If I had it to do over again, I won't say I'd not vaccinate at all, but I would definitely be more selective it and do it more slowly.
Something else they don't tell you is how the SIDS rate rises dramatically within the first 48 hours of vaccinating. In Japan, they have a different schedule of vax (yet not any sicker than us!) and they also have a lower rate of SIDS too. Hmmmmm.
Oh man. I feel for you. I also get so annoyed that we , as moms, have to police this and feel so on the hook for making the correct decision. I believe in vaccinations. I am allergic to the egg base in a lot of vaccinations and as a kid could not get the shots -- instead I got the diseases. Something as minor as measles put me in the hospital so I have a bias and just close my eyes to the autism buzz. But, the scheduling does make me crazy -- seems more like an administrative convenience than what is best for the child. Good for you for sticking to what you believe. I think it has to be a personal decision for everyone.
I must say, I am a fan of the vaccine. Truly. Perhaps because am I really interested in epidemiology and have read way too many books about nasty diseases, but whatever.
There are a few reasons beyond that, though. I sometimes think we are being a bit alarmist and pinning stuff on vaccines that doesn't belong there - I knew plenty of kids with peanut allergies and asthma when I was a kid. I don't believe it's something new. It is partly a hereditary tendency 9I know a few families with gobs of weird allergies in parents and kids alike), and partly because people changed the way they fed their babies, giving them solids too early and too fast, and it helps create allergy issues. People have also changed the way they clean their houses, the way they live with pets, and live increasingly in apartments - roaches are known to increase asthma incidence, for example, and are hard to avoid in a high-rise.
The autism link is one that is tough - nearly impossible, really - to prove. It MAY have links to the mumps shot. But then, if you separate your MMR into just a measles and a rubella, you have to use american vaccines, and the FDA is not NEARLY as strict about additives and testing as we are up here. We haven't had mercury in our shots for ages, and it's not that long ago that thye removed it in theirs. In fact, most of the literature you're going to encounter deals with US shots, and even if the brand name is the same, the mixture is not due to our stricter standards. Which means that not all the concerns raised by americans are even valid here. My exception to this is the HPV virus, which is shocking me a bit - it is going from test to people WAY faster than Canada normally does, and I'm not thrilled to see it.
I would also note that some people are just more sensitive - I have ALWAYS gotten a fever and some flu-like symptoms for a day or two after a vaccine myself, even though it is atypical and surprises my doctor. It's just something my body does in reaction to a strange ivader, goes into immunie-system-resistance overdrive until it realizes the threat is past. It's not a lasting effect, I know to expect it now, btu I'm also aware that everybody's body will react differently to something like that.
All in all, it will always be a lesser-of-two evils decision for us parents, as so many things are. But for me, the vaccines are the lesser evil. Just my .02, and might be a little less worrying for you. Maybe.
i am going to look at the websites you listed before the 12 month shots. thanks for the info and raising the issue.
inot sure if reassuring or not but our baby girl hasn't been a good pooper at all. needs a daily dose and sometimes more of prunes. and get a suppository every once in awhile too.
Thanks for writing this! It is such a tough tough decision and sometimes you just don't know which way to turn. It's still something i think about and am still not sure what is the best option.
Most of all: I hope your daughter is okay.
I went through a lot of agony about vaccinating as well. I'm confident that it was the right choice for my first child, yet I'm now going through the same inner debate regarding my second child (what if he reacts differently?). It's a tough call.
For me, I think perhaps all the information on the Internet is a bad thing. It makes it easy to think that with a few hours of study, I am as aware of the issues as my children's doctor (who studied for longer. Who was guided by people who studied these issues. Who is head of pediatrics at a hostpital, and has far more contact with doctors and patients who are dealing with these issues than I do). Sometimes I think I should refuse to google the topic anymore, and just trust that my doctor knows what he is talking about. And then I think: What about all the times doctors have been wrong? How can questioning be a bad thing?
Ah. Now I'm going in circles again, so I'll stop and go back to my first statement: I hope your daughter is okay.
Thanks for pointing me to some good information. I have always been a supporter of vaccines, but I do think I may be keeping my head in the sand as to the downsides because I don't want to think of them. It's always best to be informed. I tend to trust my doctor in these things (good? bad? I dunno) - she has a kid the same age as the Boy and I quiz her on what she is doing for him. Not very scientific, but it feels right to me. Going to have a read of the VRAN site though.
You can ask the doctor to separate out the 2 vaccines..i.e. you don't' HAVE to get MMR and Hib on the same day! They are 2 separate injections. My family doc gives them on separate days, because it is a little overhwhelming on the immune system and kids are less likely to get a fever or feel ill over the next few days.
Also, just to clarify on the super-resistant meningitis - the resistance is due to over-exposure to ANTIBIOTICS that developped in someone else and then spread to this poor child. When you first start antibiotics, it kills only the really weak bacteria, and it takes some time for the strong ones to go. If you stop treatment early, basically what you've done is weed out the weak, and the few remaining ones are 'resistant'. They go on to multiply, and the next time you're sick, the old antibiotic won't work. This is one reason why antibiotics are given in such long durations and your doctor tells you to finish the bottle even if you feel well - in order to overwhelm them and kill every single last little bacteria so that the last little sucker doesn't live on to multiply and become resistant.
Also, the reason there are outbreaks is because (1) some kids aren't vaccinated (either because they're parents didn't want it, or they were born in countries without the vaccine and then moved to Canada), or (2) they didn't keep up with boosters, or (3) the vaccine did not create enough 'immunity'. But imagine how much worse outbreaks would be if half the kids in the class weren't vaccinated?
This is such a heated topic.
My first born received some of his vaccines. I cannot remember how many, maybe up to his 6 month ones. We delayed them (there was NO WAY I was letting my tiny little baby get needles) though. And then stopped.
My second son is now 1.5 and hasn't had any of the vaccinations.
I'm not anti vax. Not at all. I just don't know enough, so I've delayed the decision.
Much of the information shows that issues are correlative, although they do not show cause and effect. I know that. I'm on the fence, and chose to wait.
My doctor doesn't love it, but doesn't force it on me, which I appreciate.
I've decided to trust our doctors over the internet too, but I literally just finished a post about Bella's first shots, and I'm sure you can tell from it I'm still not 100% convinced about the safety/necessity of all the vaccines they are given today.
It's so easy to get scared by the info online! But I agree that we are not educated enough by our own government about the vaccines they require/recommend. Why is there not more readily available info about the reasons/benefits of the vaccines our kids are given? Or am I just not looking hard enough?
I think that it's important for parents to remember that their children will not necessarily spend their whole life in Canada or the US where everyone is vaccinated. It can be really expensive and a huge hassle to get twenty different vaccinations just for a college trip to South America. Not that a future inconvenience is more important than your child's health, but vaccinating on the alternative schedule just seems like the best way to set them up for life, you know? Otherwise they can only visit places where everyone else is vaccinated. It really will limit their ability to travel if they have to plan a trip a whole year in advance, just so they have time to get all of their shots (plus, who wants to get twenty shots in such a short span of time?)
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