Historically Speaking
Here are a few considerations to be aware of: Remember the discussion in Section One about delaying the cord clamping so that your baby can get that once-in-a-lifetime gift of iron-rich, umbilical cord blood packed with stem cells, still migrating from the placenta into the baby at birth? Well, delayed cord clamping in very preterm infants has been shown to reduce the incidence of intraventricular bleeding.
Cord stem cells weren’t discovered until the late 1980s, a few decades after vitamin K prophylaxis had become routine for all newborns. Those stem cells naturally move anywhere and everywhere in the baby’s body, working on healing anything that needs repair, unless they are impeded. These stem cells can only travel around the body while the blood remains thin.
Another noteworthy fact is that newborn infants do not have the same coagulation system as adults. In order for human beings to absorb vitamin K, they need to have a functioning biliary and pancreatic system. At birth, a newborn’s pancreas and digestive system are still immature and won’t become fully developed until around 6 months of life.
Also, Vitamin K is fat-soluble and so is found in higher levels in colostrum, the “first breastmilk” and hind-milk. Breastfeeding soon after birth and feeding frequently will help the infant obtain more colostrum than those babies who are separated from their mothers.
