Rotavirus vax for international travel?

[bluedaisy]

My 12 month dd is unvaxed at this point, and we will be traveling to Nairobi, Kenya for 3 months next summer. I used to live there and my DH is from Nairobi so we will be visiting lots of family and friends, so we won't be in tourist areas.

I'm researching each of the vaccines and diseases to see if there are any that we would want to give our dd before we go (she will be 18 months when we travel).

What do you think of the rotavirus vaccine? I know rotavirus is very common in Kenya and it's likely that our dd will have some stomach troubles just because her diet will be different than what she is used to.

I'm hestitant to give this because it's still new and it seems like there are other avenues available for treating rotavirus, and it's unlikely that rotavirus would cause long term effects or be fatal.

What do you think?

[JBaxter]

If your baby is over 16 weeks they will not start the vaccine series.

[bluedaisy]

Really? Well that makes my decision easy!

Why don't they give it to older babies?

[JBaxter]

Because Rotovirus is not a serous illness esp in healthy infants. The big wory is dehydration.

[bubbamummy]

yep, not that I wanted it anyway for my son, but at 19 weeks they told me he was 'too old'.

They dont give that vax in England anyway, it wasnt on my list of possible vax's

[Gitti]

Right! no rotovirus vax needed at this age. Most kids go through it sooner or later and do just fine.

I would absolutely not vaccinate for anything. You can deal with an infection, if you know how to take care of it, but if there is a vaccine reaction, you may be facing years of regret.

Don't feed him food from venders, wash every fruit and vegetable before feeding it to him....same precautions you would take normally, then he will be just fine.

I would probably take my SA, echinacea, colloidal silver, Ludol's Iodine, and a few homeopathic things with me just in case. I always do!

[nia82]

Ditto to the others. It is only started in very young newborns.
You don't have to worry about rotavirus when you have clean water, shelter and food and access to IV hydration (which is the worst case scenario). We all had rotavirus, it's a diarrhea infection that we go through as toddlers and hence we are immune.
I crossed that vaccine off the list right away. My future worry about rotavirus is that nobody know how long the vaccine protects, what if it wears off and those kids get it when they are really old? Diarrhea infections are pretty dangerous to seniors. Better be immune to it.

[bluedaisy]

Great, one less vax to worry about...

Gitti, thanks, I really don't want to give her any vaxes...it seems like most things I've read that support not vaxing say that international travel makes vaxes worth considering...

So I'm going through each vax and researching and crossing them off my list so at least I know the risks of the disease in Kenya and the risk of the vaxes.

I think polio and dtap might be the only ones I seriously consider, so I'm saving those to research last so I can be most thorough. and i'm more concerned about dtap than other vaxes because of the reactivity...

maybe i shouldn't, but i feel irresponsible for taking her on international travel without any vaxes..my dr and my mom are pushing me to at least get her some, but i haven't found any yet that i think she should get.

these boards are a wealth of information, i'm sure i'll be back with more questions about specific vaxes as i continue this research...