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Newborn Screen
Please read the disclaimer. The Metabolic Newborn Screen, also known as the heal stick or prick test, also known as the PKU screens your baby for disorders that are not part of the genetic testing that can be done during pregnancy. It is done by poking the baby’s heal and making it bleed, much like a […]
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Vitamin K
Please read the disclaimer. Two Things There are two parts to this, but they fit together. First, babies are born Vitamin K deficient. Second, Vitamin K is essential for blood to clot. Lets look at each separately, then put them together to see why it is recommended that all babies are given Vitamin K after […]
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Erythromycin aka Eye Goop
Please read the disclaimer. Many, many first pictures of newborns show them with a clear, Vaseline looking kind of ointment in their eyes. This “eye goop” is an antibiotic called Erythromycin. It protects the baby from different kinds of eye infections and from blindness in case the mother has Chlamydia and/or Gonorrhea and doesn’t know. […]