Just three days old, little Jhene already has mom wrapped around her finger.
“She’s great; I love her,” mom Courtney Vann said.
Vann said she wants what’s best for her children, starting the minute they’re born. That’s why she made sure Jhene got a Vitamin K shot.
"I wanted it because of the benefits they explained to me,” Vann said. “I thought it would be better to have it rather than not."
Vitamin K shots are injected into newborns minutes to hours after birth.
"We give the baby the needed amount of Vitamin K to avoid bleeding problems in the first months of life,” said Dr. Luis Maldonado, an assistant professor at USF and medical director of the Newborn Nursery at Tampa General Hospital.
Some of those bleeding problems, like in the brain or intestines, can be deadly.
While the majority of moms give the OK for the injection, a growing number of parents across the U.S. are shunning the routine shot. Maldonado said he sees parents say no about twice a month.
"We respectfully disagree,” Maldonado said. “It’s vitally important, 100 percent important."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, babies who don’t get the Vitamin K shot are 81 times more likely to develop bleeding.
Maldonado said no matter what the reason parents reject the shot, they should know there is zero risk to their child.
"There’s been absolutely no data that proves that this medicine, injection, is harmful in any way or form,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado said there are some warning signs of dangerous bleeding for babies who don’t get the shot, like bleeding of the gums, blood in urine or stool and sensitive skin that bruises easily.