can anyone help? Daycare?

[zachattack]

We don't want to vaccinate our 2month old son. he is going to daycare. if he were staying home we would not vax.
how can we feel comfortable not giviing him the dtap and hib (the only two we are considering) while he is at daycare?

[tanyalynn]

The best thing I've found is putting together a toolbox of ideas to deal with illnesses. None of my son's illnesses in daycare, as far as I know, were vaccine-available ones, but the toolbox was incredibly useful for preventing those illnesses from turning into anything serious, and to make them manageable. He got sick a lot (we've got some health things going on) but, for example, we weren't up all night sitting in a steamy bathroom, and he didn't have problems nursing due to a stuffy nose.

For us, nutritional supplementation has been the biggest help, but I'd read old posts on illnesses (Momtezuma Tuatara's old posts are a treasure trove of information), read about gut flora, lurk in Health & Healing.

For us, it made the difference between a sick kid who heals with support at home, vs a kid who would've been a regular at the pediatrician's office.

[Marnica]

I feel you! My son is unvaxed and in daycare since 3 months old. The only 1 I considered (and still do at times) is the HIB. Pertussis is concerning, but the DTaP scares me more. (know a baby who died 14 hrs after 1st DTap...they called it SIDS) Menengitis does scare the crap outta me, but I don't feel that the HIB is the answer. Any bacteria/virus can become invasive...not just HI type B, I feel that BF confers a good deal of protection against HIB so I opted to not get this one and when he stops BF (which i hope will not be for A LONG TIME!!)I will re-evaluate.

Diptheria and Tetanus are not a concern to me

[EVC]

Are you breastfeeding? If so, then you are already doing the best thing possible for your baby's health.

My dd has been in daycare since she was 10 months old and is 100% vax-free. Granted she was older than your little one when she started, but even prior to daycare we never physically sheltered her from the world. By the time she was 2 months old, she had flown half way around the world and spent time in crowded airports in three different countries.

Dd will turn 4 in October and she has had all kind of colds and mystery coughs and runny noses. Daycare kids DO tend to pick up A LOT of germs. But the VAST majority of the time, the things they pick up are NOT illnesses currenlty vax'ed for.

[emilyw99]

i am right there with you. we stopped vacc on first child when he was 3 months old, so he had already gotten one round of HIB (and others) by then time he entered daycare and i felt that he had at least a little protection. with our second, i don't know what we are going to do. HIB is the only one i am really considering, but even giving one round might endanger our religious exemption for our first child if daycare, or in the future school, finds out. i really don't know what to do.

[Gitti]

It is funny! that so many moms are concerned about a bacteria which no one (including pediatricians) knew virtually nothing before they brought a vaccine for it on the market.

Here is what everyone who is concerned about this bacteria should know -

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=578138

In other words, it serves no purpose.

[newmum35]

Agree with Gitti. Research serotype replacement. Vaxing for hib didn't lower total # of cases of meningitis in children, the total # stayed the same after intro of this vax. Only that specific strain went down (hib meningitis is practically non existant today due to the vax) but other strains went UP - it did nothing in the longrun except cause more problems. They then had to come out with prevnar and even that is causing problems now with staph and other infections taking over. BActeria are a part of life. Vaxing for every strain under the sun is not the answer. Improving our health so we don't fall prey to it is. Breast-feeding is fabulous and studies have shown protection from hib, that lasts for years even after stopping BF.