Vitamin K?

September 25, 2003

That's a great story, thanks for sharing

Fletch

> >Our 7 week old dd was given a Vit K shot at birth. I researched it

> >and felt the leukemia link was a little sketchy. Our pediatrician

> >was pushing for the shot and we felt the downside risk was

minimal.

> >

> >What we were not told was that there was a blood type

> >incompatibility between me and my wife. The baby got my blood type

> >and my wife's antigens attacked the baby's blood when the mothers

> >blood crosses over the placenta at birth. This is not usually very

> >dangerous but it does cause an increase in bilirubin (causing

> >jaundice). If I knew about the blood type incompatability I

probably

> >would have skipped the Vitamin K shot to try and keep the

bilirubin

> >levels lower.

>

> Hi Fletch, we had the same problem with the Rh factor. They told

us that

> it would probably cause jaundice which may very well be true. My

daughter

> of two months was not given the VK shot and on her third day she

had

> jaundice. This bothered me tremendously due to my hypothesis that

the

> Injection was the cause for jaundice in our previous two

children. Then it

> hit me!

>

> This is how the story goes.

>

> She was born perfectly without any trauma by way of cesarian. We

opted as

> we had three previous times to keep our daughter in the room night

and day

> except at the Nurse's shift change. Everyone here that has had

this

> opportunity will remember the nurses demand that you keep up with

exactly

> how many times the child went to the bathroom (so to speak). Here

at our

> hospital they keep the newborns for one hour after birth, (the

exact time

> that the law requires erythromycin for syphilis-blindness

prevention, and

> the secret injection to be administered), but with our case C-

section, it

> was three hours due to recovery. Anyway, she was brought to the

room at 11

> am and for the rest of that nurses shift we recorded 5 small bowel

> movements. Except for one, these would be the last she would have

before

> leaving two days later. The morning we were to leave the nurses

made the

> rounds and routinely the baby left the room at 6:30 to be

accounted for

> and a final checkup before leaving.

>

> Having no complications my releasal was approved by my doctor a

day early

> having spent two nights and we awaited our little one. She made it

back to

> the room at about 8am with the news of jaundice. Having to wait

three

> hours for a phone call back from the pediatrician, it was finally

> determined that the level of jaundice was not dangerous and upon

our

> promise to be back at 9am the next morn, we could leave when we

got

> ready. We questioned the nurse on our way out if her not having

a bowel

> movement was an issue. She said no not at all, just keep breast

> feeding. When we returned for the heal stick to check the bili

level, we

> found out that it had risen and was high enough now to justify the

charge

> of Bili-Lights and the requirement for another heal stick the

following day.

>

> Now this bowel movement thing had been bothering me greatly so I

asked the

> RN, " is it ok that she is not having a bowel movement? " She said

in

> return, " how often is she having bowel movements " and I said " she

had one

> yesterday, but it wasn't much " . Her reply was, " no don't worry

about that

> they will happen, just keep feeding her " .

>

> SO, I asked her, " ...if jaundice is what I have been told, the

liver not

> being able to keep up and the bili backing up into the system, how

would

> the bili be expelled? It's got to be expelled somehow! She said,

through

> the bowel movement for the most part. I said, " IF SHE DOESN'T

HAVE A BOWEL

> MOVEMENT HOW ARE WE GOING TO EXPEL IT? I said, " when she had the

small

> bowel movement yesterday evening, it seemed as if her eyes cleared

up. What

> can I do to make her have a bowel movement!!!? " She

said, " Ok...you can go

> to the drug store and pick up a jar of " children's suppositories " ,

cut off

> just about a 1/4 inch, just the tip, and insert it. She will have

a

> movement in just a few minutes. "

>

> Let me tell you this! I told my 92 year old Grandmother this and

she

> agreed. She said that the old folks used to say if you didn't get

the tar

> out of'em they would have the " yeller janders " . Everyone will

remember the

> first 5 to 10 bowel movements looking and having the consistency

of tar. So

> before we did anything else we got suppositories and an old remedy

that

> Grandmother told us about, Dark Karo. A heaping tablespoon of

karo went

> into a bottle of formula before we got out of the store parking

lot and the

> suppository followed about an hour later. By dark we had a totally

> different little girl. The next morning a heal stick revealed that

her

> jaundice level took a sever nose dive and they accounted it to

bili lights

> that she NEVER slept on.

>

> I believe that all jaundice other than that which babies are born

with is

> preventable or at the very least, easily controllable. Babies

have GOT to

> eliminate waste. They are born with so much that, now, when they

have to

> depend upon their own systems, the waste has got to continue to be

flushed

> out. Although small, she had 5 bowel movements within the first

10 hours

> of her life. I now have little doubt that if she hadn't gone a day

and a

> half having only one more, she would have never overdosed on waste

which is

> exactly what jaundice is to begin with.

>

> If you have an 80 year old in the family who lived on the farm

where they

> depended greatly on herbs and peach bark tea, ask them

about " Yeller

> Janders " . They will tell you the remedy was castor oil and a dose

of

> parigart. I guess I spelled that right. I have never tasted Castor

Oil nor

> do I have any idea what parigart is and never would I recommend

them as a

> remedy, but seems the " old folk " knew that babies had to get rid

of the

> tar. That's profound when you think of the modern remedy, bili-

lights.

>

> Anyone ever experienced this?

>

> Thanks,

> kelsey

>

September 25, 2003