Poll on vaccinations for the parenting forum - Page 3

[BeachMinded]

My son had two doses of the hep B vaccine and one dose of Pentacel before we decided that we would no longer be vaccinating him due to his reaction to the Pentacel. The very same reaction two previous posters mentioned, which I was told was ridiculous and there was no way that the vaccine caused it. Our ped actually told me that he thinks I was just looking for something to be wrong since I was already leary of side effects and was only letting DS get one vaccination at a time. I know my child and I know that he was alert, smiley, and happily babbling the morning we took him in for this vaccine and I didn't see that same child for weeks after that vaccine. He slept constantly. I had to wake him up to feed him. He was a zombie for weeks.

I am currently trying to find a ped in our area that will at least be accepting of our decision not to vax but am not having much luck with that.

[1littlebit]

Originally Posted by Peppermint

I wonder what in the world your pediatrician could possibly have meant by that? The only thing that makes any sense at all is that perhaps the babies put up less of a "fight" than an older child on an emotional level?

sounds about right to me. or she meant that if there are any vaccine reactions that are more subtle such as personality changes it is harder to tell in babies until they are older and thus to much time has passed to blame the vaccine.

or that adults didnt tolerate it very well in testing so the figured babies cry anyone no one will notice a little more every once in awhile. : sorry i dont think there is anything to back up that doctors comment.

[1littlebit]

Originally Posted by BeachMinded

My son had two doses of the hep B vaccine and one dose of Pentacel before we decided that we would no longer be vaccinating him due to his reaction to the Pentacel. The very same reaction two previous posters mentioned, which I was told was ridiculous and there was no way that the vaccine caused it. Our ped actually told me that he thinks I was just looking for something to be wrong since I was already leary of side effects and was only letting DS get one vaccination at a time. I know my child and I know that he was alert, smiley, and happily babbling the morning we took him in for this vaccine and I didn't see that same child for weeks after that vaccine. He slept constantly. I had to wake him up to feed him. He was a zombie for weeks.

I am currently trying to find a ped in our area that will at least be accepting of our decision not to vax but am not having much luck with that.

look for a family doctor not a pediatrician. they tend to be less vax happy.

[aydensmama]

I voted delayed.

DS1- delayed, and still catching up after a bad reaction at 4 months. Is in school with exemption- will be caught up by kinder.... i think. I didn't like his reaction to mmr (minor rash and fever for a week- like mini measles), so we backed off again.

DS2- severe problems at birth leading to brain seizures, strokes and brain bleed. MIRACLE who will never ever ever have a vacination. What if anything else happened in his tender brain- risks here outweigh benefits.

DS3- will probably be delayed. To start after 2. I say probably because I could decide to not do it all I guess....

[mammal_mama]

Oops! I just accidentally clicked on the first option -- "We fully vaccinate" -- but we actually stopped vaxing after our oldest received her 4 month shots, because of things we'd begun learning about the potential harmfulness of vaccines, and we started to believe the potential harm outweighed the potential benefits. So I think the real answer is that we don't vaccinate at all, even though we had started out vaxing, because we quit after that point, and our youngest has not had any at all.

Okay, now I'm off to read the thread -- just wanted to let you know I flubbed up and skewed the results -- I'm not sure if there's a way to fix it, either. I'm sorry!

[Ceinwen]

Selective/delayed.

I delay vax until two years of age - the only two my older dd has gotten are the DTaP & MMR. My sixteen month old will receive the same starting after her second birthday.

We don't do the flu, varicella, pneumococcal, etc.

When they are in the seventh grade they will get the Hep B vax, but we won't do the HPV vax.

[Drummer's Wife]

I voted we don't vaccinate at all... but, my first two kids had most of the recommended shots before I had done any research. #3 and #4 have had none at all.

[One_Girl]

My dd is fully vaccinated as am I. I found a lot of the "research" on not vaccinating to be misleading and based on statistics that take into account almost everyone being vaccinated rather than what has actually happened in the past when no one was vaccinated. I don't think there is anything wrong with not-vaccinating, people make that decision to protect their children just as I choose to vaccinate my child to protect her.

[snoopy5386]

DD is fully vaxed and was vaxed mostly on schedule. I had planned to delay, but didn't really do my research, got bullied by the ped, and got scared when there was mumps scare on the college campus where we lived when DD was a newborn. I always felt like I was taking a chance giving her the shots, but I also see the risk of not giving them as well. She is due for boosters in the next couple of years and I will be looking into that and getting her titers done instead. With the next DC I will be vaxing, but not on schedule, we will do a delayed schedule. I do consider myself crunchy in the parenting scheme, but much more mainstream in the medical world.

[InstinctiveMom]

We don't at all (though my oldest had some before we made the decision not to continue them). I do have friends who fully vaccinate on schedule and some who delay - I think it's all up to the individual family weighing the risks and benefits and deciding what's best or them as individuals. There is a LOT of information out there, and it's not an easy decision for many parents, nor one to be take lightly, IMO.

My reasoning for not having them is along the same lines as mentioned before, so I won't re-hash that.

I will add the thought (if it hasn't already been brought up before) that one of the best "selling points" for non-vax for me was that if you're still researching/debating/considering, and you decide to get a vaccine, you can always go that day and get it. However, once you HAVE it, you can never "un-have" it. It's done and you can't undo it. I'd rather wait and be SURE that it's the best option for my family.

I think it's awesome that so many parents are digging deeper into the issue before making a final decision

[Just My Opinion]

Originally Posted by choosewisdom

I fully vax, with a few of them delayed. The reason I choose to do this is because the first pt that I had die was an infant with pertussis. Her parents chose to not vax, and at 3 months she was brought in to my unit. We did everything that we could, but that illness is just too much for their little bodies, most times. :-(

This logic doesn't make sense to me though.

This is like saying, "we do not use vehicles anymore because one of the first patients I had came in after a bad car accident and died." I use this analogy because statistically, people are more likely to die in a car accident than they are of a VPD, in most cases.

I am not picking on you specifically, as I hear this logic a lot. It just doesn't resonate or make sense to me.

We don't vaccinate at all.

[NicaG]

We fully vax. It's an informed, researched decision that we decided is right for our family. I don't usually engage in the vax debate/discussion on mothering.com because it gets so heated. I respect others' decisions, and I hope they will respect mine.

[angie7]

100% completely vax free :

[Jennifer3141]

Originally Posted by NicaG

We fully vax. It's an informed, researched decision that we decided is right for our family. I don't usually engage in the vax debate/discussion on mothering.com because it gets so heated. I respect others' decisions, and I hope they will respect mine.

Ditto. Your child. You do the research and make the best decision for your family. We're fully vaxed except for the flu.

[fruitfulmomma]

Her parents chose to not vax, and at 3 months she was brought in to my unit. We did everything that we could, but that illness is just too much for their little bodies, most times. :-(

So, there are statistics showing that most unvaxxed babies who contract pertussis will die?

[lemurik]

We selectively vax. Certain shots we do almost on time (one shot at a time) and others delay at least till teen years. Then we will revisit the issue and see whether we want to do those vaccines that we missed.

[aims1029]

We're delaying all vaxes until she turns 18.

[4evermom]

Ds is vax free. Some of my siblings had vax reactions so I started off with the idea of doing delayed/selective vax. Also, dh had a brother who died of SIDs at 28 days old. I know (now but not when ds was a baby) that dh didn't have any vax until 2 months. I don't know if they followed the same schedule for his brother or if they did anything at the one month check up. Seemed like a good idea to wait until a baby was old enough to tell if there was a problem. I wanted to know my child, his personality and development, before considering things that might cause changes so I wouldn't wonder if something was due to vaccines. And then I got to the point where I couldn't fathom injecting things into my already perfect child.

[nolansmummy]

we are doing selective delayed vax's.
No flu shot, no chicken pox, and no rotovirus for sure.
Dd is two and has i think up to her 9 mo shots, I can't remember.

With ds, we fully vaxed him, and it was because i had no idea we could wait.

[lilbsmama]

I voted b. we fully vaccinated until 12 months when ds got the first dose of CP. I thought, really, is that necessary? Then DH and I discovered ingredients and we said H*ll no.:Couldn't be happier!