Gut Feelings?

[just_lily]

I am wondering if anyone else has really strong gut feelings, or mama instincts, about vaccinations?

For some reason every fiber of my being screams very loudly that it would be catastrophic for my daughter to receive vaccines. There is part of me that just knows she would have a bad reaction.

Oddly enough, I also feel that my next child, who is not even conceived yet, would be fine.

I won't be vaccinating any of my children, but I just find it very interesting that I feel this way.

I am curious if anyone else has similiar feelings?

[brendaziz]

I completely feel this way too! I have 2 boys- my oldest, I feel that he would have reacted severely (well he did to his hep b at birth).
My youngest (soon to be middle) I don't have the same reservations. I still will not vax- but if I were "forced" too- I wouldn't be as scared.
I have hte same horrible feeling- even worse than my ds really- about my nephew. I'm glad that I've been able to convince my sister to at least hold off until he's older. I just KNOW he'd react horribly. I don't know why I feel that way.
Though I try to never discount my intuition. It tends to know more than my brain does!

[angie7]

Yep.

[Claire and Boys]

I felt this way about my son. I actually booked hte appt for him to have DTAP and couldn't sleep for worrying about it, and felt sick with dread about it. So I cancelled and researched instead. He is as yet unvaxed and most likely will continue that way.

[megababymomma]

I'm with you too. Logically, and rationally I have done the research and have the information and understand why I don't vax in a way that can be explained to others (if they are, even for a minute, willing to hear from someone who doesn't believe the same things they do about medicine and our culture) but even greater than that is just the feeling that it's not right for DS.

and maybe even greater than THAT is the feeling that he will be completely and totally 100% fine (better even) without them.

[Lydiah]

Yep even beofre I did the research. I did them anyway at 2 months and she did this high pitching wail for a couple of days. I should have listened to my intuition.

[MyBoysBlue]

My first son was vaxed and he did the high pitch scream for about and hour a few hours after he was vaxed the first 2 times. Screamings normal right. I didn't question it. When I was researching UC here I started to change my thinking and now we haven't vaxed either kid anymore. For some reason I don't feel that DS 2 would be harmed at all by vaxes. I am not sure why. But we won't vax any way.

[Shelsi]

Yes. I felt that way about the MMR with my 4 yr old. So I stopped vaxing all together in order to research. I ended up choosing not to vax at all anymore. However about 6 mos ago I realized that although I still don't want to vax my kids I do not feel like vaccines would be a catastrophe for my ds any longer. That mamma instinct about it is gone and I do believe he would be fine.

[Peony]

Originally Posted by Lydiah

Yep even beofre I did the research. I did them anyway at 2 months and she did this high pitching wail for a couple of days. I should have listened to my intuition.

This was us as well. I knew as soon as I did it that it was wrong, I just made sure to never vax her again. This was my first child, I know that she would continue to have reactions. I've never vaxed any other child since then.

[mamakah]

My decision not vaccinate was stemmed from a strong maternal instinct not to do it. I hadn't really done any research when I declined the Hep b when ds was born. I just felt that I shouldn't do it.
It kept plaguing me when I thought about it and I eventually started my research only to have my feelings completely justified. I don't know if I have just worked myself up from all the research or if it is my feelings, but I also feel that it would be catastrophic (yikes. spelling?) if I were to vax him. I will never know because he will only be vaccinated over my dead body!

[singingmama06]

Yes and then let ds's dr. talk me right out of it. He had a bad reaction and I had to learn the hard way to never ignore that feeling again.

[MoonWillow]

Oh yes I have very strong gut feelings about this. I didn't access my instincts about it though until my first born was a couple of months old (so he unfortunately has had a few shots) but boy, when I started thinking for myself and reading, there was no turning back.
My dd has severe allergies and even her own allergist tried giving her a flu shot. Egg is her most severe allergy. It was an innocent mistake but had I not been educated and on high alert well, I shudder to think of the consequences.

[richella]

When dd1 was born, I had a strong feeling that she was perfect and that vaxes were an insult to her divinity. I meditated on whether to get the shots, and felt that it would be acceptable to do them anyway. We did (delayed), and nothing remarkable happened.

Second time (delayed even more), I didn't meditate on it, I just assumed the answer I got the first time still applied. As soon as I made the appt, I felt intense anxiety, which I ignored. The anxiety was persistent, until and after the actual shots. She had a reaction to that round, and over the next couple days I had lots of time to think about this while holding her because she wouldn't stop crying unless she were in arms. She would crawl about 3 steps and look back at me and cry some more. I feared she might never walk again, which she had just started to learn. She did recover completely.

When we asked our FPMD about this episode, we weren't satisfied with the answers we got. We haven't done any vaxing since.

Oddly, I haven't felt a need to meditate on the safety of NOT vaxing. I feel completely confident that it is fine.

[jenrogs]

Yes! My firstborn, my daugther had one hep B shot at 5 days old. I knew nothing and was told that it was "the law." I hated it. The night before her 2 month appointment I held her crying, knowing that somehow the shots would take her away from me. I felt like I would lose her. I had read nothing, it was just in me. And I believe something horrible would have happened.

With my son I just went along with no vaxing, but for some reason I feel this about my kids... that my daughter could handle one of the diseases better and that my son could handle the vaxes better. I don't know why I feel that way, I just do. Still, we are non-vax for now, they are just over 4 and just under 2. Daughter will prob. start preschool in the fall so sometimes I think of getting her one or two, before it wasn't an option. We were in NY and VA which are kind of all or nothing states. Now in MN with phil exemption and you are able to pick and choose. I am trying to take it slow and follow that same gut that told me no at 2 months...