Highlights:
- A new review of research has found the number of parents refusing vitamin K injections for their newborns is on the rise.
- Vitamin K is an essential vitamin that is naturally low in newborns. Vitamin K at birth is needed to help blood to clot. It is not a vaccine.
- Babies who do not receive vitamin K at birth are at a higher risk of life-threatening brain bleeds and long-term disability.
- While vitamin K refusal remains low, less than 1%, the review found rates of refusal in Minnesota rose from 0.9% in 2015 to 1.6% four years later.
- In California, Connecticut and Iowa, refusal rates ranged from 0.2% to 1.3%, with over half of hospital staff saying they perceived more parents refusing vitamin K.
- Researchers say a rise in vitamin K refusal…