Are your unvaxed children healthier than vaxed children?

[makuahine]

I'm very curious about this since not many of my friends have children yet and I don't have many good examples. However, my friend who does not vaccinate has by far the healthiest three year old I've ever met. Do you find this to be true of your own unvaxed children? How about those who have both vaxed and unvaxed kids? I'd like to think that not vaxing means a healthier immune system but there don't seem to be any studies on this (surprise surprise ).

[cjarvis]

Yes, my unvaxed kids are far more healthy than my vaxed kids. Child #3 is the first to not receive any vaccines. He has had 2 or 3 fevers since birth and he didn't get the first fever until he was a year old and he has never been on any medications, even tylenol or motrin. When he had rota virus, it was so mild compared to my older two kids. My 4th I believe has also already had rota virus even though he is 6months. It too was very mild in him. I guess if you have a healthy gut, then rotavirus isn't that big of a problem.

My oldest has horrible allergies and borderline diagnosis of asthma.

[KimberlyD0]

I don't have a non-vaxed child, however my partialy vaxed child is the healthiest child I know. She rarely ever gets sick, and when she does she bounces back very quickly. She's only had the flu once, and maybe 2 cold. No allergies and no lung issues of any sort.

I think a lot of the time its dependent on the child. Some children are just healthier then others.

[ammiga]

My dd is unvaxed and very healthy. She has had stuffy noses a few times and takes a few days to be able to breathe comfortably, and that is the sickest she has ever been. When the stuffy nose happens, I complain that she is sick... then my best friend tells me that a stuffy nose doesn't count as sick (says with a smile) and proceeds to tell me all the illnesses her kids have (they are fully vaxed).

[Just My Opinion]

I do think dd has a healthier immune system than most children her age, and I do attribute a lot of that to not vaccinating. The other part, I attribute to a whole foods, non-processed, vegetarian diet with little processed sugar (once in a while but not at all with frequency).

She is not quite four and has never been sick a day in her life other than the occasional sniffle or two or three fevers that have resolved themselves in 2-3 days with basic home care.

Even just recently, I got an insane case of acute bronchitis (needing abx even) and she got off with no more than a 2 day fever and a very slight cough - and this is with sharing drinks, being together all day etc.

I was fully vaccinated

[xmasbaby7]

Yes, yes yes.

My dd basically never got sick her first few years of life. When our house got a horrible stomach virus, she threw up one time and was fine, for example, but never a runny nose until she was older than 2.

When we all got strep, dh and I were sick for a week or longer, and I watched her fight this infection on her own in 24 hours. She was well on the way to the dr for her culture.

I don't treat fevers, and i notice now that she has been in preschool, she gets sick as frequently as other kids but how her body repairs itself is really fast and efficient. She will often go to bed healthy, spike a high fever in the night, it will be gone by morning, and I know she just fought whatever was going around.

It is just as critical to avoid antibiotics as well as vaccines to ensure a healthy, intact immune system and exclusively breastfeed. This is why a homebirth became my choice, because it ensured a healthier start. I am grateful every day I was able to give this to my daughter.

[avendesora]

It would be a difficult comparison to do between families. Because the average non-vaxxing mom will be a highly conscientious self-educated mom, aware of dietary issues and outside play time, will more likely breastfeed, etc. Where as a vaxxing mom may or may not be health conscious in other areas. (Sweeping generalization, I know, sorry. Of course there may be some vaxxing moms who are also health conscious, and may be vaxxing because their education lead them to that choice. But there are a lot of moms out there who just go with the flow of the American culture.)

[jjawm]

Nope. Dd was partially vaxed, and my boys were fully vaxed. All of them healthy as horses and rarely if ever get sick.

I, on the other hand, get sick constantly and severely.

[carriebft]

My kids are all selectively vaxed. DD1 and DS have dealt with rotavirus once and they probably get a cold a year I would say. DD2 is 1 year old and she had a runny nose/I think it was a cold but never got full blown once but no other illnesses as of yet.

I don't think vax status affects non vaccine diseases too much; I think diet and lifestyle are the big factors, including exposure to the world and cleanliness habits at home.

[makuahine]

Originally Posted by avendesora

It would be a difficult comparison to do between families. Because the average non-vaxxing mom will be a highly conscientious self-educated mom, aware of dietary issues and outside play time, will more likely breastfeed, etc. Where as a vaxxing mom may or may not be health conscious in other areas. (Sweeping generalization, I know, sorry. Of course there may be some vaxxing moms who are also health conscious, and may be vaxxing because their education lead them to that choice. But there are a lot of moms out there who just go with the flow of the American culture.)

Yes, I meant to add this to my original post but had a fussy baby on my lap so had to cut it short. My friend who does not vaccinate and has such a healthy three year old is also incredibly diligent about feeding the family nutritious foods and using chemical free products and breastfeeding for over a year and all that good stuff. I'm sure this makes as big a difference to a child's health as being not vaccinated does. I guess I am mostly curious, then, about children who grew up in the same family eating the same foods and leading the same lifestyle but for some reason one child got vaccinated and the other did not.

[bandgeek]

DD has a lot of medical problems, but considering she's in and out of doctor's offices and hospitals, she almost never catches the "bugs" going around. When she does get sick, it's serious because of her respiratory problems, but since it's rare...meh.

DS has only been to the doc once for anything other than a well-child visit. He had one round at 6 months but nothing since.

[star*mora]

in combination with breastfeeding, yes i'd say my son has been healthier than vaxed children in his age group that i've met.

he has been sick twice in his life, an ear infection and a bad stomach flu, and was treated with breastmilk. he hasn't had antibiotics either.

given that the nurses in the nicu said i'd likely be bringing him into the hospital with some sort of ailment by 6mths (he was a preemie) i do feel like he's beaten the odds.

but i do think nursing my son has had a bigger role than not vaccinating in terms of his health

[natbrat5555]

My vaxed 11 yr old son had major ear infections and tubes by 8 months old and other colds and such. He even got the chicken pox after being vaccinated although it was a mild case. My non-vaxed 2 1/2 yr old girl has only had a runny nose that went away on its own in a day or two. My non-vaxed 3 month old son has not been sick at all. In all fairness other factors could have been involved with my oldest though. He was only breastfed for 5 weeks and went to daycare and my other two have never been to daycare and were breastfed longer.

[poppan]

I like to think my partially vax'd kids are less sick than others (I stopped all vax at 2 months of age, they are now 24 months) but I suspect they are sick just as often as others. Compared to the kids in our swim class (who I assume are vax'd, but I don't actually know that) they are very healthy as they have not gotten ear infections, pneumonia, or hospitalized. Compared to my cousin's kid and some friends' kids who are fully vax'd on schedule, I think they are about the same.

[boscopup]

Both my kids are selective/delayed vaxed, but the one that was vaxed closer to on schedule (and was a 29 weeker preemie) is waaaaaaaay healthier than the child that didn't get as many vaccines. I think vaccine status has nothing to do with their health. The 2nd child started getting every cold that came along before he ever got his first vaccine (I refused Hep B at birth with both kids). He started the ear infections at 4 months and had tubes last Dec (no infections in the last year, but still had fluid on his ears in Nov and it was greatly affecting his speech development... NOW he's talking). He's also got allergies, eczema, etc.

My siblings and I were all fully vaxed per the normal schedule, and while my brother and sister had tons and tons of ear infections and both had to get tubes, I've never had an ear infection in my life and have always been very healthy.

So even within a family, it's hard to compare vaxed vs. unvaxed, because the genetics will be a little different with each kid.

[Oonah]

DS was vaxed up to 4mos old. My oldest DD not at all. DS has been healthier than DD1. Of course we're not exactly comparing apples to apples. DS didn't have an older sib in school, going to a ton of bday parties, having friends over etc etc. I would say in the time DS and DD1 were home and not in school, they were equally healthy.

[CanidFL]

Yes, my son is way healthier than other vaxed kids his age. But this is all just observation. You can't say it's the vaccines for sure although I believe they play a part.

I think it's the whole lifestyle: breastfeeding, outside almost all day, not super paranoid about germs (Ex: I let him put things in his mouth all the time), etc. We don't have a super healthy diet and do eat many processed foods. But overall, yeah he is pretty darn healthy.

[fruitfulmomma]

None of my kids are vaxxed. I think they are all pretty healthy. We've never had to take them to the doctor for illness.

[zinemama]

No. My unvaxed (except for hib) son actually gets sick more often than his almost fully vaxed brother.

And I'm not disappointed or upset or surprised about that. I am looking more at long term benefits than short-term ones.

[xmasbaby7]

These threads reappear from time to time, and I am always amazed on a grander scale how low our expectations are as a whole of children's health.

We just accept that ongoing illness is a part of childhood. I heard an NPR story that a infant averages about a cold or illness per month, and when I was talking about this story among very mainstream bottle-feeding moms, they all said that sounds about right. But my daughter had not even been sick at this point, and she was 11 months at the time. If my daughter had been sick every month since birth, I would try and get to the bottom of it and determine what is making her so susceptible to illness and determine what her body is lacking.

It makes me sad that we've let the bar fall so low...