well as other factors needed in clotting. The body maintains these levels very precisely.(1) Supplementation of vitamin K to the pregnant mother does not change the K status of the fetus, confirming the importance of its specific levels.
Toward the end of gestation, the fetus begins developing some of the other clotting factors, developing two key factors just before term birth.(2) It has recently been shown that this tight regulation of vitamin K levels helps control the rate of rapid cell division during fetal development. Apparently, high levels of vitamin K can allow cell division to get out of hand, leading to cancer.
What's the Concern?
The problem of bleeding into the brain occurs mainly from 3 to 7 weeks after birth in just over 5 out of 100,000 births (without vitamin K injections); 90% of those cases are breastfed infants (3) because formulas are supplemented with unnaturally high levels of vitamin K. Forty percent of these infants suffer permanent brain damage or death.
The cause of this bleeding trauma is generally liver disease that has not been detected until the bleeding occurs. Several liver problems can reduce the liver's ability to make blood-clotting factors out of vitamin K; therefore extra K helps this situation. Infants exposed to drugs or alcohol through any means are especially at risk, and those from mothers on anti-epileptic medications are at very high risk and need special attention.
Such complications reduce the effectiveness of vitamin K, and in these cases, a higher level of available K could prevent the tragic intracranial bleeding. This rare bleeding disorder has been found to be highly preventable by a large-dose injection of vitamin K at birth.
The downside of this practice however is a possibly 80% increased risk of developing childhood leukemia. While a few studies have refuted this suggestion, several tightly controlled studies have shown this correlation to be most likely.(4,5) The most current analysis of six different studies suggests it is a 10 or 20% increased risk. This is still a significant number of avoidable cancers.(6)
Apparently the cell division that continues to be quite rapid after birth continues to depend on precise amounts of vitamin K to proceed at the proper rate. Introduction of levels that are 20,000 times the newborn level, the amount usually injected, can have devastating consequences.
The Newborn's Diet
Nursing raises the infant's vitamin K levels very gradually after birth so that no de-regulation occurs that would encourage leukemia development. Additionally, the clotting system of the healthy newborn is well planned, and healthy breastfed infants do not suffer bleeding complications, even without any supplementation.(7)
While breastfed infants demonstrate lower blood levels of vitamin K than the "recommended" amount, they show no signs of vitamin K deficiency (leading one to wonder where the "recommended" level for infants came from). But with vitamin K injections at birth, harmful consequences of some rare disorders can be averted.
Infant formulas are supplemented with high levels of vitamin K, generally sufficient to prevent intracranial bleeding in the case of a liver disorder and in some other rare bleeding disorders. Although formula feeding is seen to increase overall childhood cancer rates by 80%, this is likely not related to the added vitamin K.
The Numbers
Extracting data from available literature reveals that there are 1.5 extra cases of leukemia per 100,000 children due to vitamin K injections, and 1.8 more permanent injuries or deaths per 100,000 due to brain bleeding without injections. Adding the risk of infection or damage from the injections, including a local skin disease called "scleroderma" that is seen rarely with K injections (8), and even adding the possibility of healthy survival from leukemia, the scales remain tipped toward breastfed infants receiving a prophylactic vitamin K supplementation. However, there are better options than the .5 or 1 milligram injections typically given to newborns.
A Better Solution
The breastfed infant can be supplemented with several low oral doses of liquid vitamin K9 (possibly 200 micrograms per week for 5 weeks, totaling 1 milligram, even more gradual introduction may be better). Alternatively, the nursing mother can take vitamin K supplements daily or twice weekly for 10 weeks. (Supplementation of the pregnant mother does not alter fetal levels but supplementation of the nursing mother does increase breast milk and infant levels.)
Either of these provides a much safer rate of vitamin K supplementation. Maternal supplementation of 2.5 mg per day, recommended by one author, provides a higher level of vitamin K through breast milk than does formula (10), and may be much more than necessary.
Formula provides 10 times the U.S. recommended daily allowance," and this RDA is about 2 times the level in unsupplemented human milk. One milligram per day for 10 weeks for mother provides a cumulative extra 1 milligram to her infant over the important period and seems reasonable. Neither mother nor infant require supplementation if the infant is injected at birth. (11)
The Bottom Line
There is no overwhelming reason to discontinue this routine prophylactic injection for breastfed infants. Providing information about alternatives to allow informed parents to refuse would be reasonable. These parents may then decide to provide some gradual supplementation, or, for an entirely healthy term infant, they may simply provide diligent watchfulness for any signs of jaundice (yellowing of eyes or skin) or easy bleeding.
There appears to be no harm in supplementing this vitamin in a gradual manner however. Currently, injections are provided to infants intended for formula feeding as well, although there appears to be no need as formula provides good gradual supplementation. Discontinuing routine injections for this group alone could reduce cases of leukemia.
One more curious look at childhood leukemia is the finding that when any nation lowers its rate of infant deaths, their rate of childhood leukemia increases.(12) Vitamin K injections may be responsible for some part of this number, but other factors are surely involved, about which we can only speculate.
Note from Ben Kim: To learn more about Dr. Linda Folden Palmer and her work, please visit: BabyReference.com.
Hand Foot and Mouth Disease
Apparently this is going around. How do I know? Because Brenden has got it! I have to say this is possibly worse than lice. I just feel so bad for the poor little guy. It all started on Saturday when he got a rash just outside of his diaper area. I really just thought that it was heat rash. Chris had put long sleeves and long pants on Brenden and it was another 95 degree day outside. I figured that he had just gotten too hot and got heat rash. I put Brenden in a cold bath that afternoon for about 40 minutes because he had developed a fever of over 101, well after the bath his fever had only gone down to 100.7, so I took the idea of heat rash off of the table and decided to call our doctor to see what else it could possibly be. I gave Dr. Jones a call and he told us that Hand Foot and Mouth Disease has been going around and said that if his rash of red spots got worse then we should take him in. Well we decided to send Brenden to bed early so he could get some rest. I woke Brenden up Sunday morning before church to check to see how he was doing. His legs were all red and blistered, he had blisters between all of toes and his fingers, and even a big one on the roof of his mouth. I decided it was time to do something about it, we couldn't reach our doctor so we took Brenden into the emergency room. They got in to see him really quick! And he in fact does have Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. Dang it! And the suckiest part of it, there is no cure and he had an ear infection on top of that.
We have been dealing with this toddler disease all week this week and it has been a complete nightmare. I'm sure that some children are worse off than Brenden is, but Brenden is always the happiest baby and it hurts me knowing that he is in so much discomfort and its just so sad.
I took him into my appointment yesterday and Dr. Jones took a look at him and he looks to be doing pretty well. He's still eating and walking which are both very good signs. It doesn't seem to really be bothering him, it just look super painful. Yesterday we started putting coconut oil on his legs, I read somewhere that coconut oil is an anti-viral and since this is a viral infection, I thought it would be a good idea. Well, good news, a lot of the blisters are getting smaller and disappearing today! Brenden is starting to look so much better.
I love my little baby boy and I am so happy that he is starting to do so much better!
We have been dealing with this toddler disease all week this week and it has been a complete nightmare. I'm sure that some children are worse off than Brenden is, but Brenden is always the happiest baby and it hurts me knowing that he is in so much discomfort and its just so sad.
I took him into my appointment yesterday and Dr. Jones took a look at him and he looks to be doing pretty well. He's still eating and walking which are both very good signs. It doesn't seem to really be bothering him, it just look super painful. Yesterday we started putting coconut oil on his legs, I read somewhere that coconut oil is an anti-viral and since this is a viral infection, I thought it would be a good idea. Well, good news, a lot of the blisters are getting smaller and disappearing today! Brenden is starting to look so much better.
I love my little baby boy and I am so happy that he is starting to do so much better!
Countdown: 7 weeks, and 4 days!
I can't believe how much time flies when you already have a child, especially one Brenden's age. I am always so busy with Brenden that I don't have that one on one time to focus on this baby's growth and development. Sure I could see this as sad and that I am missing out, but I choose to see it as, I am having so much fun with Brenden and this new little baby will be so loved when she decides to make her appearance.
So what's going on with this third trimester? Well, I can tell you. I just had my 32 week appointment yesterday morning and don't have to have another appointment until August! Great news! I'll go in on August 6th for my 36 week appointment and then start to go in and see the good doctor every week. I feel so incredibly blessed that this pregnancy is going so well! Brenden's pregnancy went alright, I was just so uncomfortable and was sick for a lot of it. But this time everything is going so well and I feel so great about it! My protein levels in my urine have gone down, passed my glucose test with flying colors, my blood pressure is constantly great at every appointment, I don't have any swelling other than it being hot outside, but it never lasts, I have energy, I can breathe still, and baby is measuring right on. The best news, I got to skip the 2 week appointments, YES!
The even better news? Well instead of a September baby, we're looking at an August baby! The doctor says that since this baby is measuring a week and a half past where Brenden was at this point and it being a second pregnancy I'm looking at delivering around 38 weeks! And 38 weeks puts this baby entering this world around August 18th! Which makes me even more nervous. I have done absolutely nothing to prepare! NOTHING! Sure, I've collected some clothes and gotten Brenden a toddler bed, but that about covers it. But part of me can't help but be a little excited as well!
So what's going on with this third trimester? Well, I can tell you. I just had my 32 week appointment yesterday morning and don't have to have another appointment until August! Great news! I'll go in on August 6th for my 36 week appointment and then start to go in and see the good doctor every week. I feel so incredibly blessed that this pregnancy is going so well! Brenden's pregnancy went alright, I was just so uncomfortable and was sick for a lot of it. But this time everything is going so well and I feel so great about it! My protein levels in my urine have gone down, passed my glucose test with flying colors, my blood pressure is constantly great at every appointment, I don't have any swelling other than it being hot outside, but it never lasts, I have energy, I can breathe still, and baby is measuring right on. The best news, I got to skip the 2 week appointments, YES!
The even better news? Well instead of a September baby, we're looking at an August baby! The doctor says that since this baby is measuring a week and a half past where Brenden was at this point and it being a second pregnancy I'm looking at delivering around 38 weeks! And 38 weeks puts this baby entering this world around August 18th! Which makes me even more nervous. I have done absolutely nothing to prepare! NOTHING! Sure, I've collected some clothes and gotten Brenden a toddler bed, but that about covers it. But part of me can't help but be a little excited as well!
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