who's vaxing or not? - Page 2

[KayleeZoo]

We vax.

For those wondering about the roto vac, it's oral now (at least the one our Dr uses is) and is supposed to be much more effective.

[JordanKX]

No vaxing here. At least until after 2yo, if ever. My DSS has been vaxed (bby bio-mom, not us) and he has seizures. Never been conclusively related, but seems to be 2-3 days after he gets his shots, he has a seizure. Not trying to throw out my opinion on anyone else - it has to be an informed decision for your family.

Our area has a high rate of non-vaxed kids. Which could mean we're all rather vulnerable - but I'll deal with that in 5yrs when school approaches, IF public school were an option, which I highly doubt.

Also, my father (who's a homeopath) has been saying that the h1n1 is getting good news on success. I need to research this myself. But he's recommending looking into that one, even if not vaxing on anything else.

[BeanSprout Mama]

We're doing a few, but I refuse to do more than one or two at a time and there are a lot of them I don't think are worth doing - or are not worth doing until he's much older! I'm still not sure which ones, if any, he'll get at his 2 month check up.

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by octobermoon

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".


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.

nak

depends on what you count as a reaction. the pertussis scream does not occur as often with the new formulation, but what people consider to be "typical" vaccine side effects happen more frequently. fever, local reactions at the site (redness, swelling, sometimes going down the leg), excessive crying (not the scream it used to be, but still abnormal), sleep issues (too much or too little)...

and if you look at the ages of the people in an "outbreak", they often are children who should still be protected. and even as the numbers of adults getting boosters goes up, the outbreaks are not going down. somewhere on the cdc's page is a table that lists every reported case of vpds by year, and you can see that pertussis is far from controlled. the manufacturer's insert says outright that it is not clear whether the vax prevents transmission.

i have researched treatments for pertussis and am more comfortable with treating it if we were to contract it. my family has a history of severe reactions (seizures, extremely high fevers) to the old vax, and my son's infectious disease dr said that if a person is medically contraindicated from receiving the old vax (DPT), they should not receive the new vax (DTaP). i only had two doses as a child and it's in my medical records not to receive further doses, including the adult version TDap.

[acemama]

I remember with our second child when we still vaxed on schedule our son started a high pitch crying about 20 minutes after his 6 month shots and kept it up for about 4 hours! It was crazy, but I didn't realize at the time that this was considered a moderate reaction and should have been reported

[tzs]

just curious....to those of you who don;t vax....how do you you feel about vaxing yourselves? for example, the pertussis vax that they give postpartum, or the flu shot?
aside from known reactions, do you do it to yourself?
i'm kind of delayed and selectively vaxing ada but as far as myself i've just let them give me whatever they recommend. yesterday i had the swine and the regular flu. i guess i figure i'm not as vulnerable...plus, with all the other crap i put in my body...ahem diet coke etc.....
but what about the rest of you????

[Dmitrizmom]

don't vax myself either. Been healthier since I stopped over 10 years ago.

[acemama]

I didn't even know they were giving Pertussis PP? New to me. No, I wouldn't do it. I don't do Flu shots either. We just got over probable swine flu here in our house

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by tzs

just curious....to those of you who don;t vax....how do you you feel about vaxing yourselves? for example, the pertussis vax that they give postpartum, or the flu shot?

Not a chance. The one exception to that was Rhogam, which I thought long and hard about.

[tofutti]

the only vax we did with DS was DTAP because -- it DOES reduce symptoms. i agree it doesnt seem to prevent transmission -- but its the bad symptoms we worry about with babies, and it does seem to reduce symptoms.

now, i only gave him ONE dose. not all 3 or 4 like they wanted to. i figured this gave him a bit of protection without excessive exposure to aluminum etc.

he had no reaction to it either. and i waited til he was 8 months old.

probably will just do a single DTAP with DD also.

my question is - if it IS so common, lets assume us mamas have had it. now let assume we are all breastfeeding. so doesnt that equal passing on immunity to the babies? confused.

[octobermoon]

Originally Posted by tofutti

the only vax we did with DS was DTAP because -- it DOES reduce symptoms. i agree it doesnt seem to prevent transmission -- but its the bad symptoms we worry about with babies, and it does seem to reduce symptoms.

now, i only gave him ONE dose. not all 3 or 4 like they wanted to. i figured this gave him a bit of protection without excessive exposure to aluminum etc.

he had no reaction to it either. and i waited til he was 8 months old.

probably will just do a single DTAP with DD also.

my question is - if it IS so common, lets assume us mamas have had it. now let assume we are all breastfeeding. so doesnt that equal passing on immunity to the babies? confused.

good points, good insight mama! i also wonder about the immunity thing. anyone??

[octobermoon]

Originally Posted by 2boyzmama

nak

depends on what you count as a reaction. the pertussis scream does not occur as often with the new formulation, but what people consider to be "typical" vaccine side effects happen more frequently. fever, local reactions at the site (redness, swelling, sometimes going down the leg), excessive crying (not the scream it used to be, but still abnormal), sleep issues (too much or too little)...

and if you look at the ages of the people in an "outbreak", they often are children who should still be protected. and even as the numbers of adults getting boosters goes up, the outbreaks are not going down. somewhere on the cdc's page is a table that lists every reported case of vpds by year, and you can see that pertussis is far from controlled. the manufacturer's insert says outright that it is not clear whether the vax prevents transmission.

i have researched treatments for pertussis and am more comfortable with treating it if we were to contract it. my family has a history of severe reactions (seizures, extremely high fevers) to the old vax, and my son's infectious disease dr said that if a person is medically contraindicated from receiving the old vax (DPT), they should not receive the new vax (DTaP). i only had two doses as a child and it's in my medical records not to receive further doses, including the adult version TDap.

i probably would not get it either if my family had a history of severe reactions! i need to go on the CDC's page and look at all of it. thanks for the tip. i called the Dr. and they couldn't say which brand for sure they will have on hand for TDaP. the nurse really encouraged me to get the Rotovirus for sure at his two month appointment. no aluminum in that but it still sounds scary either way. if we weren't around the institutions and illness we are i wouldn't get the shots but i don't want to feel like i have to stay inside away from everyone either, i am already SUPER paranoid and overprotective.

[Julia24]

We are selective and delayed - seems to be more so with each child as I know more too

Charlotte got the Dtap at her 2 month, got the Hib and Prevnar just this week (at 3 months). (we're following Sears selective program - minus hep b and polio and rotovirus)

We are delaying hep b until they are teenagers, we skip Rotovirus (they're home with me) and we delay Polio until they're preschoolers.

We don't do any type of flu shot. I would've considered delaying her 2 month shots if she were really tiny, but she's bigger than Grace was at the same age...a little porker!

I have very few reservations about vaxing myself - only that they're seemingly unneccessary, but I take the better safe than sorry card on that one. I actually would've even gotten the h1n1 if I could get my hands on it for myself, but I haven't. I just think it's a lot more dangerous for the risk v. reward on little babes, so I err on the side of caution. I got a pertussis booster when Grace was a baby....I'm thinking of getting Grace a booster at her 4 year check up, all in the name of protecting Charlotte.

[Auroara Bobcat]

we won't be vaxing gensena. and I do not vax myself.

I was just talking with DH the other day about how upset I am that my parents vaxed me as a child and I had no choice in the matter. I understand that I am 'their' child but I will live many more years out if their care than in their care and it is MY body after all.

[dosergirl]

i replied to this kinda in the other thread about cora's 2 month wbv. but we do vax right on schedule , just thought i would put it here too, for a head count. haha.

[JordanKX]

Originally Posted by tzs

just curious....to those of you who don;t vax....how do you you feel about vaxing yourselves?

my parents stopped vaxing me after I was 8. I've never taken a vaccination on my own - I'm the, I'll eat burger king but won't take cold medicine, person. I dunno. double-standards are weird.

I wish they had nosodes for human vaccinations the way they do for dogs.

[BekahMomToOliver]

Originally Posted by JordanKX

I've never taken a vaccination on my own - I'm the, I'll eat burger king but won't take cold medicine, person. I dunno. double-standards are weird.

Me too

We were "vax-on-schedulers" ... the first time we did it, at least.
DS had a reaction to his first round of shots. We think it was DTaP, which makes sense since afterwards we found out about a family history of tetanus reactions.
So, now that she's told us that the only way she'll be comfortable vaxing him again is in an emergency room "just in case" (meaning, in case they need to resuscitate him), I'm not exactly confident that vaxing him is the best of ideas.
I know too much now to just vax on schedule. We're going to delay until 5 with both kids, then reconsider and MAYBE vax selectively. I trust science, I just don't have blind faith in it. Especially when it comes to the broad generalization that Vaxing is good for every child, KWIM?

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by BekahMomToOliver

I trust science, I just don't have blind faith in it. Especially when it comes to the broad generalization that Vaxing is good for every child, KWIM?

exactly. i truly think there are way too many vaxes for way too mild illnesses. chicken pox???? come on a few children with severe underlying medical issues had trouble with chicken pox, and for that we are told to vaccinate every child?

i feel somewhat justified making statements like that because i have a child with severe underlying medical issues...he really could have serious side effects from chicken pox, but that's MY problem, my worry, not anyone else's. i don't expect you (general 'you') to vaccinate your child to protect my child. i have to face the fact that his life is likely going to be shorter than my other childrens', i don't expect all the rest of society to change for hi, especially if that puts other kids at risk (from the vaccine).

so...i approach every vaccine separately for each of my children. i create a vaccine schedule specific to each child (it just happens to be blank right now because i don't feel any are very important right now, but that may/will probably change as they get older)

[mkksmom]

My little girl's 2 mo appt. is tues and i can't decide. 6 are due: dtap, pc, rotav, hib, hep B and polio. We can' t selectively vax here. Only way out is to claim religious reasons, and I am pro-vax in general. I want to follow the sears schedule, but don't want extra trips to the doc office where the kids with swine flu are. h1n1 is one vax we will probably skip. i was all for it, but I hear rumblings of strange reactions, so now i'm not sure.

[Julia24]

I guess I'm lucky that our dr. has sick hours first thing in the morning - and then separate waiting areas for well and sick. I ask when the safest time to come in is and then make my appts for then. Right now, it seems that early afternoon (after all the sick people have gone and before the big kids get out of school) seems to be the 'emptiest' time to go - but it's definitely a risk to take her there.....just trying to minimze it, yk?