Martha Stewart isn’t a “Grammy” or “Nana.” She’s not even a “Mimi” or “Gigi.” So, what is she?
In 1961, the American Academy of Pediatrics started recommending giving newborns a vitamin K shot.
The recommendation stemmed from the discovery that babies were born with extremely low levels of vitamin K, which is crucial for blood clotting and helps prevent Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB).
According to the CDC, VKDB develops at any time up to six months of age.
The vitamin K shot, which is generally administered within six hours of the birth, helps provide the body with a nutrient most babies don’t get enough of through breast milk, formula and oral supplements.
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But after more than 60 years of administering these shots, many doctors are growing worried as they see a rise in parents turning it down before giving it a chance.
And some doctors warn that it could have deadly consequences on the baby.
“The increase is not surprising, but the degree to which it did increase did catch me off guard,” said Dr. Kristan Scott, a neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who led a study on the topic.
The study, which was published in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” on Dec. 8, looked at more than five million babies born in 403 hospitals in all 50 states between 2017 and 2024.
Of those babies, roughly 200,000 of them didn’t receive a vitamin K shot at birth.
What’s even more alarming is that researchers found that 5% of the babies born in 2024 weren’t given the shot — accounting for a 2% decrease in babies who received the shot since 2017.
They started noticing an increase in refusal at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers are convinced that parents are the ones influencing this change — noting that policy changes and recommendations from medical organizations haven’t changed much over the past decade.
“Parents are equating vitamin K injections to vaccines,” Dr. Tiffany McKee-Garrett, who wasn’t involved in the study, told NBC News in an interview published on Dec. 8.
“I think this comes from general mistrust in authority that started probably in the later part of the 2010s,” another doctor, Dr. Ivan Hand, told the outlet.
Not giving newborns a vitamin K shot at birth can be deadly
According to the CDC, vitamin K shots are the “best way to prevent low levels of vitamin K and VKDB.”
In fact, newborns who don’t receive the shot are “81 times more likely to develop severe bleeding than those who do get the shot,” especially since breast milk only contains small amounts of vitamin K.
And that risk continues until babies start receiving vitamin K from whole foods.
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But most parents don’t understand — or believe — the risk exists because they never see it.
“These treatments have been so effective that people don’t understand the consequences. They have never seen babies with severe bleeding, so they think it doesn’t exist,” Hand said, per NBC News.
“But you don’t see it because we are treating these kids,” he added — describing it as a “preventable disease” that doctors shouldn’t be seeing at all.
Unfortunately, doctors warn that an increase in cases might be on the horizon.
And since one out of every five babies who develop VKDB dies — and half of those with late VKDB develop permanent brain damage — doctors are worried that the worst is yet to come.
“We are creating a population of newborns who are at risk of bleeding,” Scott told NBC News.
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“Bleeding into the brain is what we really worry about, essentially a stroke,” he continued. “That can ultimately cause death.”
