At an Idaho hospital, half of the newborns Dr. Tom Patterson saw in one day had not received the vitamin K injections that have been given to babies for decades to prevent life-threatening hemorrhages. The next day, more than a quarter did not receive the immunization. His parents didn’t allow it.
“When you see an innocent, vulnerable child—and a simple intervention that has been in place since 1961 is rejected—knowing that baby is going to be released into the world worries me greatly,” said Patterson, a pediatrician with nearly 30 years of experience.
Doctors across the country are alarmed that skepticism, fueled by growing anti-science sentiment and distrust in medicine, is increasingly spreading beyond vaccines to other routine, proven preventive care for babies.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which analyzed more than 5 million births nationwide, revealed that refusals to vitamin K injections almost doubled between 2017 and 2024, going from 2.9% to 5.2%.
Other research has suggested that parents who refuse are much more likely to refuse to let their newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine and an eye ointment to prevent infections that could cause blindness. Rates of that vaccination at birth have declined in recent years, and doctors confirmed that more and more parents are refusing the eye medication.
“I think these families care deeply about their babies,” said Dr. Kelly Wade, a Philadelphia neonatologist. “But they tell me that it is difficult for them to make decisions at this time because they receive contradictory information.”
Countless social media posts question doctors’ advice on safe and effective measures, such as vitamin K and eye ointment. Furthermore, the Trump Administration has repeatedly undermined established scientific knowledge.
A federal advisory committee whose members were appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a prominent anti-vaccine activist before joining the Administration — voted to end the long-standing recommendation to immunize all children against hepatitis B immediately after birth. A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked all decisions made by the reconfigured committee.
A common thread that unites anti-vaccine views and growing sentiments against other protective measures for newborns is the fallacy that natural is always better than artificial, added Dr. David Hill, a Seattle pediatrician and researcher.
“Nature allows 1 in 5 human babies to die in the first year of life,” Hill explained, “so generations of scientists and doctors have worked to reduce that number dramatically.”
Vitamin K and other measures prevent serious problems
Babies are born with low levels of vitamin K, leaving them vulnerable because their intestines cannot produce enough until they start eating solid foods, around 6 months of age.
“Vitamin K is important for helping blood clot and preventing dangerous bleeding in babies, such as brain bleeding,” said Dr. Kristan Scott of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and lead author of the study published in JAMA.
Before injections became common, up to about 1 in 60 babies suffered from vitamin K deficiency bleeds, which can also affect the gastrointestinal tract. Currently, this condition is rare, but research has shown that newborns who do not receive a vitamin K injection are 81 times more likely to develop serious bleeding than those who do.
Hill has seen what can happen.
“I cared for a young child whose parents had chosen to take that risk,” the Seattle doctor said. The child essentially suffered a stroke at birth and ended up with severe developmental delays and ongoing seizures.
At a February meeting of the Idaho chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, doctors said they were aware of eight deaths from vitamin K deficiency hemorrhage in the state over the previous 13 months, according to Patterson, who is president of the chapter.
Infections that are prevented by other measures for newborns can also have serious consequences. Erythromycin eye ointment protects against gonorrhea, which can be contracted during childbirth and cause blindness if untreated. The hepatitis B vaccine prevents a disease that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer, or cirrhosis.
Even if a pregnant woman is tested for gonorrhea and hepatitis B, neither is perfect, and she could become infected after having them, explained Dr. Susan Sirota, a pediatrician in Highland Park, Illinois. In any case, you risk passing the infection to your child.
Why do parents refuse routine care?
Parents give many reasons for rejecting preventive measures, such as fear that they may cause problems and not wanting newborns to feel pain.
“Some simply say they prefer a more natural birth philosophy,” said Dr. Steven Abelowitz, founder of Ocean Pediatrics in Orange County, California. “Then there is a lot of misinformation. There are outside influences, friends, celebrities, non-professionals and political agendas.”
Abelowitz serves in an area with a nearly equal mix of Republicans and Democrats.
“There is more distrust on the part of the conservatives, but there is also a lot on the part of the more liberals,” he indicated. “It is a general distrust.”
Social media provides a lot of fuel, spreading myths and promoting unregulated vitamin K drops that doctors say babies cannot absorb well.
Doctors in numerous states say that parents who reject vitamin K injections often also reject other measures. Sirota in Illinois encountered a family who refused to have a baby at high risk for life-threatening hypoglycemia given a heel stick to monitor his glucose level.
Refusal of medical care is not a new phenomenon. Wade, in Philadelphia, said he’s seen it for 20 years. But until recently, it was rare.
Twelve years ago, Dana Morrison, now a doula in Minnesota, refused a vitamin K injection for her newborn son and instead gave him oral drops.
“I did it because I really wanted to protect bonding time with my baby,” she explained. “I was trying to avoid more punctures.”
The birth of her daughter, a couple of years later, was less simple, as the baby was left with a bruise on her leg. Morrison administered the vitamin K injection.
Knowing what he knows now, he said, he would have given it to his son, too.
Doctors and parents want “the best for their children”
Doctors hope to change minds, parent by parent. And that starts with respect.
“If I come into the room with bias, we’re going to have a really useless conversation,” Hill said. “All the parents I serve want the best for their children.”
When parents question the need for the vitamin K shot, Dr. Heather Felton tries to address their specific concerns. It explains why it is administered and the risks of not receiving it. Most families decide to get it, said Felton, who hasn’t seen an increase in refusals.
“It really helps to be able to take that time to really listen and be able to provide information,” said Felton, a pediatrician at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky.
In Idaho, Patterson sometimes finds himself clearing up misconceptions. Some parents accept the vitamin K shot when they learn that it is not a vaccine, for example.
These conversations can take time, especially because the parents doctors see in hospitals are usually not people they know from their offices.
But doctors are willing to spend that time if it can save babies’ lives.
“I end every conversation with parents by saying, ‘Please understand that at the end of the day, I am passionate about this issue because I have the well-being of children in my mind and heart,’” Patterson said. “I understand that this is a hot topic and I don’t want to disrespect anyone. But at the same time, it makes me deeply sad that we are losing babies for no reason.”
