Newborns Face Increased Risk of Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding as Parents Decline Shots

Newborns across the country are experiencing vitamin K deficiency bleeding, a rare but potentially fatal condition that can be prevented with a single injection given shortly after birth. The cases, reported this week by ProPublica, include a 7-week-old boy from Maryland who had sudden seizures, a Kentucky newborn who vomited before becoming lethargic, and a girl in Alabama who stopped breathing for several seconds at a time.

All three infants initially appeared healthy at birth but later died from internal bleeding linked to vitamin K deficiency. Vitamin K helps the body produce clotting factors. Newborns are born with limited amounts because the vitamin does not pass easily from mother to fetus through the placenta, and breast milk contains only small quantities.

Infants typically do not receive significant amounts until they begin eating leafy greens around six months of age. A pediatrician previously explained that babies' clotting factors get used up quickly without supplementation. The deficiency raises the risk of serious bleeding in the first week of life and for the following six months.

The vitamin K shot has been recommended for all newborns shortly after birth since 1961. Between 2017 and 2024, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that almost 200,000 newborns did not receive the injection, representing a 77 percent increase over that period.

Parents have declined the shot for reasons that include the belief that it is a vaccine, growing distrust in healthcare systems, and concerns that it could be linked to cancer. Multiple studies have found no connection between the vitamin K injection and cancer.

Newborns who do not receive the shot are 81 times more likely to develop vitamin K deficiency bleeding in their first six months. Symptoms can include brain and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging, unexplained bruising, seizures, vomiting blood, blood in stool, brain damage and death.

In most cases, there are no warning signs before bleeding begins.

Medical professionals have described the condition as preventable with the standard vitamin K injection. One pediatrician stated that the outcomes for the affected infants could have been avoided. The American Academy of Pediatrics has maintained its recommendation for the shot for more than six decades.

Officials continue to track refusal rates as part of broader newborn care protocols that include eye drops and vaccines.