The Necessity of Complementing Vitamin K for Infants

Vitamin K is one of the necessary microelements for the human body. It is a kind of fat-soluble vitamins, the lack of which will be a great barrier of cruor. Infants, if they are lacking in vitamin K, have the following symptoms. There is hemorrhage in the alimentary canal so that parents will find blood in the vomit and egestas of babies. Some babies will twitch from time to time. Severe baby patients will suffer from intracranial hemorrhage so that many tiny nuggets will appear on their arms. Severe lack in vitamin K leads to sequelas such as hypophrenia and brain paralysis. Therefore, it is necessary for infants to complement vitamin K.    

A cerebral hemorrhage is not limited to the elderly. Newborn babies have a high risk of such disease as well. Recently, a hospital in the city of Shenyang, China, had received a seven-month-old baby with the cerebral hemorrhage, whose vitamin K was only one twentieths compared with that of normal children. The unlucky infant was too severely sick that he had lost his life. Doctors have pointed out that such clinic cases were not rare in China and even in foreign countries, for most of the babies did not take vitamin K complements. It was reported that this infant was fed on breast milk after birth. And his mother had been picky in eating for a long time. She did not eat eggs and animal organs like livers, which were a good source of vitamin K. 

In general, the vitamin K babies ingest is coming from the breast milk and the composition of their intestines bacteria. So it is closely related to the food mothers eat. If the vitamin K in adequate in the breast milk, the symptoms will not so severe. But if they do not eat other food, the function of composing vitamin K is not that strong. Then the breast milk becomes the only channel. Under such circumstances, lack of vitamin K is easy. Actually, complementing vitamin K is quite simple. The only thing parents should do is to take their babies to have a injection of certain amount of this vitamin. Usually a one-month-old baby needs 5 milligrams a month. And it is not expensive as well.

In countries like Japan and America, newborn babies are compulsory to have vitamin K complements. But it is not the case in China. Most Chinese parents know nothing about vitamin K. Professors argue that the need of vitamin K is not large but indispensable. Except the complements, mothers should also eat in a balanced way. Eating food like tomato, cabbage, and carrots, animal livers, fish and eggs can provide enough vitamin K. Moreover, babies over four months should not drink milk exclusively. Solid food is also preferred.