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The breastmilk of women who eat a well balanced diet
contains all of the vitamins necessary for their infant
with the possible exceptions of vitamin K and vitamin D.
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin necessary for blood coagulation.
Vitamin K is low in breastmilk.
Breastfed infants have been reported with
hemorrhagic disease of the newborn (Vitamin K deficiency)
(
O'Connor, 1983
,
Motohara, 1984
,
Chaou, 1984
,
Bhat, 1998
).
All breastfed infants should receive Vitamin K in the postpartum period.
In the United States this is usually given as a 1 mg IM injection
soon after birth.
If breastfeeding mothers refuse IM vitamin K,
preliminary data suggests that oral vitamin K is effective
(
O'Connor, 1986
,
Hathaway, 1991
,
Clark, 1995
).
Supplementation of breastfeeding women with 5.0 mg/day
of oral vitamin K for 12 weeks produced increased vitamin K levels
in maternal plasma, maternal milk and infant plasma (
Greer, 1997
).
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