Prophylactic Dosing of Vitamin K to Prevent Bleeding

Based on a high incidence of Vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB) in breastfed infants with thus far unrecognized cholestasis, such as biliary atresia (BA), the Dutch regimen to prevent VKDB in breastfed infants was changed from a daily oral dosage of 25 µg to 150 µg vitamin K. Infants continued to receive 1 mg of vitamin K orally at birth. We compared the efficacy of the 150-µg regimen with the 25-µg regimen and with the Danish regimen of a single intramuscular (IM) dose of 2 mg vitamin K at birth.