Infant Bleeding Cases Rise as Vitamin K Shots Decline

Fewer newborns are receiving the vitamin K injection, and vitamin K deficiency bleeding in infants has climbed sharply since 2017.

Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Babies

Flat vector editorial illustration of a clear amber vial beside a syringe on a pale surface, in coral, teal, and cream, about a newborn vitamin K shot. — Vitamin K deficiency bleeding in infants nearly quadrupled as fewer newborns received the recommended shot, two JAMA studies found. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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The share of newborns going without the recommended vitamin K shot doubled from 2017 to 2025, and cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding in infants rose nearly 350 percent over the same period. Two studies published in JAMA and JAMA Pediatrics document the trend.

Why it matters

The American Academy of Pediatrics has long recommended the injection for every newborn, and the studies link skipping it to a higher risk of serious bleeding in the brain during the first six months of life. Growing mistrust in medicine and public doubts about childhood vaccines are cited as factors pushing more parents to decline the shot, which is not a vaccine.

Newborns going without the vitamin K shot rose from 3.1 percent in 2017 to 6.8 percent in 2025, based on a study of more than five million infants. Infants without the shot had brain bleed rates of 33 per 10,000 births, compared with 13.2 per 10,000 among those who received it.

The players

American Academy of Pediatrics

The national professional association of pediatricians that has recommended a vitamin K injection for every newborn for decades.

The details

Vitamin K deficiency bleeding cases roughly doubled from 2024 to 2025, reaching an overall rate of 107.4 cases per 100,000 infants. The JAMA study analyzed more than five million infants, and the JAMA Pediatrics study covered more than eleven million, with both showing the rate of skipped shots more than doubling over the eight-year span.

2017: Baseline year, when 3.1 percent of newborns went without the vitamin K shot.
2024 to 2025: Vitamin K deficiency bleeding cases roughly doubled.
2025: 6.8 percent of newborns went without the vitamin K shot.
November 5, 2026: Two studies published in JAMA and JAMA Pediatrics.

Health Landscape

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended a vitamin K injection for every newborn for decades, so the rising rate of skipped shots marks a departure from that longstanding standard of care. The trend points to a gap between that recommendation and what parents are choosing in practice.

Parents deciding whether to give a newborn the vitamin K shot face a choice that the studies tie to a higher risk of brain bleeds in the first six months. The shot is a single injection recommended for every newborn, and skipping it is the decision these findings focus on.

The takeaway

Parents should discuss the vitamin K injection with their pediatrician before delivery, since the studies associate skipping it with a meaningfully higher risk of infant brain bleeds. The injection is distinct from childhood vaccines and is recommended for every newborn by the American Academy of Pediatrics.