Vitamin K during pregnancy

Vitamin K helps your baby’s blood clot and is also essential for their bone development.

Not getting enough vitamin K can cause symptoms like deficiency bleeding. This happens when little ones who don’t get enough vitamin K during pregnancy can’t make their blood clot and seal any wounds. Although cases of this are quite rare, they can have a very serious affect and cause problems straight after birth. This is why all newborns are offered a vitamin K injection, although it’s still a good idea to eat plenty of vitamin K-rich foods while you’re pregnant just to be on the safe side.

In its synthetic form, like in a supplement, too much vitamin K can be toxic. That’s why it’s best to get all that you need from a healthy diet.

Generally, you can absorb the most vitamin K from raw fruit and vegetables.

These foods are all good sources:

• Fresh, raw salads and green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli.
• Red cabbage, cucumber, leeks, celery, artichokes, peas and beans
• Dairy products like cottage cheese and cream or milk
• Olive and rapeseed oil
• Lean meat (make sure it’s cooked through)

Combining these foods is a great way to make you’re getting enough vitamin K – how about a snack of celery dipped in cottage cheese, or a cucumber and cheese sandwich, or maybe creamy vegetable soup with a leek base? Yummy and nutritious. Perfect!