who's vaxing or not?

[octobermoon]

i thought we discussed this before but i couldn't find the thread. my lo is supposed to do the vaccines this week. my DR. is not into delaying and i have HMO so it's not easy to switch. i am kinda worried about vax'ing and worried if i don't. i have the DR. Sear's book and if we do vax now will do his schedule which is TDaP and Rotovirus for the first round and then for month three do the other two that are usually given at the 2 month mark. i'm going to call today and find out which brand they use for the TDaP, this is the one i'm most concerned with because of the aluminum in it. has anyone read this book and the whole aluminum thing???? it's enraging! anyone on the fence about when and if. did anyone get shots yet?

[2boyzmama]

We're not vaxing, but that decision can and will be different based on your circumstances, medical history, beliefs, trust in the pharmaceutical industry, etc etc etc. I'm glad you have Dr Sear's book, I thought it was very good, and gives a lot of options. Remember that your ped works for you. You can go against their recommendations. If they "fire" you, what happens with your HMO then?

[clemrose]

We aren't vaccinating (our 2.5 yr old isn't either). We took Ezra for his first WBV at 5 weeks (same ped as our dd has seen) and were given "vaccine information" at the end.

Turns out to be a "vaccine policy statement" and basically spends 3.5 pages pressuring us to vaccinate (including saying we are behaving in a self-center and unacceptable way) finally saying we have to find another ped if we won't change our minds! I can't believe that she didn't say any of it to us directly. I'm infuriated. Fortunately, we have a ppo and can easily switch.

I feel for you having an hmo and an inflexible doc. Kudos to you for doing the research and deciding what works best for you and yours!

Oh, and I've read the sears book and yeah, the aluminium thing is pretty crazy.

[aleatha5]

We aren't vaxing either, I don't know if we ever will, but we certainly are not going to do it now when Vincent is at home and EBF. Luckily, my doctor was ok with this decision, and didn't even push that hard to have us vax him. However, I had already planned it all out in advance in case he had put up a fight....sneakiness follows, be warned.

Since I know that doctors can "fire" you and I didn't really want to go through that (ugh, who would?) I decided that if the doctor pushed I'd say can I have more info, and I will set up an appointment to get his vaxes after I have a chance to look through the info. Then I could "forget" to call to set up the appt. I know that this isn't really an up front or appropriate way to handle situations, but it is a frustrating world we live in where parents aren't given free reign to make the decisions they feel are best for their families without doctors lecturing them and then "firing" them. So, that was my "action plan" which luckily never needed to be brought to the table.

[Dmitrizmom]

Not vaxing here either. Ds and dd1 aren't vaxed at all. We only go to the MD when truly sick as I can do wellness checks.

[tzs]

we haven't done any yet, ada's not in daycare so no need. we'll probably do the 3 i had as a kid and then we'll see about the rest.
can someone sum up the aluminum thing for me? it would probably take me until she was a teenager to get AND read the sears book.

[cristeen]

Not a chance. DH wants to get some of them, but has agreed to wait until after 2 yo, since their immune systems don't even start working until then. Im hoping I can convince him otherwise by then.

Honestly, I have an HMO and am not the slightest bit concerned about it... I dealt with this during my first pregnancy... they didn't like my refusing their recommendations so they fired me, but in so doing had to refer me to another doctor, since I'm still paying them. They did try to pressure me, but I just kept repeating "it's not open for discussion", rather than trying to defend my views.

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by tzs

we haven't done any yet, ada's not in daycare so no need. we'll probably do the 3 i had as a kid and then we'll see about the rest.
can someone sum up the aluminum thing for me? it would probably take me until she was a teenager to get AND read the sears book.

i don't have the book anymore, but check his website, he probably has the info posted.

[tzs]

this is really interesting AND we have a 2 month appt. tomorrow am, that's when dr sears puts the dpt, i think. i was supposed to go to a vacs workshop tonight but it is not until wed.
dpt is one of the vacs i'm doing.
so....waiting until 2 or doing dpt now.....isn;t whooping cough really dangerous for babies? that's the only reason i'd do the shot tomorrow. plus...there's been outbreaks going around. so can you really wait on this one until 2?

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by tzs

this is really interesting AND we have a 2 month appt. tomorrow am, that's when dr sears puts the dpt, i think. i was supposed to go to a vacs workshop tonight but it is not until wed.
dpt is one of the vacs i'm doing.
so....waiting until 2 or doing dpt now.....isn;t whooping cough really dangerous for babies? that's the only reason i'd do the shot tomorrow. plus...there's been outbreaks going around. so can you really wait on this one until 2?

yes, it can be dangerous, but yes you can also wait. really, i'd recommend rescheduling the appt for a week or so and research so you make an educated decision. one night is not enough time to weigh the pros/cons. visit the vax forum.

pertussis is one that does worry me, especially for connor because he has multiple airway malformations. but, it's also a highly reactive vaccine (has been reformulated because of severe reactions, but still has a hgh rate of reactions), and it's one of the least effective (60-75% effective depending on what study you read). also it annoys me that you can't get the pertussis component alone. and the aluminum issue. oh, and one brand has casein in the formulation, so if your baby has a dairy sensitivity it could be bad (you don't know how baby will react to injected casein vs ingested casein). and, the vaccine may not prevent transmission, so all the ads about parents getting vaccinated to protect their babies are crock.

the fact that there's an outbreak in your area is proof that it isn't working!

all that, and i still can see how some people would still choose to vaccinate. you have to come to a decision you're comfortable with. also...look up ways to treat pertussis, it doesn't have to be a serious illness.

[boobs4milk]

we are delaying even more with millie because she was a preemie. i'm waiting until she's at least 2 mos adjusted (late december/early jan) to start to consider any vax. she was supposed to get the RSV shots, but the insurance denied them. so, they'd better not pressure me to get the vax or i'll just remind them that the one thing that i wanted to try to protect her against they denied so they'd better lay off me!

we're doing the dtap but i'm unsure about the roto. my son had the roto shots when he was small and still got the disease and it was horrible. then we found out that there was a recall on them because they were ineffective. idk how much they've improved over the years so i still need to research them. millie had rds and ttn at birth so we're going to concentrate on the respiratory things to vax against, save the flu. we never get the flu vax because they are just transient immunity vax and it's difficult to say what you are being immunized against and what you will be exposed to.

[acemama]

Not vaxing here either

[tzs]

whoa, this is terrifying.
i still really feel like she needs the P part of the DPT, that it's one of the important ones, but the reactions seem to be horrible.
ugh!
poor baby...wish her luck tomorrow. (sad face goes here)

[Lula's Mom]

We have never vaccinated any of our kids. I am not about to have toxins injected into my children, and I feel comfortable that we could handle it if they did get a "Vaccine Preventable (hmm...) Disease." For instance, my dd did get pertussis as a toddler, and we treated it with the recommended sodium ascorbate. It worked amazingly well.

[joeys_mom]

We don't vax here either.

[StrongFeather]

I am blessed with my Dr. She is totally right up my alley when it comes to homopathic remedies and wonderfully leaves it up to the parents to make the decision about their children. So I am not worried about her pressuring me to do anything that I am not comfortable with. I wish every parent had a doctor as great as we have found. She even had recommended reading for me if I hadn;t read it already.

I have a sneaky suspicion she's actually ANTI-vax and hasn't vaxed her own children. It makes me feel good that my Dr. will go along with whatever I choose as Sam's parent.

Now with that said, she said if we were to do any vaxs aty all that she recommended delaying until Sam was 4 months adjusted age, because he came early. That is in Jan. We have discussed selective vax, and that means we would be due for Hib and IPV then when he'll be 4 months adjusted.

So that gives me until then to research. I know that if I go there and decline she won't pressure me at all, BUT I do need to do the research. It's so overwhelming!!!

[coldandsleepy]

We're vaxing.

[octobermoon]

Originally Posted by 2boyzmama

pertussis is one that does worry me, especially for connor because he has multiple airway malformations. but, it's also a highly reactive vaccine (has been reformulated because of severe reactions, but still has a hgh rate of reactions)

according to Dr. Sears the reactions are very rare now. the vax was reformulated as you mentioned in the 90's because there *were* many serious side effects. a lot of the reactions are a one in a million chance. so to me that doesn't sound like a "highly reactive vaccine".

the fact that there's an outbreak in your area is proof that it isn't working!

not true. teenagers and adults don't typically get vaccinated/boosters for this since it is most serious the first six months of life so i don't see how that means it's not working.

[Guinevere]

We delay and selectively vax in this household. With that said, though, I'm not planning on taking Duncan in for any immunizations until the spring, when cold/flu season is winding down. Not doing any well-baby checks until then, either, b/c he's safer at home than visiting the germ-infested dr's office simply to be weighed and measured.

When we choose a vax (and I do so on a vax-by-vax and child-by-child basis, as some of my kids are more susceptible to certain things than others -- like Sophie and respiratory illnesses, for example), I only do one vax per visit, then wait a few weeks before doing another one.

Yes, this is more inconvenient, but it also means that if my child has a reaction, I have some hope of knowing what they reacted to. In the past (with baby #1, before I learned to research and make an informed decision), when we did multiple or combo vaxes at a single visit, when there was a reaction, I could never be sure which vaccine was the culprit, which made it very hard to make an informed decision about future doses and timing, etc.

I suspect this thread is going to get pulled for being off-topic, which is a shame, but the vax forum has a lot of helpful information about these issues, too.

Guin

[bicyclingbethany]

Definitely important to look at what the diseases do, how prevalent they are in your area, your child's situation (i.e., family history, in daycare or not, etc).

Pertussis is the only one I'm worried about too- because it can be dangerous and there's alot of WC going around in this area- but it has such a crappy efficacy rate.