This topic has been on my mind for a few years now and so I'm going to post on it and ask for your participation. First, I'll tell you a little bit about where I'm coming from.
With Aubrie, we had her get all the recommended immunizations from the time she was two months old on because we had never been told that we should do it any differently.
By the time Kayley came along, I had started to hear some disturbing things about immunizations that got me all worried. I spent a lot of time researching arguments both for and against and found some interesting things. When it came time for Kayley to get shots, we ended up postponing some of them and spreading them farther out so she didn't get slammed with a whole bunch when she was still so tiny. Her doctor was polite about our decision and said that she has many patients that choose not to immunize, but she said it made her nervous. Kayley is now up to date on all her shots and I kind of like how they were all spread out and I don't think she got any at all until she was a little older. It felt kind of like a compromise to me. She got the shots but not so much at once that she had to go through having icky fevers and side effects.
I was really torn about the whole issue and continued to research the topic. It seemed like no matter what I did, I felt I was taking a huge risk. The dangers to both sides are real and I really got frazzled trying to figure out what to do.
So, this brings me to now. Christian is going to have his two month check-up in a couple weeks and will be due for the first set of shots. While I'm making the decision on how to go about this and what I should do, I'm going to ask my fellow moms and friends out there for input. I've researched so much on this that now I just want to hear from those who have been there and are there.
So, now it's your turn! Please tell me what you've done with your child/children or what you are going to do in the future if you don't have kids yet. And please tell me why. I suspect there are a few people out there who might read my blog once in awhile but never comment and so I'm asking you to do me a favor just this once and tell me what you think in the comments section. Thank you!
5 comments:
I immunize. They get them all. And it is easy to get freaked out about them. And there may be problems, but all in all, they have done A LOT of good and saved a lot of lives. So I will do my part, especially to keep those that can't be immunized safe.
Polio? Not interested in my kids ever getting that.
Diptheria, Tetnus, Pertussis? no thanks.
Measles, Mumps and Rubella? I do not want them around.
Hep A? there are more and more outbreaks.
Hep B? I work in healthcare. I see the need for that vaccination as well. Never know when you will get a needle stick etc.
Influenza? To have your child die from that when you could have gotten them a little shot or nasal spray? Heartbreaking.
I did delay Lincoln's MMR to 15months instead of 12 months. Why? Because I felt guilty due to some mom friends anti vaccination stand. I felt worse for those 3 months knowing he wasn't protected and knowing that there has been Measles outbreaks this year.
HERE IS SOMETHING FROM AN ARTICLE I READ:
In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported measles cases had spiked, with 131 cases reported for the first seven months of the year, compared to an average of 63 cases per year since 2000. Of the infected patients, 91 percent were unvaccinated, most because of "philosophical or religious beliefs." None of the cases was in Mississippi.
The CDC report said homeschooled children accounted for 25 of 30 cases in an outbreak of measles in suburban Chicago in May. In Grant County, Washington, public health officials tied 11 of 19 measles cases to unvaccinated homeschooled children.
Great. No wonder homeschooling has such a bad rap. But what concerns me the most is the babies who can't be vaccinated being exposed to those who CHOOSE not to be vaccinated and get Measles or whatever.
Here are the articles: http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20081012/NEWS01/810120332
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,379388,00.html
But, I also don't think it is the governments job to make us vaccinate. It is up to the parents.
Just my 2 cents :)
We have vaccinated both our kids, all at the recommended times. I guess my opinion is that it is much better than the alternative (deadly diseases), as mentioned in the previous comment.
I've heard good and bad on all sides, like you said. You just have to choose your risks. It's risky either way. Due to the advice of our midwife who delivered Ali in MN, we have chosen to delay vaccinations and skip the non-essential ones (like flus and chicken pox, etc.) Delaying the vaccinations doesn't scare me a bit and the doctors have never tried to talk me out of it. We wait until our kids are three to start them. Ali has handled them very well and is very brave when it comes time for the shots and seems to recover quickly. While some parents feel horrible NOT vaccinating, I feel horrible vaccinating just because of all the horror stories I've read and wondering if it's really good for our bodies. Our midwife had advised us that if we chose vaccination we should beef our kid up on Vitamin C beforehand and I even give her Motrin before we go in for the shots.
It's up to you and Sam. There's a lot of articles out there. Check out my friend's blog at www.lilirishlass.blogspot.com as she has done a ton of research on the subject and has posted lots of articles on the subject.
While I know vaccinations can really help for some diseases, you also have to wonder about them when there are people who say there is money behind the push for them. Doctors and nurses are all heavily trained that they are wonderful and if they push it, it's only because they honestly believe that. But who's coaching them and training them in it and why?
When I'm pregnant and I read something on a label that says you absolutely should NOT eat when you are pregnant I have to wonder if it's really that good for ME even if I'm don't have a developing baby inside me. I wonder the same thing about vaccinations. If they cause this reaction in preemies, are they really that good for any baby?
Should I vaccinate my Preemie? From the website www.laboroflove.com
"If you do decide to vaccinate your preemie when they are two months old it is important to monitor them very carefully because there is an increased risk of them experience respiratory and/or heart side effects. It is generally recommended by doctors to immunize preemies two months after they are born, rather than at two months adjusted age.
Many preemies have underlying medical conditions and injecting them with multiple vaccines at once is really a crapshoot. Nobody knows for sure the outcome and preemies don’t even respond to vaccinations in the same way as older infants. This is to say that they may not develop the same type of immunity."
We've chosen to vaccinate our children. Our stance is that though vaccinations are not risk-free, they're safer than getting the diseases that they prevent.
I agree with a lot of what Lindsey wrote. My first daughter was fully vaccinated, my second daughter had most and my son only had his 2 month shots and will have no more. Three days after his 2 month shots he had a seizure. Now, he has Epilepsy and I don't believe it was CAUSED by vaccinations but it was an underlying condition triggered by getting vaccinated.
Many of these diseases are not deadly and we're made to believe so. 20 years ago everyone got chicken pox and no one thought anything of it. Now it's supposedly a deadly disease. The reason more older people are getting it is because they were vaccinated therefore not giving them lifelong immunity. The complications are much more severe in adults than in children.
There are studies that proof the benefit of getting some of these diseases in child hood and the strength of the immune system that it builds.
Strep throat used to be deadly. Why isn't it anymore? There's no vaccination for it! Well, because we have been hygiene practices now, we have better water sources, etc. Many of these once deadly diseases would not be deadly in today's society.
The vaccines are safe if your kid isn't the "1 in a million" that experiences a severe reaction. If that's your kid than it hits a bit closer to home. And at a couple months old you have no idea a lot of the time if there's an underlying health condition. We sure didn't. I know many, many parents of kids with special needs who will tell you the vaccinations triggered something, some symptom in their child and many of them don't vaccinate. And these aren't anti-vaccination proponents, these are parents who have experienced first had the side effects of vaccinations.
I believe if you are going to vaccinate that you owe it to your kids to do your own research. I can give you many examples of doctors NOT knowing what they're talking about. In our sons case doctors have been wrong numerous times about different things. So, you can't just blindly trust a pediatrician.
Lindsey is right that the pharmaceutical companies are out to make a lot of money and they don't have our best interest at heart.
Aside from all the other reasons to not vaccinate take a look at the ingredient list of vaccinations. Aluminum, formaldehyde, aborted fetal tissue, etc. And yes, mercury. Which is still in most flu shots given today.
I think if you are going to choose to vaccinate that you should do so on a delayed schedule. There's far too much stress put on the immature immune system of a newborn when receiving so many shots. And some, like Rotavirus, which is a live virus will actually give you Rotavirus if you aren't careful. And it's caused death in quite a few cases. And that's not just the old Rotavirus vaccine, it's the new one too.
I don't go around worrying about any of these diseases because I don't see them as life threatening. Tetanus sure that would be horrible and yet it's so very rare that I couldn't imagine that the risk of getting it is worth the risk of the vaccine. And people are very uninformed about tetanus and think you can get it from any cut you got outside. Not true at all. Measles, mumps, rubella? Not deadly.
Again, sure any of these diseases CAN be deadly but most are not and I truly believe the risk is much higher when giving a young baby so many toxins that vaccines contain.
And if you believe that vaccinations are effective then you shouldn't worry about anyone's kids who aren't vaccinated! ;)
I worry more with my son around kids who've just received their Rotavirus, chicken pox or flu shot than I would around a kid that's never been vaccinated!
And Hep B, well that is only transmitted through blood. I don't know any kid who has ever accidently got stuck with a dirty needle. Sure it happens but it's rare. And probably more rare to actually contract Hep B from it. My son has had blood drawn at least 50x and never had an accident with a dirty needle.
You also have to be careful where you get your information. There are valid, anti vaccination sites and there are some that are full of crap. Same thing with even the CDC though. You can guarentee that even the CDC has an agenda, and it's called drug companies funding! :)
Anyway, yes I have a very strong opinion on this subject but I also do not judge anyone who vaccinations their children if they have done their research and come to their own conclusion, not anyone else's, that the vaccines are beneficial.
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