Which vax did you skip - and why?? - Page 2

[Penny4Them]

Just curious, but why are you skipping rotavirus? Our ped is pushing that one for my 4 mo Ds b/c his sisters are in school and she says they could bring it home. Also, rotavirus is administered orally isn't it? I haven't decided yet, so I'm really curious to see your reasoning against this one.

Also, I was considering Pc to protect my Ds from bacterial pneumonia, which can be a complication of flu. What do you mommas think?

[alegna]

I crossed off rotavirus (one reason...) because it's a new vaccine. The *last* rotavirus vax was pulled from the market after too many dangerous side effects.

Rotavirus is not dangerous for children in the US. At most it's a nasty nuisance.

-Angela

[kamane18]

Originally Posted by alegna

I crossed off rotavirus (one reason...) because it's a new vaccine. The *last* rotavirus vax was pulled from the market after too many dangerous side effects.

Rotavirus is not dangerous for children in the US. At most it's a nasty nuisance.

-Angela

Since we have access to clean water, as long as you keep your child hydrated (and get him/her IV fluids if necessary), rotavirus is yucky but not dangerous. I'd rather take my chances with maybe getting rotavirus than giving my child a live vaccine. In fact, DH, DD and I all had it about 3 years ago (when she was one). She had the most mild case of it, me the medium and DH the worst. But I loaded him up with homemade gatorade and other than him missing a day of work and feeling pretty crappy, it wasn't a big deal.

[hapersmion]

Originally Posted by carriebft

I still waiver on chicken pox because of the whole shingles thing...

You might want to look into the shingles thing - I've heard kids are getting it younger and younger now that there's a vaccine. The vaccine doesn't prevent shingles - getting the vaccine OR getting chicken pox still means that you've been exposed to the chicken pox virus and can get shingles at some point. IIRC - I haven't looked at it in a while. Anyway, finding out about that might help with your decision.

Penny4Them, we also skipped rotavirus because it was new, and because we weren't worried about rotavirus. When my son was 11 months or so, he (and everyone else) ended up getting what we think was a noravirus (like a rotavirus with the vomiting and diarrhea, but not prevented by any vaccine), and it was no fun, but not the sort of thing I'd consider serious enough to merit a vaccine.

[babyjonesmama]

I do want to chime in on the rotavirus vaccine. I am a pediatric nurse, and I have seen a lot of little ones require hospitalization for rotavirus. It can cause severe dehydration, require IV fluids. Starting an IV can be difficult and very painful in a dehydrated babe. Also I have seen little butts red, raw and bleeding from the relentless, nonstop liquid diarrea. So for me, this was a no-brainer. Rotavirus is very common. Not deadly in this country because we do have the treatment readily available, but for me this is definitely worth it in order to avoid a potential hospital stay.

[Baby_Cakes]

It depends on your situation, quite frankly. We skipped rotavirus but if I had a baby in daycare I would definitely vax for rotavirus. I'm still researching flu vaxes, but again if Nora were in daycare, I would most likely get her vaxed for flu.
You have to weigh the odds and really think about what could happen "if".

[Tattooed Hand]

I had also read that the risk of severe dehydration is in babies that are not being breastfed. If they get it, they breast feed a ton and avoid getting too dehydrated while the virus works its way through their system. So if you are breast feeding and the baby is not in daycare, they are not at high risk to get this or have the illness require a hospital stay.

[Shazer]

I second the rotavirus and breastfeeding. I think it makes a huge difference. DD had rotavirus, although her ped claimed it was norovirus. Whatever it was, she had diarrhea on and off for two weeks, breastfed a ton, and was fine.

DD hasn't had any vaccines yet. She is 2.5 and I think she will shortly get one dose of DTaP. I didn't consider anything until she was over two because she was fully breastfed and not around a lot of other children.

So the Prevnar and HIB after age two don't seem necessary to me. Polio only seems necessary if we travel internationally. The chickenpox vaccine is too scary for me to consider, plus I think chickenpox is just a childhood nuisance. I've never had the flu, obviously been exposed many times, and mistrust the flu vaccines because the viruses put in are a gamble. If the manufacturers guess wrong, you still compromise your immune system.

The Hep A, B, and HPV are definite no's. I think the HPV vaccine has had so many side effects, that it will have to be reformulated or taken off of the market fairly soon.

[LaffNowCryLater]

I may be leaving a few off the list, but the ones we do NOT get are:
rotavirus
Hep A (unless for travel)
any flu
gardasil (haven't reached that age though)

ETA: I forgot Chicken Pox- my oldest two had a wild case already and hopefully so will my younger two.

[LaffNowCryLater]

Originally Posted by babyjonesmama

I do want to chime in on the rotavirus vaccine. I am a pediatric nurse, and I have seen a lot of little ones require hospitalization for rotavirus. It can cause severe dehydration, require IV fluids. Starting an IV can be difficult and very painful in a dehydrated babe. Also I have seen little butts red, raw and bleeding from the relentless, nonstop liquid diarrea. So for me, this was a no-brainer. Rotavirus is very common. Not deadly in this country because we do have the treatment readily available, but for me this is definitely worth it in order to avoid a potential hospital stay.

Not all children are in high risk groups. I'd say babies who are 100% BF and do not attend daycare and have parents who practice good hygiene have little risk of getting rotavirus to the point of needing to be hospitalized.

[LaffNowCryLater]

Originally Posted by alegna

On the new front, I ruled out all vaccines that were not on my childhood schedule- so that included- hep b, hep a, prevnar, hib, rotavirus and chickenpox. I researched each, but a lot of my thinking came down to- those weren't something we were scared of- has anything changed? And I didn't find that anything had.

-Angela

I only had
Polio
MMR
the old DTP and then as a teen I had Hep B when it first came out (thanks mom )

I was wondering if people who completely vax their kids bothered to fully vaccinate themselves to current standards but I doubt it.

[clothdiaperingmom]

I agree with pp, get an exemption form. Was easy here in TX. They filled forms out with my kids names/bdays and I check the boxes of vaxes I DONT want and have notarized. Take directly to daycare or school and its good for 2 yrs.

My dd just turned 1 last week and she has hep b from hospital, 2 hib and 2 polio. (The state sent a form with info and stats about each vax and symptoms and side effects and I was amazed that some are full protection after 2 doses (there is 1 that shows 97% immunity after 1 shot) yet they still require 4-6 doses.)

MMR will be later. The rest of the Hep B's, much later.

Did not/Will not get:
Rotavirus
Any Flu
Chicken pox
Hep A
Meningitis
Gardasil

We choose to selective/delay vaxing because dd#2 had a reaction the same day as getting a full set of on time shots that landed her 4 days in the hospital.

We did not do rotavirus bcause baby dd isnt in daycare, rarely out of the home and was EBFed (delayed solid food fed as well). I know of too many ppl and posters that had gotten the shots, yet still ended up with in the hospital with their kids.

Flu, never. Too many ppl in my family, and ppl I know, get the flu right after getting the shot.

ODD was recently harassed by her school because it was time for DTap...we got tetnus and filed the exemption form. The doc said as of next legislature, meningitis will be required as well for 14/15 yr olds. Also, the new requirement for kindergarteners this yr was Hep A.

ODD told me last yr (she was in 8th grade) that they lined 7th graders up and were giving them shots (she never told me for what). Anyway, I told her never let them give her a shot. And sure enough, this yr the nurse kept pushing ODD to let her give her the DTap shot (because they could do it for free and we wouldnt have to visit the doc). Luckily, my odd is not easily intimidated or persuaded.

Chicken pox, not afraid of my kids getting it, I didnt die from the cpox nor did anyone I know.

Hep A, on the form from the state, death isnt mentioned.

As far as me being UTD on shots, if tetnus is the only one required boosted for adults...then Im UTD!

Research it more then stand your ground on whatever you decided.

[Tattooed Hand]

Originally Posted by LaffNowCryLater

I only had
Polio
MMR
the old DTP and then as a teen I had Hep B when it first came out (thanks mom )

I was wondering if people who completely vax their kids bothered to fully vaccinate themselves to current standards but I doubt it.

I am with you on this - I cannot figure out why all these new things that neither I nor anyone in my generation got are so dangerous now that we have to hurry and inject our kids with them in their first year or two or life. So I have a hard time imagining giving my baby (am due next month) anything but DTAP, Polio in the first year. I will consider others, spaced out, except for Chicken pox, rotavirus, flu shots, Hep A, HPV, Prevenar at a later date... things like Hep B can wait a long while.

[MamaMelis]

Originally Posted by carriebft

We do:

DTaP: we do this early because we want the pertussis protection as soon as possible, as pertussis is most dangerous to infants. We also do it because we feel the disease is still risky in terms of prolonged illness, pneumonia, cracked ribs risk, etcetc even when the child is not an infant. The information and data out there tells me this vaccine is pretty effective- def not the MOST but still effective- at prevention and, when it fails, it can greatly reduce the symptoms and severity of a pertussis infection.

We also travel to endemic D areas, so my husband wanted that.

Hib: We originally did not do this vaccine at all as I had missed a few appointments and then hit my "stopping vaccination until I learn more" phase. I put it off and only ended up getting it when I had a child in a school situation and an infant at home. But now I get this one pretty much on time after learning more about how effective it is and how a lot of myths talked about online are not true-- example: people like to claim that the overall meningitis rate has risen since this vaccine when that is not true.

In addition, southeast Pa, where I live, recently had 7 hib cases, all in unvaccinated (and 1 kid had had 1 dose) and 3 died. Another suspected case was also a death. This solidified my decision.

MMR: We do this one but delay it a bit. Research shows that it is more effective if given later. We especially wanted the measles and rubella protection. We found it to be highly effective and also prevents transmission, so by getting the kids vaccinated I could also prevent the baby from contracting it.

I looked into the autism complaints and found them to be complete rubbish. For more information on why, just look at the transcripts from the omnibus autism trials-- everything is nicely laid out here:

http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/189/

IPV: travel reasoning, delayed a bit when we could except when travel was sooner



Considering but not there yet:

Prevnar (the new one): if all looks good, we might consider the new prevnar for any future kids or even youngest DD depending on when it comes out. I would want to know how it effects things such as drug resistant ear infections-- which the older prevnar seemed to create an increase in.

Hep A: endemic area travel-- mostly lean away from this one though because it's usually so mild in kids.

Skip:

Influenza

Rotavirus

Chicken Pox (will get later if no natural immunity)

Hep B (later since mostly blood/sex transmission and low risk in our family)

This is exactly what we do, and pretty much for the exact same reasons! Add Gardasil on there, too I suppose, as one that I don't know about ~ My DD is only 19 months and I have not researched it yet, though I'm not impressed with what I have heard/read in passing thusfar.

[peilover010202]

We're not doing rota, polio, chickenpox

I'm on the fence about flu, Prevnar, MMR

We will be doing Hib, DTap

ds2 is 3 and completely unvaxed at this point. ds3 is 6mo old and no vax either. But, I plan to start a very selective vax schedule for both of them in approx 6mo.

[BarefootScientist]

I like this thread.

We have delayed Hep B, chickenpox, and MMR so far. Hep B because it's transmitted by blood and sex...something I'm pretty sure we won't have to worry about for a while. Chickenpox because...um...gee, it's chickenpox. And MMR because the diseases are fairly rare and the shot is painful and causes many side effects.

We will revisit all of these vaccines when he gets to be school aged, depending on where we are at that time and our situation, and things like whether he's caught chickenpox yet. Then we will revisit them again when he's about 11 or 12 (that's when he will probably get the Hep B). MMR he might get sooner, at 3 or 4. Don't know yet.

We got Rota, IPV, Prevnar, Hib, and DTaP on schedule. If we have another baby, I would want to revisit our decisions accordingly depending on our situation at the time. Probably spread the vaccines out a bit for concerns about additives like aluminum, and possibly delay the polio until school aged unless we travel internationally.

Oh, and DH gets a flu shot every year, but neither I or DS ever have. No real reason, just don't find it important I guess.

I'm looking at the AAP's vax schedule right now and realizing we never did Hep A either, but it was never offered. I don't think I would have done it if it was but I wonder why not...is that one not required in some areas, or is it a new recommendation to require it for all children?

The rest we've never had to worry about yet.

Also...

Originally Posted by alissamari

Measles, Mumps (Will consider these if the separate shots do in fact become available in 2011)

Can you give me more info on this?

[MaddieMay]

We are definitely skipping Rotavirus and the flu.

We'll consider Hep A and B, as well as MMR and Varicella down the road but we're in no rush. We'll do titers first.

We're on the fence about polio. We will probably do some extensive travel to polio endemic areas, so we want to have that protection. But I'm worried about my baby having the shot so young.

So far, we've only done Hib and Prevnar but we'll be doing DTaP as well as we travel to endemic D areas. I'm sort of on the fence as to whether or not I want to continue Prevnar.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by BarefootScientist

Can you give me more info on this?

What info exactly do you want?

Without knowing I will try to answer lol...

OK they keep going back & forth on whether the separate MMR shots will be available, I believe last I heard (last week) they will NOT produce them at all anymore but who knows???

I don't want to do the combined MMR because I have ethical/moral concerns with one of the ingredients (derived from aborted fetal cells) and because of the potential for side effects etc. I generally feel like measles/mumps is like chicken pox -- not especially dangerous or life-threatening. However the Rubella is more concerning because if a pregnant woman is concerned it can cause issues for the fetus... Unfortunately the Rubella component is also the only component that contains the ingredient I have the moral concerns with so it's a bit of an ethical dilemma for me. Regardless, I will not even consider giving him ANY MMR until he is at least 2 or 3 (he's 9 months now) so I have some time to think about it.

The bottom line for me though is that I'm not convinced that vaccines are even effective at all. That's partly why we've stopped after giving him only 2 dtaps (and kind of wish we didn't give those)... I guess I am still researching.

Did I answer your question at all??? LOL

[elmh23]

Ds is 2.5 and has only had the DTaP series and the Polio series. The DTaP was very important to us because my niece has a life threatening lung condition and we felt it would be best if we decreased our chances of pertussis. Polio was something dh wanted and I just didn't fight it because I felt the vaccine was safe.

Within the next couple of months, we will be starting ds back up with getting immunizations. I've decided I want MMR and am on the fence about Hep A, HIB and Pneumeccocal. He will get Hep B, but not until he's 4.

So, it looks like for sure we're skipping Chicken Pox (he's already had the disease ), Rotovirus and the Flu shots. I just looked up the recommended vaccine schedule and there's a new on there from the last time I checked, Meningococcal, so I'll have to do some research on that one too.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by elmh23

Ds is 2.5 and has only had the DTaP series and the Polio series. The DTaP was very important to us because my niece has a life threatening lung condition and we felt it would be best if we decreased our chances of pertussis.

It's important to note that the DTaP doesn't seem to prevent carriage and transmission of pertussis.

-Angela