Best Way to Split These Boosters?

[kamane18]

DD (turned 4 in Aug) has her 4 year well visit tomorrow. Technically she doesn't need any shots this year BUT given that she will need many next year for Kindy, we'd like to break them up and give 1-2 of them now. I've always done a bit of selective/delayed vax with her - more delayed/split than anything - we do all the vaxes except the flu shots.

Since we are declining on regular flu and swine flu, between now and starting kindy she needs:

- MMR booster
- DTaP booster
- Polio booster
- Chicken pox booster
- TB test

As a child she always reacted mostly to DTaP - fever generally between 101-104 (although the 104 was at 4 months and wasn't as bad after that), irritable, achy, etc. No noticeable reactions to MMR, varicella or polio that I could tell - maybe just a bit of irritability and less appetite/tiredness.

Given this, what which vaccination(s) would you suggest she get tomorrow and which ones next year? I'm leaning toward doing DTaP on it's own - but is it better to get that one over with now or would it be better to wait until she's 5? Might the reaction be any less likely as she gets older and her immune system stronger?

TIA.

[kamane18]

BTW - I've been giving her A,C,D drops in her juice the past few days already and loading her up on fruits and veggies. Also have been doing probiotics for almost two weeks now.

[kamane18]

Anyone?

[Noelle C.]

It's only been a few hours since you initially posted in a forum that is heavily against getting all vaxes. It might take a little time before before someone with an opinion of something other than "why do you want to get all these vaxes?" (which is mine) comes along.

Personally I wouldn't get any of them, especially if I knew my child had a reaction to them, and over things that are not a big deal to get or are eradicated in the US (her chance of getting polio is non-existent, but yet she doesn't feel so swell after the vax for it, so why are you getting it?).

Just give it a little time and someone may come along with something other than tellign you not to bother with these things.

[JBaxter]

MMR is NOT a booster It is a 2nd shot. 96% of children get immuinity from the first shot. Get the titers done you probably wont need an 2nd shot.

[alegna]

I would strongly re-consider further DTaP vaxes. As someone who is allergic/reactive to the tetanus, I wish my mom had stopped at the earlier doses and not continued to put me through more doses while I reacted.

-Angela

[kamane18]

Thanks everyone - I should clarify a few things.

We are getting these shots (and do most shots other than flu) for two main reasons:

1. One of our relatives and DD's close friends is immuno-compromised and can't get most of the shots (including an live virus ones) herself. Her mother is not comfortable with her daughter being around unvaccinated children (and they plan to homeschool) and while I'm not sure I completely agree, I love her and will respect her wishes. And after any live virus my children receive I keep them away from her daughter for at least 3 weeks.

2. DH's father had both meningitis and pertussis as a baby and almost died. As such, DH is very sensitive to HIB, Prevnar and DTaP in particular. If Pertussis were available as a stand-alone shot I'd happily opt for that instead of DTaP.

I think for now we are planning to do just Polio (IPV) and the 2nd Varicella shot today. DD didn't react to either in the past. Maybe then we'll go for the 2nd MMR shot in Feb/March and the last DTaP booster over the summer. Not sure.

Also - not sure about the TB test. Are there generally any side effects from that? Would it be better to separate that out from any other shots as well or OK to combine?

As said, I've been giving her extra Vits A, C and D for 5 days now, probiotics for two weeks and will NOT give Tylenol or Motrin (don't want her immune system suppressed).

Thanks for any advice. I realize I am posting in a forum that leans heavily anti-vax but I figured since I was posting here and not in "I'm Not Vaccinating" that I might find people on both sides.

[alegna]

As far as the friend that doesn't vax- be aware that several vaxes you list don't prevent carriage and transmission- including pertussis and polio.

-Angela

[13Sandals]

MMR booster
- DTaP booster
- Polio booster -
- Chicken pox booster -

Hi - none of these shots are boosters. They are the exact same shot your
child received initially. The second MMR is just to catch the less than 12% of kids who don't receive immunity from the first. Most likely, your child has sufficient immunity from the first MMR and doesn't even need this shot - same is true for chicken pox and could be true for DTaP and Polio. The only way to find out is order a titer test and see which diseases she already has sufficient antibodies for. Most states will accept titer tests as proof of immunity for school entry.

as for the TB test - its not a vaccine.

[kamane18]

Thanks everyone. We ended up doing the polio shot only. Going to do titers for MMR and chicken pox to see if we even need the 2nd shots and will hold off with last DTaP shot for at least 6 more months. Might do that Quantiferon test for TB instead as well. TB does worry me (the disease) because my grandma had a dormant case of it. Turns out she probably had it undiagnosed (and unaffecting her) in her system for YEARS. Then when she was about 80 it hit her hard, affecting many of her organs. She ended up coming through it but the heavy dose of medicines they gave her to "save" her life basically fried her - she has severe dimentia now...

Yes, I know that pertussis and polio don't prevent carriage and transmission but DH was insistent on pertussis and I was/am ok with the polio vaccine. If it weren't for her friend/our family member I'd have skipped varicella (until at least age 5 but would have tried to expose her to it before then) and probably also MMR.

[DocsNemesis]

The pertussis vaccine sucks, it has a pretty bad failure rate, and my ds has had it twice (while being fully vaccinated). And in all honesty, he had a pretty bad case and it still wasn't that bad.

Why would you get the chicken pox vaccine? I understand your daughters friend but really...its a lot more dangerous for your daughter to get the vaccine and then lose her immunity as an adult, resulting in CP when we arn't meant to get it-as an adult. CP as an adult is usually much worse than as a child.

HiB and Prevnar are generally *baby* vaccines. Older children who get the diseases arn't at nearly as much risk for complications-which is why the CDC doesn't recommend them past the age of 5. (Actually you might want to double check that, I can't remember if Prevnar is one of those or not)

I also don't know that they'd do a TB test on a normal, healthy child. That seems kind of odd. Also, all it does is test for the presence of antibodies, not the disease. If it comes back positive it doesn't mean she has TB-it could be a false positive. If she got a positive they'd have to do a chest xray, blood tests, etc. IF she actually had it, it'd mean a long long course of antibiotics to *try* to get rid of it. Only about 1 in 10 people with dormant TB develop an active case.

I understand your daughters friends mom and her worries, I really do. I don't know what exactly I'd do in your case...but I'd be puting my child ahead of her friend and if that meant no longer seeing her friend, I'd be sad, but that'd be a choice I'd have to make.