New parents shun proven newborn preventive care in push for “natural”

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Parents are increasingly refusing not only vaccines but other routine preventive care for newborns, pediatricians said, as skepticism influenced by misinformation and distrust spreads to interventions that have been used for decades to prevent potentially deadly early complications.

One Idaho pediatrician, Dr. Tom Patterson, described seeing sharp day-to-day variation in whether newborns received vitamin K shots at hospitals—on one recent day, “half the newborns” he saw did not get the shots, and on another day “more than a quarter” did not, according to Patterson. He said refusing a measure he described as “a simple intervention that’s been done since 1961” is especially concerning because babies are “innocent and vulnerable.”

Doctors across the country told AP that the refusals they are seeing go beyond vitamin K and are increasingly overlapping with other newborn protections. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed more than 5 million births nationwide and found refusals of vitamin K shots nearly doubled between 2017 and 2024, rising from 2.9% to 5.2%, according to the report. Other research cited by AP suggests parents who decline vitamin K shots are also more likely to refuse the hepatitis B vaccine and erythromycin eye ointment, which helps prevent infections that can cause blindness.

AP also reported that families often describe their decision-making process as difficult because they are exposed to conflicting information. Dr. Kelly Wade, a Philadelphia neonatologist, said, “I do think these families care deeply about their infants,” but added that she hears from families that it is “hard to make decisions right now because they’re hearing conflicting information.” Pediatricians and researchers said social media posts are part of how that information travels, including content questioning medical advice on safe, effective measures such as vitamin K and warning against use of unregulated alternatives.

Some pediatricians also linked the broader pattern to political signals that challenge established guidance. The report said a federal advisory committee whose members were appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted to end the longstanding recommendation to immunize all babies against hepatitis B right after birth, and that a federal judge temporarily blocked all decisions made by the reconfigured committee.

Vitamin K shots, doctors said, matter because babies are born with low levels of vitamin K and cannot produce enough in their intestines until they begin eating solid foods, which typically happens around 6 months old. Dr. Kristan Scott of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, lead author of the JAMA study, said, “Vitamin K is important for helping the blood clot and preventing dangerous bleeding in babies, like bleeding into the brain.” The report said that before injections became routine, about 1 in 60 babies suffered vitamin K deficiency bleeding, and that newborns who do not receive a vitamin K shot are far more likely to develop severe bleeding than those who do.

Doctors said other newborn preventive measures can also avert serious infections. Erythromycin eye ointment helps protect against gonorrhea that can be contracted during birth and can potentially cause blindness if untreated, while the hepatitis B vaccine helps prevent a disease that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer, or cirrhosis. Even if a pregnant person is tested before delivery, Dr. Susan Sirota said no test is perfect and infection can occur after testing, adding that a parent could still pass such an infection to a child.

Pediatricians said parents give different reasons for declining preventive care, including fears that interventions might cause problems and worries about newborn discomfort. Dr. Steven Abelowitz, founder of Ocean Pediatrics in Orange County, California, said some parents cite a desire for a “natural birth philosophy,” while he also pointed to misinformation and “outside influences, friends, celebrities, nonprofessionals and political agendas.” He said mistrust is present broadly across the political spectrum, not only among one party.

Doctors also said the refusals can show up in other care decisions beyond vitamin K, hepatitis B vaccination, and eye ointment. Sirota described encountering a family that refused a heel stick to monitor glucose for a baby at high risk of life-threatening low blood sugar, and other clinicians said they see patterns of parents declining multiple precautions once they start rejecting established guidance.

Some clinicians said this challenge has become more difficult in recent years, though care refusals have occurred for longer. Wade said she has encountered such decisions for “20 years,” and AP described a case from earlier: Dana Morrison, now a Minnesota doula, declined the vitamin K shot for her newborn son about 12 years ago, choosing oral drops instead. Morrison said she made the choice “really wanting to protect the bonding time with my baby” and trying “to eliminate more pokes,” and she later said she would have chosen the shot for her son as well.

Doctors said they approach these conversations with patience and respect. David Hill, a Seattle pediatrician and researcher, told AP, “If I walk into the room with judgment, we are going to have a really useless conversation,” and said that “Every parent I serve wants the best for their children.” He and other pediatricians said they work to address specific concerns—explaining why interventions are given and what risks exist when they are refused. Patterson said some parents reconsider after learning that vitamin K is not a vaccine, and that these discussions can take time because many parents doctors see in hospitals do not know them from regular outpatient care.

Patterson said he ends discussions with parents by emphasizing shared concern for the baby. He told AP: “I understand this is a hot topic, and I don’t want to disrespect anybody. But at the same time, I’m desperately saddened that we’re losing babies for no reason.” Felton, a pediatrician at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky, said most families decide to get the vitamin K shot and that she has seen no uptick in refusals.