The vitamin K shot at birth has to be given

A newborn has very little vitamin K stored. Without a supplement, bleeding can occur, and the kind that shows up late is often bleeding in the brain. In Tashkent, where this prevention was not generally done, 478 out of every 100000 newborns had this bleeding. With prevention, the estimate is that more than 78% can be cut. For a home birth, or a birth at an irregular facility, ask whether it was given.

Cost

0 yuan to a few dozen yuan. This sum is usually already inside the hospital bill for the birth, so you do not pay it separately.

Benefit

A newborn has very little vitamin K stored. Without a supplement, vitamin K deficiency bleeding can occur, and the kind that shows up late often presents as intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain). The Belgian consensus recommendation is "1 intramuscular injection of 1 or 2 milligrams of vitamin K at birth." Where prevention is not provided systematically, the rate of vitamin K deficiency bleeding is 478 cases per 100000 people. That figure comes from 42000 newborns in Tashkent. The authors estimate that prevention can bring the rate down by "more than 78.5%."

Notes

At a regular hospital in China, the hospital generally gives this shot as routine. That is the author's experience. No single nationwide official rule was found. Before discharge, look at the discharge summary, or ask. For a home birth, or a birth at an irregular facility, confirm it on your own initiative. The injection meant here goes into the muscle. That Belgian consensus calls the oral route "a slightly worse substitute," used only when the parents refuse the injection: 2 milligrams by mouth at birth, then, for a breastfed child, 1 to 2 milligrams a week for 3 months.

Sources · 2

1. Fiesack S, Smits A, Rayyan M, et al. (2021). Nutrients, 13(11), 4109. doi.org/10.3390/nu13114109
2. Tursunov D, Yoshida Y, Yrysov K, et al. (2018). Nagoya Journal of Medical Science, 80(1), 11. doi.org/10.18999/nagjms.80.1.11