If you have your baby in a hospital there is a mountain of procedures your baby will go through. In many hospitals newborns are ran through like products on an assembly line. Here is what you need to know with links so you can do more research. Any of these routine procedures can be waived. Many newborns first experiences in life, often before even breastfeeding, can include:

Ointment put in the eyes (in case the mother has chlamydia or gonorrhea)
Being washed with antibacterial soap
1. Given a vitamin K shot
2. Administered a Hepatitis B shot
3. Given a heel prick (looked like a heel slice to me) for a PKU test
4. If a boy, circumcised (this has been routinely done to some families without asking, make sure your hospital knows what you want. Rates are declining.)
5. Being placed in a heated isolette (an appropriate term for a bed that isolates baby from mom)
6. sometimes babies are given sugar water or formula even if the mother is breastfeeding. (This is becoming less common, but still be aware.)

Things to Know:

• You don't have to have ANY of these procedures done. Even the ones they say are the "law." If the hospital doesn't provide a waiver for to sign you can make one yourself. The best thing to do if you want to avoid any or all of the routine procedures is to submit a signed letter to be kept with your babies chart that says "You do not have my permission to administer any medicines, vitamins, bottles, or injections to my newborn without my full consent and knowledge."
• Hospitals are very accustomed to doing everything precisely the same way.  They don't run into people who object very often. Be firm but definite in your choices and wishes. It can be confusing to them why you are objecting. Your best bet is to be firm and polite.
• Notarize. Anything you write out will seem more offcial if you can have it notarized before hand.
• Compromise. I'm not usually one for compromise, especially when it comes to my child. That said, it is still important to realize when you need to compromise to get what you want. If it comes down to it and your choices are either compromise with the hospital or call a lawyer (I'd most likely call the lawyer) then know what you are willing to bend on and what you aren't. For example I'd rather the baby get washed with soap then given the shots. 
• Don't be scared, and don't get bullied. If they say they will get a court order tell them to go right ahead.
• Play the newborn check up card Some, if not most, of the things can be done at a doctors office. Say you are waiting until the baby is a week or older to do x, y or z with your doctor.
• Hospital Staff are trained in what to say the phrases, "hospital policy" and "they require this..." are to make you feel like there is a higher up that you have to obey. This also takes the heat of the nurse or other staff/doctors who are dealing with you. You have rights, you are not hospital property and either is your baby. However, sometimes you have to call a lawyer. Hospitals can be powerful places.

More information about the procedures and weighing the pros and cons:

Routine Washing of Newborns with antibacterial soap

By David Steinman, Natural Health, Nov.-Dec. 1994 Click for full article Skin Care for Newborns

A recent report in Clinical Pediatrics reveals that more than 75 percent of newborns suffer rashes within the first few months of birth, and researchers suspect that contributing factors include the very products that promise to soften, clean, and moisturize children's skin.  As they note in their research, "Newborn skin is relatively more permeable to topically applied agents than adult skin.  Therefore, the risk of systemic toxicity ...  is much greater in newborns."

Personal care products (for adults as well as babies) are among the least-regulated consumer products on the market, and are not subject to safety testing!  According to the North American Contact Dermatitis Group, many products contain allergens and widely-recognized irritants.

"The safety and efficacy of over-the-counter skin care products are not supported by well-controlled scientific studies," say researchers in the Department of Pediatrics at Loyola University in Chicago.  But concerned parents like the Wikholms can avoid the risk posed by such products by using simple home remedies or choosing skin-care products that are free of harmful substances.

"Babies are born with this beautiful creamy white coating called the skin care caseosa, a collection of dead cells and mucus that has protected the child for the entire pregnancy," says Dr. Jay Gordon, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  "The vernix is the most exclusive body lotion a human ever sees and should be massaged into your baby's skin immediately following birth," Gordon says.

Instead, many newborns are taken from their parents and immediately bathed in antibacterial soap, which disturbs the skin's acid mantle (the skin's natural acidity) and its delicate balance of beneficial bacteria.

"Never let the hospital personnel do this to a healthy, full-term baby," Gordon says.  "It's your choice."  If there is any blood left on your baby from delivery, you can request that the hospital instead sponge with a little warm water, leaving the vernix intact, and being careful not to let your newborn catch cold.  With the tips of your fingers and while the baby is still lying in her crib, gently massage the vernix in.

"The average one-month-old baby is bathed four times and shampooed three times every week, according to researchers from Loyola University in Clinical Pediatrics.  "Yet newborn skin is slow to mature, and the outer layer is highly permeable and sensitive to chemicals," says Uwe Stave, M.D., formerly of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Miami.

 Are Vitamin K Shots Safe? Mothering Magazine March 1999 Cory A, Mermer

ONE OF THE FIRST SENSORY EXPERIENCES MOST NEWBORNS have is the prick of a needle injecting vitamin K into his or her heel. Regarded as an important preventative against hemorrhage, the injections have become a routine part of newborn care. But several new studies have thrown doubt on the safety of vitamin K. One study, conducted in England, showed a relationship between vitamin K shots and an increase in childhood cancer. Another study, reported in a 1992 issue of the British Medical Journal, found an association between the injections and the development of childhood leukemia. The study's researchers concluded soberingly: "The prophylactic benefits against hemorrhagic disease are unlikely to exceed the potential adverse effects from intramuscular vitamin K." (See J. Golding, et al., "Childhood Cancer, Intramuscular Vitamin K, and Pethidine Given During Labour," British Medical Journal 305, 1992; 341-346.)

More recently, researchers reported in a 1998 issue of the British Medical Journal that they had documented a doubled risk for acute lymphoblastic leukemia among children aged one to six who had received intramuscular vitamin K. The study's authors called for an end to the routine injection of vitamin K, saying it should be administered only to those babies at particularly high risk of hemorrhage.

How can you tell if your newborn might be among those at risk? Most researchers say several factors increase a baby's chances of being vitamin K deficient. Among these are maternal prenatal use of antibiotics or other drugs, particularly anticonvulsants and tuberculostatics. A maternal diet lacking in leafy green vegetables also can contribute. To avoid deficiency, pregnant women should eat foods rich in vitamin K, including collard greens, spinach, salad greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, olive oil, asparagus, soybeans, okra, green beans, lentils, egg yolks, and blackstrap molasses.

Vitamin K-deficiency-induced bleeding remains rare in newborns. But when it occurs, it can be fatal. So most pediatricians continue to call for the routine prophylactic use of vitamin K. Parents who are concerned about possible consequences can decline the injection in most states, however, by signing a waiver that frees their doctor of liability.

For a list of medical references concerning vitamin K use in infants, send an SASE to Vitamin K Resources, 635 First Street, Westfield, NJ 07090.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Mothering Magazine

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I drink a cup or more of Nettle and Alfalfa tea per day, especially at the end of my pregnancy. This way my iron and vit K is up for the birth and the baby.

Nettle: High in iron and calcium, as well as an excellent source of folic acid. Strengthens the kidneys and adrenals.  Increases breast milk.

Alfalfa: Contains many nutrients such as trace minerals, chlorophyll and vitamin K. Vitamin K is a nutrient necessary for blood clotting. Newborns in hospitals are given a vit K shot. I prefer to make sure I have enough vit K to pass on to my infant for it not to be a concern. Taken in the last trimester of pregnancy it can decrease postpartum bleeding. Alfalfa also increases breast milk in all mammals.

Hepatitis B shot

Coming soon...

More to be added. Thanks for stopping by.