Swine flu vaccine?

[sbrinton]

I'm wondering if other parents of preemies are doing the swine flu vaccine. We tend to be a partial/delayed vax family, but have decided to do the regular flu vaccine the last two years because flu could be so hard on our preemies (now 11 months and 2 1/2). Both kids tend to get more sick much more easily than their peers, and I'm worried about the flu making our baby (born at 31 weeks) very sick if it went to his lungs.

But...here in Washington, anyway, it looks like we cannot get thimerisol free swine flu shots for the kids. We can for the seasonal flu, but not for swine flu. We've completely avoided anything with thimerisol to this point...but I'm not sure what to do.

Any thoughts?

[sprouthead]

I opted not to get it because of the lack of testing and also because the CDC stopped testing to confirm cases of H1N1 in August (there's info about this and how the strain has already mutated on their webpage). CBS just released a study saying that most of what is going around right now is not swine flu, although CDC says to just "assume" it is.. So without knowing if the vaccine would actually protect DS against anything, I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

[Momof4kidz]

I say get the shot. Its really not 'untested' or 'dangerous' as some people are saying. Its the same thing as getting the seasonal flu shot. In fact, if the swine flu outbreak had happened a few months earlier then the H1N1 vaccine would have been included in the seasona flu shot, and next year it will be.

My younger 2 kids have already had the H1N1 shot (they are 33 weeker and 32 weekers) due to their age and medical conditions. Once its availiable for older kids, then my older 2 will also get it (they are both 35 weekers.) All 4 of mine have had the seasonal flu shot.

Good luck with your decision

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by Momof4kidz

I say get the shot. Its really not 'untested' or 'dangerous' as some people are saying. Its the same thing as getting the seasonal flu shot. In fact, if the swine flu outbreak had happened a few months earlier then the H1N1 vaccine would have been included in the seasona flu shot, and next year it will be.

My younger 2 kids have already had the H1N1 shot (they are 33 weeker and 32 weekers) due to their age and medical conditions. Once its availiable for older kids, then my older 2 will also get it (they are both 35 weekers.) All 4 of mine have had the seasonal flu shot.

Good luck with your decision

The problem is that this strain of flu is "behaving" differently than the seasonal flu, so there is concern that the vaccine will "behave" differently than the seasonal flu vaccine as well.

My 4yo is a 32-weeker and my 6mo is a 34-weeker. I will not be getting the vaccine for either child. I take issue with the fact that the current recommendation is for young children to get 2 doses, while adults and older children get 1 - so if 1 dose is enough to supposedly give my 250+ pound husband immunity, why would my 17-pound baby need twice that much?

I think we may have had H1N1 in May, when my 34-weeker came home from the NICU. She was 5 pounds and 35.5 weeks at that point. My son, husband, and I all had it (or something with the same symptoms, as my son wasn't tested for flu when we took him to the doctor), and DD never got a single symptom. She is exclusively breastfed and I know that made a huge difference.

[alliteration]

The delay in getting the vaccine out is making it a moot point around here.

I think I had H1N1 last month.

[tropicaldutchtulip]

Even if could have gotten it for our girls and our son due in a few weeks we would not have. We are non-vax family.

[sbrinton]

We were on the fence about getting the shot, but I think we all had it two weeks ago. And it was NOT a big deal. I know that for some people it may be, but for us it was mild. The older boys had high fevers, sore throats and coughs. My husband and I felt achy for a few days. The baby was fussy for a few days. But that was it. We drank a lot of tea, took extra herbs and vitamins, tried to rest. It did mean almost 2 weeks of someone being sick, but I'm glad to have it over with!

[GOPLawyer]

We're non-vaxers and we won't be getting the H1N1 vax as well.

I also think we had the flu recently. Fever, lingering cough, aches, sore throat...it felt different from anything I've had before. DD (30 weeker), despite being surrounded by our germs, mainly had weepy eyes.

Personally, I'm more worried about RSV than H1N1.

[Amys1st]

We would have been able to get it as a 1st priority family because we had the "at risk" when MAggie was younger. We got bumped last year so we didnt get priority for any of the seasonal vaxes.

I objected to the H1N1 for all of us, mainly because if we get it, it build up immunity but my girls (including my former micro) are very healthy as a whole as our their parents, DH and I. DH has an appt to get it, he is in the health care industry. I was surprised because he is normally against it but the appt is in late Nov. I LOL saying he would have it by then. DUH

We all had it earlier this week. Sunday, DD2, complained of her back hurting and her throat. So did dd1. Both had a sore throat and hoarse sounding voice. Both were very tired. No fever at all. We figured if it got worse, we could get tamiflu. Never went further and neither missed any school.

We had similar symptoms but stronger. So DH and I started the tamiflu within 8 hours and we had a day of being tired and DH was pretty hoarse sounding. I got an ear infection too, treated by z pack. We are both fine by mid week and I even worked out yesterday and today. He is teaching this weekend and fine.

A few people told me, since we spent 3 plus mos in the nicu, we maybe were exposed to several things and built up our immune systems. DH has worked in hospital and clinic settings for almost 20 years. When my kids get sick, they are sick for a day, maybe two. DD2 never gets a fever. Her older sister spikes and then is usually better the next day.

I think we had the H1N1, but just got it milder. We had a party on Friday night and literally the entire party including the sitters were sick this week. I joked on FB I didnt intend to host a "swine flu party" but I did! One boy did not get sick and again, he spent some time in a hospital setting as well with his little sister. This could be why we are healthy or just genes, who knows?

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by GOPLawyer

We're non-vaxers and we won't be getting the H1N1 vax as well.

I also think we had the flu recently. Fever, lingering cough, aches, sore throat...it felt different from anything I've had before. DD (30 weeker), despite being surrounded by our germs, mainly had weepy eyes.

Personally, I'm more worried about RSV than H1N1.

Those are all the symptoms we had and everyone else has..

And I agree, I would be concerned about RSV. We had those shots the entire first year. I would do it again.

[Zan&Zav]

my 3 year old 26 weeker got it thursday, hes fine. his arm still hurts.