Last week was all about the birth plan and some issues to think about before baby.
Hopefully your pregancy was wonderfully healthy, you had/have a good birth plan and support and delivery went/will go as smoothly as possible.
That brings us to what will probably happen next.... vaccines and eye antibiotic for your newborn.
As soon as your little bundle of joy is born the nurses will want to take him or her to check them over and make sure they are breathing right, weigh, measure, wipe them down and wrap them up. This is usually when they put the ointment in their eyes and give the Vitamin K shot and sometimes the Hepatitis B vaccine. (this is sometimes given later or at your first doctors appointment but usually within 48hours after birth)
These practices are fairly normal, conventional, and mainstream but what if you aren't sure about them? Well, that's why you're reading this and hopefully other books, websites, and information!
You should definitely look into antibiotic eye cream and vaccines BEFORE you have the baby and if you want something different than the norm you need to make sure that the doctor or midwife, nurses, and everyone else knows because you may be overwhelmed, tired, or generally not with it right after delivery. *This is also when your support person can come in as helpful. If you don't want eye ointment, vaccines, or anything else that may not be exactly routine, they can be with baby at all times and make sure nothing is done or given on accident.*
Ok, so by now you may be asking why not get eye ointment, Vitamin K shot, or Hepatitis B vaccine?
Well lets start with the antibiotic eye ointment.
Those who believe in using this say that it is important because infection can be passed from mother to baby during delivery and can affect the eyes.
Unless you have an STD that can be passed onto your baby, the eye ointment isn't really necessary. In fact if you read the information given here you will find that the antibiotic ointment didn't prevent infection in most cases anyway, so it seems an unnecessary procedure for most but read, research and decide for yourself.
Next is the Vitamin K shot.
If you tell your doctor or midwife that you don't want the Vitamin K shot they are likely to tell you that it is very important because when babies are born they don't have enough Vitamin K and there is a (small) risk of hemorrhage. Some things that could cause or increase risk includes:
*difficult birth
*use of forceps or vaccuum during delivery
*circumcision
*long labor and more
This definitely sounds kind of scary but here are some things to think about before you agree to the Vitamin K shot-
According to http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/ this injection is 20,000 times the dose needed! No wonder there has been an increased risk of leukemia that is linked to this injection!! Also, in addition to being 20,000 times the dose, be sure to read the ingredients, you can read about the ingredients and more here http://www.vaccinetruth.org/page_7.htm
Large doses (which is routinely given) can cause jaundice, and Vitamin K is normally absorbed in the gut from the foods we eat so injecting Vitamin K bypasses the bodies natural process.
Not comfortable with the Vitamin K shot but worried about the risk of hemorrhage?
There are things you can do!
You can opt for oral Vitamin K. This lessens the risk of bleeding and jaundice without an injection and some of the yucky preservatives. Just make sure you tell your doctor or midwife ahead of time so they are sure to give the correct dosage.
You can also load up on foods rich in Vitamin K at the end of your pregnancy and nurse immediately after birth.
Ok, last but not least the Hepatitis B vaccine.
This vaccine is usually given within 48 hours of birth and if you refuse at that time it will be recommended at later appointments.
Hepatitis B is spread by coming in contact with the blood of an infected person and affects the liver and although it can cause many problems, 95% of people who contract it recover completely, usually within 8 weeks with no lasting side effects.
So you may be wondering why give this vaccine to a newborn? Good question! Unless the parents are infected this is a question many people are asking. Babies are not IV drug users, sexually active, in a high risk profession or any where else they would come in contact with anyone's blood so why give this vaccine??? Another thing to consider, according to Dr. Tenpenny ( http://drtenpenny.com/why_hepatitis_b.aspx) if your child develops antibodies after vaccination, most will not retain a measurable amount of antibodies by the time they are seven years old.
A few other reasons that may cause concern....
The ingredients can contain everything from aluminum, thimerosal (mercury), yeast, soy, salts, latex and more depending on which vaccine is given. You can look at package inserts here . Not only are these ingredients not good for a body(especially a tiny one) but with a newborn you can't be certain that there is no allergy to any of the ingredients.
One more thing to think about, like the Vitamin K injection, this is not how the body normally comes into contact with disease, therefore vaccination is bypassing the bodies normal processes.
*Vaccination is a very personal issue and you are the only one who can make the right choice for your family. If you do decide to vaccinate please be sure to read the actual package insert, write down the lot number and expiration date and any other information you can get. Ask your doctor any and all questions and if you aren't comfortable for any reason you may want to consider delaying and researching more until you can feel comfortable one way or the other. Remember, you can always give a vaccine later but you can't take it back once given. If your child has an adverse reaction you need to have that information and definitely report it!! If your doctor won't report it to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) http://vaers.hhs.gov/index you should. It has been estimated that only about 10% of vaccine reactions are reported!
Oh! By the way, an important thing to be familiar with is the laws regarding vaccination in your state. You can look into that here, you may also want to read their page on recommendation vs. laws http://www.nvic.org/vaccine-laws.aspx
Hopefully some of this information has been helpful to you!
Check back next week to read more not so mainstream information :)
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