Would you mind sharing?

[ilovebabies]

If your children aren't vaccinated, have they had a vpd yet, which one(s), and how old are they? Any of your children gone through their whole childhood and didn't get anything? I'm just really curious about this (although I realize that this forum is only a very small portion of people who choose not to vax). I'm guess I'm trying to have an idea of what the chances are of one of my children contracting a vpd if we continue to choose not to vax (and again, I know that answer is so dependent on many factors). Just having a little crisis of faith as well, as another poster has said. I'm there too. Just feeling nervous for some reason.

[Mirzam]

My two unvaccinated kids (11 and 9) have had a mild case of chicken pox and I suspect a very mild case of pertussis, never confirmed though.

[FernG]

I don't have measurable antibodies for MMR and never got Hep B or Hep A vaccines and have apparently never caught them despite living in the inner city and changing diapers of the children from "high-risk" populations. The only VAD I caught was CP when I was 2 years old.

My DD is totally unvaccinated and hasn't caught anything the entire 10 months of her life. We are out of the house all the time. I let her chew on anything that isn't a choking hazzard. We don't wash hands much. We try to support the gut with healthy, natural, non-GMO foods full of enzymes and probiotics.

Maybe we should vacation to Brittan so that we can both catch mumps.

ETA: I'm assuming that all of us have natural immunity to HIB. We probably thought we just had another cold at the time.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by ilovebabies

If your children aren't vaccinated, have they had a vpd yet, which one(s), and how old are they? Any of your children gone through their whole childhood and didn't get anything? I'm just really curious about this (although I realize that this forum is only a very small portion of people who choose not to vax). I'm guess I'm trying to have an idea of what the chances are of one of my children contracting a vpd if we continue to choose not to vax (and again, I know that answer is so dependent on many factors). Just having a little crisis of faith as well, as another poster has said. I'm there too. Just feeling nervous for some reason.

I'm just wondering why you would be nervous?? For certain things I totally get it. HIB would be scary if contracted; possible WC if your child was a small infant...but for most of the VPD's measles, cp, mumps, rubella...if you really educate yourself about them it may help to ease your fears as they are not dangerous (unless your LO is malnourished or serevely immunocompromised I suppose)

[Super Glue Mommy]

My LO is 8 months, nothing yet, even though my son age 3 1/2 got all his vaccines up to age 2, and he goes to school and gets sick all the time and my less vaccinated DD and non vaccinated DS2 dont catch anything...

My best friend and her 2 brothers were never vaccinated. They got the chicken pox growing up. My friend is 26.

[ilovebabies]

Originally Posted by Marnica

I'm just wondering why you would be nervous?? For certain things I totally get it. HIB would be scary if contracted; possible WC if your child was a small infant...but for most of the VPD's measles, cp, mumps, rubella...if you really educate yourself about them it may help to ease your fears as they are not dangerous (unless your LO is malnourished or serevely immunocompromised I suppose)

I don't know why I'm nervous.
Maybe because I have another baby coming in 5 weeks and my hormones are a little crazy.

I do have a 3 year old and 17 month old who have not had a single vax (and two teens who were fully vaxed through Kindergarten). I did enough reading prior to baby #3 to know that I didn't want to vax... but life has been soooo crazy the last year that I've gotten away from keeping up with the research and have forgotten a lot of what I did research.

I'm really kind of scared that one of my children will contract a vpd and I won't know what to do or look for to know they have something, or how to treat it properly. I know that's not a good enough reason to vax... but I would never forgive myself if something bad happened and I could have prevented it with a vax.

I'm rambling... sorry.

[FernG]

It's always hard to go against one's culture. I remember learning about how wonderful vaxes were way back in elementary-school history. Decades of propaganda are hard to fight. I have to constantly read journal articles to keep up my confidence. I bet your hormones are making it worse right now.

Do you have Aviva Jill Romm's books? Vaccinations... Naturally Healthy...They are very empowering.

insidevaccines.com has great summaries of the literature divided up by shot/disease. That would be some fairly easy, confidence-boosting reading.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by ilovebabies

I don't know why I'm nervous.
Maybe because I have another baby coming in 5 weeks and my hormones are a little crazy.

I do have a 3 year old and 17 month old who have not had a single vax (and two teens who were fully vaxed through Kindergarten). I did enough reading prior to baby #3 to know that I didn't want to vax... but life has been soooo crazy the last year that I've gotten away from keeping up with the research and have forgotten a lot of what I did research.

I'm really kind of scared that one of my children will contract a vpd and I won't know what to do or look for to know they have something, or how to treat it properly. I know that's not a good enough reason to vax... but I would never forgive myself if something bad happened and I could have prevented it with a vax.

I'm rambling... sorry.

Don't be sorry!! I have my moments too. Thats why I come here. I hear you about if something bad happened and it could (thats a big maybe though) have been prevented from a vax. Wouldn't you feel pretty bad if you vaccinated and your child had a terrible reaction and suffered long term damage?? There are no easy answers. Hang in there and step up the reading reasearch again. Im sure that will make you feel better.
There is a book "Raising a Vaccine Free Child' by Wendy Lydall that may be helpful as well as above posters suggestions.

Also check out Hilary Butler's books. She has some great stuff in there about treating some of the VPD's.

[Full Heart]

You are assuming vaccines prevent diseases. You should educate yourself about those (and other diseases), how they present and how to take care of your children if they do get one regardless of vaccine status. There are also plenty of diseases that we don't have vaxes for that you should also know how to treat. For me I ended up educating my dr about WC. Most drs having never seen the diseases themselves do not know how to diagnosis it. I think its very important to educate yourself about VPD.

I have 7 children, none have ever received any vaccine ever. They have had WC. But they have also had Scarlet fever, Roseola, Salmonella, RSV, etc. I tried to get them the CP when my brothers had it but none got it.

BTW, my brother got mumps and he was fully vaxed. So like I said, its a good idea to know what to look for regardless of vax status.

[Super Glue Mommy]

^good point. also drs sometimes see these diseases and can't diagnose them because they are assuming what the disease isnt on the simple pretense of assuming it cant be something the child was vaccinated against. That in conjunction with not knowing how to treat the diseases make the diseases more dangerous then they have to be.

[ilovebabies]

Those are great points! Yes, I guess I do assume that the vax's prevent the disease, although I've read enough to know that's not always the case. Funny how it's so hard to get out of that mindset. Maybe not funny... but sad! And then of course since my teens were fully vaxed through Kindergarten and are seemingly "fine", then that doesn't help matters!

Thanks for the book recommendations. Maybe I can pick up a couple of those books for good reading in those early week and months of continuous bfing! I think I need to educate myself on recognizing the diseases and knowing how to treat them if I suspect them... then I will feel more confident.

[Super Glue Mommy]

yes its very hard to fully grasp when children are fine. just remember, some people were beat growing up and turned out fine. some people smoke 2 packs a day for 50 years and are healthy as a horse!

I think you have a good plan ahead. you can always vaccinate later if you change your mind. its VERY hard to get out of the assumption... I have to remind myself sometimes, as I sometimes talk about them as if they do work - at least even assuming they do, I still think the risks outweigh the benefits.

you also have to remember, your children may have been fine even if you didnt vax them. I have read way to many scenarios on outbreaks of things like the measles, and then in small print you read that 53/54 cases were vaccinated children.

[just_lily]

My seven month old has had no vaxes, and only a couple of minor colds.

My DF and I were both vaxed according to the late 70s / early 80s schedule (DTP, MMR, polio). DF had both measles and mumps, after vaccination. I have never had anything, including chicken pox. My pre-natal bloodwork confirmed no immunity.

[3kidsclmr]

My two year old is unvaccinated, and my two older boys are partially vaccinated. I have a few good books, but then I sometimes start to panic... like last week when I was online and came across a hib outbreak in the midwest- I guess the three or so kids who got hib were unvaccinated ( I think they were all babies) and the article was all about how irresponsible these parents were and how they were to blame for their kids getting hib. Sometimes I really second guess myself.

[applejuice]

My unvaccinated niece had the measles at the age of 12 months. At that time, the MMR was given at age 18 months, so she was too young for the vaccine; the first pediatrician she saw did not give her a diagnosis - the second, older, more experienced doctor gave my sister the diagnosis of measles. This makes me wonder about how accurate some doctor's dxs are with regards to VPDs. She is fine. She also had chicken pox.

My unvaxed DS3 had measles at age 8 months. He was too young for the vaccine. He is fine. He also had chicken pox. I am not sure if the vaccine was available when he was little.



I have never been vaccinated and I have had pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, the flu, roseola, rubeola, chicken pox and meningitis. I am fine.

[columbusmomma]

DS, almost 7 years, is partially vaxed and hasn't had andy VPD. DD, 18 mos. is unvaxed and hasn't had any VPD's. I have a friend, mid 30's,completely unvaxed and has had chickenpox. I was vaxed(in the early 70's and have had the chickenpox.

[swissmom]

My 2-year-old has had nothing but a runny nose so far. He was unintentionally exposed to 3 people with flu, 2 people with the Noro virus and to his cousin with chicken pox. I am just happy and thankful that we didn't mess with his immune system which seems to be strong and working at its best. While vacationing in Switzerland this Christmas, the 4 kids of our friends had measles. DS was exposed to one of them but didn't get it (by the way, my friends say that their youngest, a 9-months-old, had the mildest case and recovered the easiest).