# Vitamin K at birth

Intervention · id `maternal:vitamin-k-prophylaxis` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `fc5a600ec7387e71` (public)

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Also called: Vitamin K shot; Vitamin K injection

Browse, life stage: Newborn  
Browse, care area: Newborn care  

## In plain language

A shot of vitamin K that newborns usually get soon after they are born. Vitamin K helps the blood to clot, newborns have very little of it, and too little can lead to too much bleeding.

## Technical summary

Source: the MedlinePlus Vitamin K topic (NLM), which states the practice in general terms. No dose, trial evidence or bleeding figures are recorded. Guidance from medical societies is not summarised here, because American Academy of Pediatrics content is identity-only in this atlas.

## Claims, with the population each applies to

## Context: Newborn babies in general (MedlinePlus and NICHD health information)

Recipient: Newborn; Population: Newborn babies. The sources set no limits of gestational age, birth weight or setting.; Care setting: Not stated in the source.; Geography: United States programmes are described by NICHD; MedlinePlus names no country.; Life stage: Newborn period; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable: general health information.

### MedlinePlus says vitamin K makes proteins that the blood needs to clot and that too little can lead to too much bleeding, that newborns have very little vitamin K, and that they usually get a shot of vitamin K soon after they are born.

- Category: Description
- Evidence stage: Evidence stage not applicable
- Certainty: Certainty not assessed
- Applies to: Recipient: Newborn; Population: Newborn babies. The sources set no limits of gestational age, birth weight or setting.; Care setting: Not stated in the source.; Geography: United States programmes are described by NICHD; MedlinePlus names no country.; Life stage: Newborn period; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable: general health information.
- Limitations: Consumer health information from the National Library of Medicine, covering vitamin K for all ages. It gives no dose, no trial evidence and no figures on bleeding in newborns. This atlas does not read American Academy of Pediatrics guidance, so none of it is summarised.
- Last checked: Not recorded
- Sources:
  1. Supports: Vitamin K (MedlinePlus health topic) (Webpage, edition Health topic page as fetched on 2026-10-14 (mh-medlineplus-vitamink.html). Only the summary text is used. The page covers vitamin K for all ages; only its sentences about newborns are used.) <https://medlineplus.gov/vitamink.html>
     Locator: Summary, paragraphs 1 and 2. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:24:38Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 5f2d3f02e99b4874b9b9caeb02c7b9b2e653048b6aca311e969f3cfe31b42197.
     How it applies: The summary text of the health topic.

## Connected pages

- Related care page: routine newborn care: Care of the newborn in the first days (`maternal:essential-newborn-care`)
- Filed under this front: Medicines and vaccines (`maternal:front-medicines-and-vaccines`)

## Provenance

Content hash: 1f775a91052844f68bcbc3404cae7ff0eb0621e0201df892539f3d2a54a7440c
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-14
Evidence last checked: Not recorded