evidence: Vitamin K supports blood coagulation and helps prevent hemorrhages. However, babies are born with very small amounts of vitamin K that can leave them vulnerable to bleeding, therefore a vitamin K injection after birth greatly reduces the risk of such bleeds, which can lead to brain damage or death. Children who don’t get a vitamin K shot are 81 times more at risk of potentially fatal bleeding due to their low level in vitamin K. Vitamin K shots also contain additional molecules like polysorbate 80, also present in ice cream, that preserve the quality of the product before injection.