Why do newborns get a vitamin K shot—and why has it become the center of so much misinformation online?  If you’ve ever hesitated about this newborn standard, this is the episode that brings clarity and calm.

In this episode, I welcome Dr. Jessica Knurick who has a PhD in Nutrition Science to break down the real reason this shot is recommended at birth, the science behind preventing Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB), and where social media gets it wrong. From safety concerns to conspiracy theories, we’re cutting through the noise with evidence, history, and a healthy dose of common sense.

We discuss: 

• Why the vitamin K shot is critical for preventing dangerous bleeding in newborns.

• The science behind VKDB and how misinformation spreads online.

• Evidence-based answers to common myths about vitamin K shot ingredients and safety.

To connect with Dr. Jessica Knurick follow her on Instagram ⁠@drjessicaknurick⁠, check out all her resources at ⁠https://www.jessicaknurick.com/⁠ 

00:00 – Intro and Welcome

01:45 – How Dr. Knurick Got Involved in Vitamin K Education

03:00 – “Eyes and Thighs” and What’s Actually in That Bundle

04:10 – What Does the Vitamin K Shot Actually Do?

09:35 – Is VKDB Really That Rare? Let’s Do the Math

12:00 – Real Clinical Cases of VKDB

14:55 – A Pediatrician’s Perspective on Preventable Harm

17:05 – Why Babies Bleed Without Trauma

20:20 – Shot vs. Oral Vitamin K: What the Data Says

23:00 – Compliance, Safety, and Why Simplicity Matters

25:10 – Advice for Parents Feeling Overwhelmed by Conflicting Info

28:00 – Final Thoughts and Where to Find Dr. Knurick

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00;00;00;01 – 00;00;16;11

Dr. Jessica Knurick

So why are babies low in vitamin K in the first place? Well, vitamin K can’t cross the placenta efficiently. And so there’s not, even if the mother supplements vitamin K, even if the mother’s vitamin K stores are high, the baby is still going to be born low with vitamin K because they’re not getting those nutrients through the placenta.

 

00;00;16;13 – 00;00;29;06

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. They don’t have, back the bacteria in their gut microbiome yet that still has to be developed. So they’re kind of born with sterile gut microbiome. And so they don’t have those bacteria creating vitamin K or synthesizing vitamin K like we do as adults.

 

00;00;29;10 – 00;00;51;17

Dr. Mona

Welcome to the show. It’s me, Doctor Mona, your pediatrician, confidante and mom friend here to help you cut through the noise of parenting in the digital age. You’re listening to the PedsDocTalk podcast, where we mix evidence with empathy and real life experience with a little myth busting magic. Today, we’re talking about a shot that’s not even a vaccine, but still somehow ends up getting tangled in anti-vaccine debates.

 

00;00;51;23 – 00;01;13;19

Dr. Mona

Yet we’re talking about the vitamin K injection, a simple, effective, lifesaving shot that has become weirdly controversial online. But don’t worry, we’re setting the record straight and joining me today is someone who really doesn’t need an introduction. Doctor Jessica Knurick is a nutrition scientist and one of the clearest voices out there when it comes to making sense of public health, nutrition and wellness trends.

 

00;01;13;23 – 00;01;30;12

Dr. Mona

She’s brilliant. She’s grounded, and she’s generously sharing her time with me to talk us through the facts about vitamin K, because that’s just who she is. And if you’re new here, welcome. And if you’ve been tuning in for a while, thank you for being part of what makes this one of the top 30 parenting podcasts in the United States.

 

00;01;30;19 – 00;01;43;26

Dr. Mona

Be sure to subscribe, download, and share so you never miss an episode. And so we can keep bringing you real evidence based conversations every single week. Let’s dive in.

 

00;01;43;29 – 00;01;45;26

Dr. Mona

Thank you for coming back on the show, Jessica.

 

00;01;46;03 – 00;01;47;26

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah, I’m so excited to be back. Thanks.

 

00;01;48;03 – 00;01;59;07

Dr. Mona

Well, I’m excited to have you on again. I loved our last conversation. Like we talked. Like I already said, I’m curious. How did you get down the rabbit hole of fighting vitamin K misinformation online with your platform?

 

00;01;59;09 – 00;02;16;14

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. So I think if I remember correctly, I just someone, somebody that was following me asked me a question about it. And so I made a video basically describing the why we give vitamin K the importance of vitamin K and preventing vitamin K deficiency bleeding. And, why it’s given to all newborns and kind of the history behind it.

 

00;02;16;14 – 00;02;42;29

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And not like I was, it was so innocent. I was just innocently like educating on vitamin K, and the backlash that I received in the comment section was very surprising to me because I just hadn’t. Again, I was kind of like new to content creation. And so that I just started kind of answering those questions. So all of like the criticisms or, I guess the concerns from people, I sometimes don’t like to use the word concern because it’s like almost more than concern.

 

00;02;42;29 – 00;02;45;21

Dr. Jessica Knurick

It’s kind of like blatantly spreading misinformation.

 

00;02;45;21 – 00;02;46;10

Dr. Mona

Right?

 

00;02;46;13 – 00;03;02;19

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And so, so it’s which is so different than like when, when, when a person, when a parent actually comes with a genuine question, which is a concern. Right? I, I’ve, I view those very differently. So yeah, that, that was how I got involved in it. And then it just kind of kept going from there.

 

00;03;02;21 – 00;03;20;00

Dr. Mona

Oh yes. And it keeps on going. I feel like I mean, so I think for a lot of the parents listening, we’re going to get into vitamin K, in this entire episode. But when babies are born, especially in the United States, we do something called the eyes and the thighs. That’s something that nurses will always just say that terminology and maybe they’ll say it in front of you.

 

00;03;20;03 – 00;03;43;17

Dr. Mona

But includes three things. It includes erythromycin ointment, for the eyes, which we’re not talking about that in this episode. It includes a hepatitis B vaccine, and it includes the vitamin K injection, which is what we are talking about on this episode. But as I can attest to and I’m sure Jessica, you’ve heard it too. All three of those things are being attacked as being not necessary for babies, and I will be doing a future YouTube episode about why we give it.

 

00;03;43;17 – 00;04;11;28

Dr. Mona

Whether you can refuse it, why I don’t recommend you refusing it. And why it’s something that is beneficial. But right now we’re going to talk about vitamin K, and I’m so glad that you’re going to be able to provide some of that background and sort of where this sort of misinformation is coming from. And I really appreciate you saying that there is a difference between misinformation or disinformation as well as a true parental concern, because our goal here is to talk about those concerns, which I love talking to my families about why what are the concerns you have?

 

00;04;11;28 – 00;04;26;00

Dr. Mona

How can I, you know, answer those concerns in a way that is obviously evidence based, but also from what I see clinically. So first question for you is what is the purpose of the vitamin K shot and why? Why are newborns at higher risk for vitamin K deficiency?

 

00;04;26;03 – 00;04;50;28

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. So vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin that our bodies, our gut bacteria can, can synthesize some of, but we also have to get it from our diet. So you get it from things like, mostly plants, like, green, green plants. So green leafy vegetables are a big source. And so it’s essential for, something called, preventing vitamin K deficiency bleeding.

 

00;04;50;28 – 00;05;19;27

Dr. Jessica Knurick

It’s essential for blood clotting. So, it acts, it basically, helps to, basically helps to what’s the word? Help blood clotting factors, basically, to be activated. That’s the word I was looking for. Activate blood clotting factors. And so if you don’t have it, those clotting factors can’t activate. And so, which makes the blood not as able to clot, which can lead to things like vitamin K deficiency bleeding.

 

00;05;19;27 – 00;05;55;10

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And so that’s really the importance of vitamin K for everybody, for all, for all humans. All vitamins kind of prevent deficiency diseases or deficiency conditions. And so vitamin C, for example, prevents scurvy, vitamin D prevents being it and vitamin K prevents vitamin K deficiency bleeding. And so prior to 1961, which is when the American Academy of Pediatrics started, as their standard of care, recommending these shots to all infants, decades of research were done because we were trying to figure out, why babies were were dying of these bleeds or having these devastating bleeds.

 

00;05;55;12 – 00;06;16;22

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And they, they identified vitamin K, and they identified that giving vitamin K to babies, helped to prevent these bleeds. And the shot, the vitamin K shot, prevents vitamin K deficiency bleeding and nearly 100% of babies. You can’t really ever say 100%, but it’s it’s as close as you can do it. And so so that’s really why the shot is given and what.

 

00;06;16;22 – 00;06;30;22

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And what are the controversies you’re hearing about it? Especially online. And, you know, even in, you know, practice that you’ve been in. But what are people concerned about in a or what are they, let’s say, what are they spreading misinformation about that that concerns you?

 

00;06;30;24 – 00;06;44;29

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. So I think that, it gets lumped into vaccines a lot. So I think with the anti-vax movement that we’re kind of experiencing right now, it, it people just identify it and think it’s a vaccine. And I see this in my comment section all the time.

 

00;06;44;29 – 00;06;47;14

Dr. Mona

They call it vaccine. It’s not you know.

 

00;06;47;17 – 00;07;16;04

Dr. Jessica Knurick

It’s really not it’s it’s, it’s, it’s vitamin K, and the shot is just the most effective and efficient way to get vitamin K to newborn babies. And so I think that’s one is just identifying what it actually is. I think there’s a misconception about what it actually is. I think also, you can’t just count the fear of just and your you’ve been a brand new mom, and I’ve been a brand new mom, and even me knowing exactly why vitamin K is given to newborn babies.

 

00;07;16;04 – 00;07;29;02

Dr. Jessica Knurick

When I first had my baby and I realized that they were going to put a shot into my baby, I was like, oh no, you know, I knew, you know, like how important it was. It’s still like tugs at your heart and you’re like, but this is my brand new baby. And so I think there’s a fear there.

 

00;07;29;08 – 00;07;52;13

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And and I think so. So there’s an innate fear, and maybe, maybe fear. I think fear is the right word. And then. But you pair that with because again, I even experienced it and I knew the importance and I knew the safety profile of the shot and I knew why it was used. But you pair that with somebody who’s heard a lot of misinformation online about it and, and is already scared that it’s going to hurt their baby.

 

00;07;52;13 – 00;08;17;10

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Right. And I think that that’s kind of a recipe for disaster. It’s really targeting vulnerable populations. And I think that’s why we’re seeing kind of this, this misinformation about it. And so, a lot of what I see is just that, it’s going to hurt babies. I see that it’s which there’s absolutely no evidence of. There’s, there’s this shot again, has been given routinely all around the world, the standard of care to newborn babies.

 

00;08;17;13 – 00;08;41;05

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And in the United States since 1961, and so and so this is not a new thing, right? We have decades and decades, over 60 years of of research, both clinically and in the research space to show that it’s safe and effective. And so there’s just there’s just no evidence of it being harmful. There hasn’t been a single case reported of an infant dying from the vitamin K shot, and it’s saved thousands, millions of lives.

 

00;08;41;07 – 00;08;52;06

Dr. Jessica Knurick

So trying to get that across and trying to show the data of, of kind of what I just said is, is one of the things that I do. I mean, I can go do you want me to just go through all of the other things I hear?

 

00;08;52;09 – 00;09;07;26

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I would love to. I mean, I think this is what this is about, right? And I mean, I will definitely be, attesting to the clinical aspect. You know, we’ll talk about that in a bit. But this is one of those things, that I want us to talk about. And before you get into that, thank you for for differentiating that it is not a vaccine.

 

00;09;07;26 – 00;09;27;12

Dr. Mona

And I already know that these, you know, the happy vaccine is something that parents should get and is is safe to get. Early on. But because it’s something that’s called a shot, I think people assume that, oh, shot equals vaccine. It’s an injection that is a vitamin. And I would love to hear the other misconceptions that you’re hearing.

 

00;09;27;14 – 00;09;33;20

Dr. Mona

Now, let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;09;33;23 – 00;09;54;26

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Oh, yeah. I think, another one is, let’s just kind of talk about, what the stages of vitamin K deficiency bleeding are because I think another one is that it’s super rare. So why are we giving it? So I just want to kind of clarify, why we give it as a prophylactic shot, which means not all babies are going to get a vitamin K deficiency bleeding.

 

00;09;54;26 – 00;10;13;19

Dr. Jessica Knurick

In fact, most babies are not going to experience vitamin K deficiency bleeding, but we give it prophylactically in order to prevent the babies who would otherwise experience vitamin K deficiency bleeding from not getting it or from not, not experiencing consequences from it. So you have something called early vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which is the first 24 hours.

 

00;10;13;24 – 00;10;39;08

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And then you have classic, vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which is from day two to day seven. So that first week, and, and then you have something called late stage vitamin K deficiency bleeding, which is like the second week to six months. And each of those stages poses a certain risk. So estimates suggest that, classic vitamin K deficiency bleeding can occur in anywhere from 250 to 1700 births per 100,000 births.

 

00;10;39;10 – 00;11;02;05

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And so yeah, that that is low. It’s, that’s up to 1.7% of births. Right. Which does not sound high. Yeah. If you think that there’s 4 million births in the United States each year, that’s 68,000 babies at 68,000 babies that were preventing something. That’s 100%, almost 100% preventable, right. With single shot that that has a very strong safety profile.

 

00;11;02;07 – 00;11;20;18

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And so I think when I hear people be like, it’s so it’s such a like it’s not common at all. So why do we need to give it to all the babies? I think there’s just a misunderstanding about like, first of all, how when you say not common, how many babies that actually is each year, right at scale because we’re just talking about 4 million.

 

00;11;20;18 – 00;11;37;07

Dr. Jessica Knurick

But think about it. The world. Right. So at scale. And then also you have to contrast that with like way out the pros and cons and the cons I mean this you can speak to this as a clinician, but the safety profile of this shot is is strong compared to a lot of other things that that are done in medicine.

 

00;11;37;09 – 00;11;59;02

Dr. Mona

Oh, absolutely. I mean, this is and so when you look at that. Right. So yes, I love that you’re talking about numbers and stats. Because when we look at things, what we’re always doing in anything with pediatrics and anybody should be doing this as a clinician is benefit versus risk ratio. Right. So we are taking the benefit of doing an injection like vitamin K, meaning looking at the is there any risk of that that shot.

 

00;11;59;02 – 00;12;15;26

Dr. Mona

And like we said I agree there is there is very, very minimal risk. And the reason I’m not saying no risk is that nothing in life is no risk. I’m not saying it because I believe that it’s a risky thing. I’m saying it because if anybody is using absolutes, whether it’s a clinician or a someone on social media, you got to be careful.

 

00;12;15;26 – 00;12;32;21

Dr. Mona

So that’s why I say very minimal risk, because I have not seen anybody have a risk of vitamin K. We see children tolerate it very well. But I’m never going to say never because it’s a medicine. Right. Like it’s an injection. Like it’s like any antibiotic you take, it’s like anything we take that. Yes we it is very low risk.

 

00;12;32;24 – 00;12;55;10

Dr. Mona

But the thing is, is that although it is a low risk of getting, you know, obviously early classic or late stage vitamin K deficiency bleeding, the outcome of that is very severe. So it’s so if we’re dealing with like giving an injection and I always use this example like if someone’s like, oh we created an injection for hand, foot and mouth, I will never recommend an injection like a vaccine against hand, foot and mouth.

 

00;12;55;10 – 00;13;23;20

Dr. Mona

Why doctor Mona. Because hand. What? A mouth is not killing kids. It’s not causing them to be in, development impaired. But late stage vitamin K deficiency, which I have seen in clinical practice. And so have I seen it a lot. No. In my residency, I saw it three times, okay. Which is not a lot. But when you think about that, that’s one clinician in residency as a resident, seeing it three times all of the situations where children who did not receive vitamin K at birth, okay.

 

00;13;23;22 – 00;13;42;11

Dr. Mona

And it varied. Some of them were early stage. Most of the ones I saw were actually late stage. So between two weeks to six months. So one of them was a three week old. One of them was a five month old, and one of them was a two week old. So I’m seeing it. And the devastation that you see, you’re never going to forget as a clinician, one of them had intracranial hemorrhage is.

 

00;13;42;12 – 00;13;56;09

Dr. Mona

So remember vitamin K is there to help clot blood. So if you don’t have it you’re going to bleed. So they had a brain bleed. And we went through the whole thing. We were like why is this child having a brain bleed. You do all the workup. You think, is it trauma like is, you know, was it abuse?

 

00;13;56;09 – 00;14;14;02

Dr. Mona

What’s going on? And same thing with the other children. This one child I will never forget, it was the three month old who had bleeds down the spinal column and in the brain. So first instinct as a clinician is you’re going to think is this abuse? Right. Like I mentioned because you’re like, why is this kid bleeding? Because when there’s brain bleeds.

 

00;14;14;06 – 00;14;36;02

Dr. Mona

And also hemorrhages or when there’s brain bleeds, you’re going to say, was there abuse there? And we did all the work up. And then we finally realized through the history that the that the parents obviously did not get vitamin K through the evaluation and the clinical exam. That was the reason. And unfortunately, I don’t want to when you get a brain bleed at three months of age, it’s not a great recovery process.

 

00;14;36;02 – 00;14;54;15

Dr. Mona

I mean, yes, the brain is plastic. Yes, I know this is having a child who had a stroke, by the way, who is a whole other, you know, situation. But I know that the brain can heal, but if we can do something to prevent that from happening, I’m going to do it right. And so, yes, three cases for me in my entire career so far.

 

00;14;54;15 – 00;15;13;06

Dr. Mona

But that’s only one person. You’re giving us numbers, you know, six, eight that I mean that is something that we can prevent. And so when I see something that is is the benefit outweighs the risk of getting the injection. And I know that the risk of the illness is pretty severe, even if it’s low. I’m going to recommend that because it’s not something I want for my patients.

 

00;15;13;08 – 00;15;30;10

Dr. Mona

Could they heal from it? Yes. I don’t know what happened to that child because I was a resident, right? I don’t know what that child’s doing five years later or what, ten years later, I don’t know what their developmental outcome is, but I do know that it is a long road of recovery when you have a brain bleed and now need early intervention, you need all of that.

 

00;15;30;10 – 00;15;51;28

Dr. Mona

When we could have prevented that with the injection. And the mom of that case, for example, regretted it. I mean, she was like, she’s like, from a religious standpoint, they didn’t get the vitamin K shot. Right. And I, I understand that certain religions don’t have certain interventions, but she was like, she was upset, right? I mean, obviously she sees her kid now, but you know, she was she didn’t kind of know how to process that.

 

00;15;51;28 – 00;16;14;06

Dr. Mona

And I remember at that point when you’re a resident and when you’re in training and you see these things continuously happen, whether it’s related to not vaccinating, whether it’s related to not getting vitamin K, whether it’s not taking, like not doing the antibiotics for GBS, all these things that we know that is low risk, but we know that the intervention is beneficial versus the outcome.

 

00;16;14;09 – 00;16;30;22

Dr. Mona

That is why we recommend it. And I’m a mom. You’re a mom. Like I said in the other episode that we talked about, I will never take the advice and give the advice of something that I wouldn’t do myself, you know, and or that I wouldn’t really like. I’ve, I, I gave my kids vitamin K without any hesitation.

 

00;16;30;29 – 00;16;47;23

Dr. Mona

I gave my kid hepatitis B and you said it already. Like when you have a little baby. Of course I had the feeling like, oh, but now he’s out here and she’s out here. Do I want to do I want to do that? There was a little part of me that wanted to hold off on intervention, even though my medical brain knows that it’s on.

 

00;16;47;25 – 00;17;07;06

Dr. Mona

It’s all okay to do because we’re mothers, we want the best for our children, and we see their delicate little body and we want the best. But I know that this is the benefit outweighing a risk. And, you know, we’re talking only about vitamin K, but it is a big deal. And I get very emotional when I think about it because I see those faces of those families that could have been prevented.

 

00;17;07;07 – 00;17;24;10

Dr. Mona

You know, we could have done something different, maybe if they had some other clinician recommended or say, look, I know it’s against what you guys believe, but is there any alternative here that we can maybe consider this and maybe we would have gotten through, but I don’t know. I can’t go back in time. But what I can say is that if you’re on the fence, I really think you should consider it.

 

00;17;24;10 – 00;17;45;23

Dr. Mona

I think this is something that the benefit is there. And like you said, it’s a very well tolerated injection. It’s not a vaccine. And then it does it does reduce your risk significantly of having those outcomes of brain bleeds, severe GI bleeds, you know, long term neurological impairments that can happen due to brain bleeds. That’s not what I want for my babies because that’s a longer road to recovery.

 

00;17;45;26 – 00;17;49;08

Dr. Mona

Then, you know, obviously something that I can prevent.

 

00;17;49;11 – 00;18;08;25

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah, yeah. And I think hearing, I’ve heard from a lot of clinicians, like, like you are speaking of, like, who have seen these outcomes in, in the medical setting and it’s it’s always they always say, you know, the mom wish or the parents the parents wish that they wish that they would have given vitamin K. So I think that those stories can be really important.

 

00;18;09;02 – 00;18;34;13

Dr. Jessica Knurick

I do want to, just explain, because one of the questions that I get and it, it triggered with me when you were saying when you were explaining this, is why are these babies bleeding? Right? So, that’s a big question like, well, why are the babies bleeding? Are they like, what’s happening? And I think the reason and that can be sometimes, said to me in, in the, in a way of saying like, we don’t need the vitamin K shot, because, like, babies shouldn’t be bleeding anyway.

 

00;18;34;15 – 00;19;03;20

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And it doesn’t always have to be trauma based. So so that can be one, right? Like you accidentally dropped your baby baby or whatever it is. But it also is because these newborn babies are still developing, and that means their blood vessels are also still. Yes. And their blood vessels are not strong yet. And particularly this is why we see brain bleed so often, in vitamin K2 efficiency bleeding as opposed to elsewhere in the body because the blood vessels going to the brain are the weakest of all the blood vessels.

 

00;19;03;26 – 00;19;20;05

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And there’s so many of them and, there’s a ton of blood going to the brain in those first few days of life, in those first few weeks, first few months of life. And and so there’s a lot of strong, kind of surges of blood going to the brain. And, and that can lead to rupture of those blood vessels.

 

00;19;20;05 – 00;19;34;01

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. And so that’s where those brain bleed, brain bleeds come from. It’s not that you’re just dropping your baby on your head. And so if you don’t do that, like, your baby’s not going to have brain bleed, it’s it’s that it can just happen kind of as a function of your baby’s blood. Vessels are still weak because they’re still developing.

 

00;19;34;01 – 00;19;47;05

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And there’s a ton of blood going up there to the brain. And so that’s again where vitamin K, if you have if the baby has adequate vitamin K, those brain bleeds won’t happen because that blood will be able to clot and it’ll be able to stop those bleeds from happening.

 

00;19;47;07 – 00;20;05;26

Dr. Mona

Well, and that’s exactly what happened to those cases that I’m describing. Right. Like it wasn’t there was no trauma. You go through the differential as a pediatrician like of the differentials of a bleed. But we and obviously trauma is part of that. But in those situations it was not like you said. It was just it happened. And then the parents like, well like I love that you talked about that because like, well, how can it happen?

 

00;20;05;28 – 00;20;21;07

Dr. Mona

And you know, in I don’t know, I don’t know if you know this, but in other countries injection is usually the mainstay, right? I mean, sometimes parents ask about oral supplementation, but obviously the preference is injection versus oral.

 

00;20;21;10 – 00;20;27;01

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;20;27;04 – 00;20;48;23

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, there are some countries who, do oral supplement that where oral supplementation is much more common in than in the United States. I will say that those countries have a completely different health care model than we have. And oftentimes they have nurses who go to the house in follow up appointments to help administer the oral vitamin K in kind of a three dose strategy.

 

00;20;48;25 – 00;21;06;29

Dr. Jessica Knurick

What we’ve seen in the research, though, is that the shot is more effective than the than the vitamin K drops. And that is that. So that’s when specifically comparing it to the three dose strategy, which is you give one one dose at birth, one dose like a week later, and then one dose dose at 4 to 6 months.

 

00;21;07;01 – 00;21;23;11

Dr. Jessica Knurick

When and when you look at that. And why is that? Right. So let’s just talk about why that is as fast, particularly in the United States. So, first of all, babies are low in vitamin K. I, I think you asked me this is the first question and I didn’t answer it, so I’m sorry. So why are babies low in vitamin K in the first place?

 

00;21;23;11 – 00;21;44;04

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Well, vitamin K can’t cross the placenta efficiently. And so there’s not, even if the mother supplements vitamin K, even if the mother’s vitamin K stores are high, the baby is still going to be born low with vitamin K, because they’re not getting those nutrients through the placenta. Yeah. Babies. Also I kind of mentioned this. They have low they don’t have, the bacteria in their gut microbiome yet.

 

00;21;44;04 – 00;22;05;24

Dr. Jessica Knurick

That still has to be developed. So they’re kind of born with sterile gut microbiomes. And so they don’t have those bacteria creating vitamin K or synthesizing vitamin K like we do as adults. Yeah. So that’s another reason. And then, the other place we get vitamin K is from our diet, which is obviously like green leafy vegetables and from things like that, baby’s diet is generally formula or breast milk.

 

00;22;05;26 – 00;22;26;19

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And, they’re not consuming a lot of either one of those in the initial stages of life. And breast milk is very deficient in vitamin K. Again, even if the mother supplements vitamin K is low in breast milk. And so for all of those reasons, babies are low in vitamin K, and so when you compare so when we’re looking at okay, well what is the best strategy.

 

00;22;26;19 – 00;22;43;15

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Is it a shot or oral supplementation. Well you have a baby who’s very low in vitamin K. One option is you can give them a single shot at birth, and that covers them until 4 to 6 months when their bodies are going to start synthesizing vitamin K, and they’re going to start eating more, vitamin K from their diets.

 

00;22;43;15 – 00;23;02;18

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Right. And that’s it. Nothing else to worry about. Yeah. Compare that to oral drops. Now I will say oral drops. It’s very clear in the research is a much better option than nothing at all. Right. So so that’s important to say. And I think sometimes that gets lost in translation. So it is a better strategy than nothing. But it’s not as effective as the one time shot.

 

00;23;02;20 – 00;23;23;29

Dr. Jessica Knurick

For a number of reasons. So one it’s not a synthesized, it’s not as, well absorbed in the baby’s gut microbiome because again, they’re they’re gut microbiome is not as developed as ours as humans. And so, it’s not as well absorbed it. The in the United States, we don’t supplements are not regulated. And so vitamin K drops are not regulated.

 

00;23;23;29 – 00;23;43;06

Dr. Jessica Knurick

So you can’t be sure that the vitamin K is what it says it is. But an even bigger thing than that, because let’s say you can find vitamin K that you’re like pretty, you know, you trust the, the supplier. Coming from the research world, I can just tell you that supplemental compliance is absolutely awful. Yes.

 

00;23;43;13 – 00;23;51;26

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And also just working with people, who, you know, we generally recommend 400 IU of vitamin D to babies daily and lots and lots that.

 

00;23;51;28 – 00;23;55;07

Dr. Mona

Most people are not. I can tell you, most people are like, what day is it?

 

00;23;55;13 – 00;23;56;15

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Does they forget.

 

00;23;56;15 – 00;24;02;24

Dr. Mona

To change my did I change my own underwear? Like they don’t even they can’t even remember that. I agree with that completely. Yeah, and.

 

00;24;02;24 – 00;24;07;18

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Luckily you know, vitamin D supplementation is completely different than vitamin K supplementation, right?

 

00;24;07;18 – 00;24;15;03

Dr. Mona

We’re not that example. Right. Because there’s so much severe consequences then vitamin D deficiency. Yes I yeah.

 

00;24;15;03 – 00;24;33;02

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Exactly. And so so you have all of those factors that have to be perfect for, for you to even in the three dose strategy, not even be as effective. As, as the vitamin K shot there, there is a little bit of research that looks as a week at a weekly supplementing strategy, that has shown a little bit better effectiveness.

 

00;24;33;02 – 00;24;53;23

Dr. Jessica Knurick

But again, you have all of those factors to consider, and you have to make sure you’re supplementing weekly, supplementing an infant weekly. And and so when you compare that to a shot with a very strong safety profile, that’s a one time deal. That’s going to completely cover them for the 4 to 6 months. It’s just it’s a no brainer in terms of what the medical recommendations would be from the medical community.

 

00;24;53;25 – 00;25;10;06

Dr. Mona

I love it. Thank you so much for going into that, because I do see that a lot on your posts, like people talking about sometimes I’ve heard like about the oral supplements and I’m like, no, we don’t even like you said, we don’t even offer that, in our hospitals. And it is a one time thing and it is very, very useful as a one time thing.

 

00;25;10;08 – 00;25;32;01

Dr. Mona

What advice would you give to parents navigating this decision? In an era of information overload, misinform, overload, conflicting information, you know, people are listening to us. They get it. It’s something to consider. We really recommend it. Other people saying your child doesn’t need it, it’s big pharma. What would be your recommendation for these people? Wanting the best for their kids?

 

00;25;32;03 – 00;25;48;25

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah, I would just, I always, when I’m looking for information and fields that are not my own, I’m looking for somebody to explain things to me. So if somebody is just telling me, don’t take the vitamin K shot because it makes your baby’s blood sludge. And they’re not explaining it because that’s the one that I hear all the.

 

00;25;48;27 – 00;25;49;15

Dr. Mona

Yeah.

 

00;25;49;18 – 00;26;14;01

Dr. Jessica Knurick

And that’s just, that’s just a misconception and a misunderstanding of what viscosity is in blood and what it means to be able to clot. And that actually clotting is what you want. And it’s, it’s, it’s not sludge at all. Yeah. Right. So if I, if they’re not explaining the evidence to me behind that then, then I immediately and it sounds kind of like it goes, first of all, if it goes completely against conventional wisdom.

 

00;26;14;01 – 00;26;35;25

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Right. Conventional recommendations, consensus recommendations, I should say. Then if it does that, I want, an immense amount of evidence behind what they’re recommending. And, and if that’s not there and it, it sounds kind of fear mongering. That would be my first red flag. So, I kind of look for that in, in areas that aren’t my area of expertise to see.

 

00;26;35;25 – 00;26;54;09

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Like what? Where my trusted sources are. And just so trying to identify, like some trusted sources, what I love about, like, the content that you put out is you do such a good job of it, just explaining the why behind things. Yeah. And I think I think that can be really helpful for people because it’s like, okay, well, why do I have to give my baby the shot?

 

00;26;54;09 – 00;27;13;00

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Right. And so just discussing like the why and if somebody is able to explain that to you, and you can find those trusted sources and they’re saying one thing and then you hear, you know, somebody with absolutely zero credentials saying another thing, it kind of makes it easier to figure out who to believe. Right? And so I think I think that can be really helpful in navigating.

 

00;27;13;00 – 00;27;33;20

Dr. Jessica Knurick

But, but getting getting adequate information, I wouldn’t say more information is always better. But getting adequate information to actually make an informed and informed decision, because a lot of, people out there like to talk about informed consent, and then they like to give you incorrect information and call it informed consent. And and that’s kind of doing a disservice to everybody.

 

00;27;33;27 – 00;27;52;25

Dr. Mona

I as another reason why I love following you. You know, I’m the same way in terms of if I’m not an expert in something, I’m not going to speak about it. And I believe that the best informed consent and getting informed information is from someone who can give you the benefit and risk. And oftentimes, as we know, with people who are spreading misinformation, they tend to just say that it’s harmful or harmful.

 

00;27;52;26 – 00;28;09;06

Dr. Mona

Harmful. Don’t do it, don’t do it. But they’re not talking about what we just talked about, which is, yes, the small percentage of individuals that do get late stage bleeding or, you know, early stage bleeding. And so that’s what we’re taking into consideration the duration. And I use this for, you know, I use this for vaccines too. I have a whole and I appreciate you always sharing my vaccine guide.

 

00;28;09;13 – 00;28;27;29

Dr. Mona

That was a labor of love to put together, talking about the benefit and risk of every single vaccines, because I want people to make informed choices and say, hey, this is why I’m recommending it, but I want you to know that no one’s hiding anything. I, I do see febrile seizures with the DTaP vaccine, or I do see this with, you know, a febrile seizure with MMR.

 

00;28;27;29 – 00;28;49;02

Dr. Mona

Like, I want people to know that I’m not hiding anything, nor is the the people that are making these decisions like the AAP and CDC. It’s all on their website. I mean, it’s everywhere, but people are choosing not to to say that. And so thank you for the work that you do. It helps me as a pediatrician, and obviously I love following you for all the nutrition and, you know, pregnancy and, early childhood.

 

00;28;49;02 – 00;29;05;28

Dr. Mona

All of it is so useful for me. And we’ve spoken so much about how this platform for each of us has grown us into these better clinicians, better educators, and I, I feel that way by by knowing you. So thank you so much for, you know, joining me and also just that comment you made about me because the feeling is mutual.

 

00;29;06;00 – 00;29;08;09

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. Thank you so much I totally agree.

 

00;29;08;11 – 00;29;15;06

Dr. Mona

And where can people go to stay connected for all the things that you’re debunking, but also just the amazing, education that you continue to provide.

 

00;29;15;08 – 00;29;26;28

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah. So I’m, I would say just I’m active on TikTok and Instagram. So same username at both of those places. It’s, doctor Jessica KNurick my name. So Dr. Jessica Knurick, thank you.

 

00;29;26;28 – 00;29;30;09

Dr. Mona

Well, it was such a pleasure having you on again Jessica I really appreciate it.

 

00;29;30;10 – 00;29;34;21

Dr. Jessica Knurick

Yeah, it was wonderful to be here. Thank you.

 

00;29;34;23 – 00;29;51;18

Dr. Mona

That’s a wrap on today’s episode, and I hope it left you feeling more informed and more empowered when it comes to navigating all the noise around newborn care and parenting choices. A big thank you to Doctor Jessica Knurick for being such a trusted voice in the space, and for helping us break down complex science in a way that actually makes sense.

 

00;29;51;21 – 00;30;09;15

Dr. Mona

If you’re not already following her, which you should be head over to Instagram or TikTok and find her at Doctor Jessica Knurick. You will not regret it. And if this episode helped you feel a little more confident or cleared up a lingering question, make sure to share it with someone who may find it helpful.

 

00;30;09;22 – 00;30;28;14

Dr. Mona

And it would mean so much if you’d subscribe, download, and share it with anyone who wants to hear it. Tag us at the PedsDocTalk podcast and at Doctor Jessica Knurick Because spreading facts is how we push back against fear. Thanks again for being here and helping us continue to grow as one of the top parenting podcasts in the country.

 

00;30;28;20 – 00;30;32;02

Dr. Mona

I’ll catch you all next week. Until then, stay well and stay curious.