Vitamin K and PKU

The PKU is just a small prick on the heel of the foot. This is done to check for any genetic disorders. The vitamin K is to help the blood clot, they really recommend this for boys that are circumcised. There is an oral vitamin K available. I refused the Hep B for the same reason as one of the other posters. This vaccine should be given to older people that would be at a risk for it, unprotected sex, IV drug use etc. Most babies that I know of are not doing these things when they are born.

We got the vitamin K and since my daughter had jaundice they had a really hard time getting her blood samples. She still has scars on her heels (5.5 years later) from all the poking they did.
You should talk to your midwife/OB about all of your concerns and create a birth plan.

If you still want your child to have the vitamin K, I wouldn't get the shot, you can ask your hospital to give the oral vitamin K.

http://consumercide.com/health/vitK-rothwell.html

http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/newborn-vitamin-k.html

I opted out of the eye ointment (I don't have any STDs), and the vit K since there was no trauma at birth and no circumcision. I think if either of those two are present you should consider giving the vit K.
I would highly recommend the neonatal screening (PKU). Here in Illinois they test for 29 different metabolic and blood disorders. In order to be considered and added to the testing list the disorder must be one that if untreated can cause serious complications for the baby. But if caught early has a relatively easy and effective treatment (like hypothyroidism can cause mental retardation, growth retardation, and heart problems, but if caught early can be treated with medication). Please do that test. If the nurse or lab does not do it themselves you can put a warm wash cloth on the baby's heel, or ask the nurse for a chemical heel warmer and apply for about 10 min before the blood draw. That will improve the blood flow and make the draw go much faster and easier. If you will be nursing you can ask to be feeding the baby during the draw to provide him/her with pain reducing endorphins. It is quick and easy (I have even had some babies where I work sleep through the draw) and could be life saving for your baby.

I didn't realize the PKU was optional. But even if it were, it would be a mistake to not have it done. Here in IL, it's the law that the hospitals have to check for certain diseases, and I don't know if you can opt out of them. Diseases like PKU are treatable if they are caught early. We know a couple who left the hospital with their new daughter, then received a frantic phone call later that day from the hospital that they had forgotten to go the PKU test. They took their daughter back, and had the test done....turns out she was positive for it. She's almost ten years old now, and is doing well. She sees a specialist, has a very limited diet, has a special formula she's had to drink all of her life and will continue to until she's an adult. If not for this test, who knows what would have happened.

We did PKU. Among other things they do billirubin test there, and in our case this was important, since our son had some moderate jandice for the first few weeks. Based on the number, which wasn't too high we decided not to treat him or do any other tests. For vit K, we refused the shot and used oral drops at 1 day, 1 wk and 1 month of age.

-J.

My great Uncle and Aunt had a child who seemed perfectly normal for about the first year, then drastically regressed. They had no idea what had happened to her or what caused it, but she had to be institutionalized for life. Turns out she had PKU, not that they knew the least thing about it back then. Once the disease became known and a treatment developed (people with PKU need to be on a special diet), my great Aunt crusaded to have every infant tested in the US to prevent the heartbreak she and other parents went through. Yes, it is a rare disease, but please have your child tested.

I'm not sure if you have a midwife or a doctor. My midwife was very conservative with any treatments after birth and vaccines. She let us make the decisions when I gave birth in the hospital.
As for the hep B vaccine, we opted out because it is completely unnecessary unless you have it or if your newborn baby is sexually active. haha.
With the erythromyocin in the eyes, we turned that down as well. Unless you have certain STD's it is completely unnecessary as well. It can cause temporary blindness in the infant to where they won't even want to open their eyes. My baby was very alert and the nurses even commented on how he wasn't sleeping very much.
SO, with the vitamin K... originally we turned it down. We are not against vit k but if it's not needed, we thought we could pass. I had a tough childbirth and my son was in the birth canal for over 3.5 hours while I was pushing. I trusted my midwife and asked her opinion... whether or not he should have it. She looked at how bright red his head was and said that she would probably do it since he needed to heal. So I went with it. And he's fine. If you don't like the thought of the shot, you can research getting an oral vitamin K once their born. Or you can start drinking certain teas or supplements to up your vitamin K that will go through your breast milk once your baby is born.
As for the PKU, I don't know if it's a concern to you or not. I never felt concerned about it because I think it's just a prick on the foot to do testing. Other than that, I don't think it's cause for worry.

Basically, be very adament in a hospital setting about what you do or don't want. After you have the baby, have your husband follow the baby around. Even when the pediatrician comes around to take all the babies for testing, don't let the child go alone. They are so used to doing things out of routine that they may do something you didn't sign up for. It's your baby and you have a right to follow it wherever.

Good luck and congrats!!

**When it comes to circumcision for a boy, we waited 2 or 3 weeks to have him circumcised so that it gave him time for his blood to work correctly. Most doctors won't do it any earlier... so that shouldn't be a concern anyway.

I'm an RN (NICU) and didn't know that people could 'opt out' of the PKU... most hospitals would get in BIG trouble for letting an infant go out without getting that done... b/c if you later found out the baby had one of those diseases, well, the hospital could be liable. The diseases are rare, but it is heel stick and as long as they warm up the baby's heel well, it is usually no problem. (my 3rd baby was a horrible bleeder... took them sticking him 3x to get a single glucose done... I almost did it myself b/c they just weren't warming up his heel....). As for the Vit K I don't think it is a big deal and it is just a safe bet to get the shot. You can hold off on Hep B for as long as you want. The erythromycin that is for the eyes is an opt-out if you want... it is mainly to protect the eyes from infection from the birth canal. It does NOT make the baby blind. When the baby is born, the nurses usually give you an hour or so to hold/look/feed the baby and then put that in their eyes. IF they put it in right away, it just makes the eyes a little blurry from the ointment but not blind!!! (if you want to be able to really see their eyes just ask for them to wait an hour or so... or you can opt out but I like the ointment).
For me, I just bet on being safe, and not letting yourself get caught up in thinking that things aren't 'necessary' and then not doing them without really knowing why they are done..... there are reasons that those things are done nowadays and they are to keep the babies safe!
good luck with your delivery, and happy pushing!!!

I couldn't decide on the vit K but ended up doing it. The PKU and other tests (I think they test for 10 or 20 with one little prick) I did. They are testing for very rare conditions, but if your baby has one of them and you don't know it can be catastrophic, that is my understanding anyway.

As others said, keep the baby with you. My DH went to the nursery with her and the nurses didn't like it but too bad, I didn't want Hep B, plus I had been walking by the nursery for 2 days and those little babies all alone in the cribs crying while the nurses did their thing with other babies, no way was my baby going to experience that. The other benefit to DH being there, they got my baby's stuff one quickly, the do not want someone standing there watching them. I also delayed the nursery stuff for a couple hours, those first couple hours are time to bond with mama, not get prodded by strangers unless there is a medical problem.

Good luck with your birth!