baby acting "off" since vaccs

[alynn1224]

My three month old had his two month shots a couple weeks back. (Yes, we are off by a month...due to his being born right before the holidays, being out of town, not being able to see our own doc, etc.) So he got the big 5 vaccs at that time. DTaP, Hib, IPV, PCV7, Rota

Ever since then he has been unusually cranky and just not acting like himself. Call it mothers intuition, but my baby is not acting like "my baby." I was already on the fence about vaccinations. I think they need to be majorly cleaned up, but I felt peer pressure and overwhelmed by all the information out there.

Has anyone experienced behavioral changes lasting weeks after this first round of shots? I just feel like this is maybe a red flag...if this is how his body reacts to vaccs, we need to do a major modified schedule! (I do believe in the idea behind vaccinations. I don't want to see polio making a comeback...gosh, I wish the CDC would get their act together!!!)

[Deborah]

Look at how many actual different things went in at one time:

DTap is for three different illnesses, diphtheria (very, very rare now in the U.S. and other developed countries), tetanus (not likely in a small infant) and pertussis (dangerous for babies, but the vaccine doesn't actually work until multiple doses are given, by which time the baby is no longer all that vulnerable).

Hib (do a search on serotype replacement), also this illness is very rare in breastfed babies

IPV (for polio), which is currently non-existent in the U.S. Couldn't this one at least be delayed for a couple of years?

PCV7 (see serotype replacement again) note that this actually contains seven strains of bacteria

Rota (very rarely fatal in U.S.) and generally milder in breastfed babies.

I think most adults would feel a bit yucky if they were vaxed against 13 different things at one time.

Hope your little guy starts feeling better!

[alynn1224]

Deborah - thank you! Funny though, when I ask others so many say "oh no, my baby was fine. The shots didn't bother him/her at all." That's what makes me nervous. Can his body not handle it??

I, too, was shocked at how much he was getting at once! He's supposed to have the second round of these (all of them all over again!) next month. I can't do it to him. I need to find a pediatrician that will work with me on an alternative schedule.

Deborah, do you have kids? Did you vaccinate? I'm overwhelmed and a first time mom!

[Tracy]

I did not vax my son (he's 8 now)

so I can't speak from personal experience. But I can tell that for many years I was on this forum (I have a lot of threads here) and finally after watching so many people for so many years talk about their child's reactions that I finally took the time for everyone to post their child's reactions based on the age of their child....(you know 2 month shots, 6 months etc).

if you go to the archives (personal experiences)
you will see some of those threads.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...play.php?f=240

hth

hugs.

[Deborah]

I'll be sixty this March.

My family quit vaccinating back around 1915 or so, on my father's side. I've only had one vaccine in my life, given without my parent's permission when I was 8.

I've got one daughter. I had her vaccinated with two or three when she was around 8 years old. Coincidentally (?) her health went down hill after that and she has had problems of one sort or another for many years.

Two grandchildren. I think they've gotten vaxed for diphtheria and tetanus only. Both healthy, now 10 and 6. No developmental delays, no allergies.

My advice would be to back off, procrastinate, cancel appointments, etc., until you figure out what you want to do. If after researching you feel good about the vaccines and confident they are the right choice for your child, then fine. At least you'll know what the story is.

This lady posts this list regularly and it is a good approach to studying vaccines: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...57&postcount=4

[Tracy]

I forgot to say.... I would totally delay anymore vaxes for awhile.
I think your mom bells are going off big time and I'm here to support you.

also...you may find this thread helpful.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ad.php?t=57794

more hugs

[kcstar]

A week or two, for us, then he'd pick right back up again. I would certainly work with the doctor to slow down the pace of vaccines. I would and have asked to hold a shot off until the next visit, or scheduled an appointment with the nurse to get one in between visits.

[Pandme]

Your experience is why I haven't vaxxed my 3 year old or my 5 month old. When they are a few months old, a lot changes on a daily basis and I would never be sure if something was just a personality quirk or caused by vaxxes. I had a supportive ped, I would joke that it was lucky we never did vaxxes because my son was a late roller (8 months) and I was freaking out about his seeming disinterest in rolling/crawling, etc. I told her if we'd vaxxed I'd be in here blaming her.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by alynn1224

Deborah, do you have kids? Did you vaccinate? I'm overwhelmed and a first time mom!

There are many here who do not vaccinate.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by Tracy

I think your mom bells are going off big time and I'm here to support you.

This. I would listen to my Mommy Sense, personally.

We chose not to vax our son. We did a bunch of research and decided that it wasn't as necessary as we had been "fed" by big pharma. He's 10mo now. He's been sick a couple of times. Both times it was a mild cold and he got over it fairly quickly (In fact, he got over it faster than I did. I was fully vaxed according to the 1980's schedule) DH and I got a nasty stomach bug and DS was sick for half a day (he had a seemingly painful diarrhea bout and sort of spit up once)

I recommend spending a lot of time in the Vax section of this site...I'd also recommend The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. It was informative on all levels for me.

[coh5108]

immunology (esp in infants) is a new and emerging science. They do not know how vaccines effect the immune system in anybody, let alone an infant whose immune system doesn't fully develop until they are well over 2 years old. I don't vaccinate my son. It flies in the face of all rational logic to inject chemicals that I have researched and found to be toxic into a human being and certainly not into a baby who has an immature immune system. How can this possibly be done without serious both short-term and long-term consequences??? IMO it can't be. I think that many of the vaccines are not particularly effective. I think some are very effective, but the consequences of what they are doing both to the immune system and the impact that they have on the delicate ecological balance that has evolved over hundreds of years (think serotype replacement) could and will have devastating consequences for human beings. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but I truly believe that as humans we are so arrogant to think that we know better than mother nature. We (humans) will always try to outsmart, out run and control mother nature. I do not believe this is possible, and in our efforts we will create bigger and much worse problems.
My son has tons of allergies, is sick alot and we are working on trying to find the root issue. I shudder to think how much worse off he would be if I had vaccinated him and assaulted his already challenged immune system!
With all that being said, I think you need to stop and take some time to do some serious research. If you do that and still feel that vaccinating is right for your child, then at least you go into vaccinating being fully informed and you can feel good about it. Good luck!

[Harmony08]

Hi alynn 1224,

I know how awful this all is. I started off thinking we would do a modified Dr. Sears's alternative schedule. So ds got Dtap at 2 mos and then PC and Hib at 3 months. 2 days after the PC and Hib was the worst day I ever had with him (until his recent hospitalization for a stomach flu not vaccine preventable). He cried ALL day and would not nurse or do anything else. This was VERY unusual for him. I asked the ped if it could be a vax reaction and she said maybe but that these were fairly unreactive vaccines. Um what! Look up reaction for PC and you'll see how nuts she was. Fortunately he snapped out of it that night. I finally got him to nurse. He seemed to get better. For some crazy reason I got him another Dtap at 4 months but then when it was time to go for the next PC Hib I just couldn't do it. I think I canceled the appointment 4 times. I came in here and talked with moms and I decided to not do any more vaccines until I actualy felt like it was worth the risk. He is 16 months old and hasn't had any vaccines since. Every so once in awhile I worry about Tetanus now that he is older but we'll see. Not sure it is worth the risk.

You can always go get a vax but you can't undo it. Try not to get caught up in the time line and the appointments. Any old day you decide you want a vax you can go on in and get one.

Listen to your mom brain. Nobody else will.

[claddaghmom]

alynn, here is what your 3 month old baby received that day:

Rotavirus shot:
Sucrose (quantity not specified)
Sodium citrate (quantity not specified)
Sodium phosphate monobasic monohydrate (quantity not specified)
Sodium hydroxide (quantity not specified)
Polysorbate 80 (quantity not specified)
Cell culture media (quantity not specified)
Trace amounts of fetal bovine serum
(no preservatives)

DTaP* shot:
(*Note, there are three licensed DTaP vaccines in America. I chose Tripedia here b/c it has some of the lower # of reported reaction rates for complications such as high pitched screaming and febrile seizures. I don't know what your baby received).

6.7 Lf of diphtheria toxoid
5 Lf of tetanus toxoid
46.8 micrograms of pertussis antigens. This is represented in the final vaccine as approximately 23.4 micrograms of inactivated pertussis toxin and 23.4 micrograms of filamentous hemagglutinin.
Not more than 0.170 mg of aluminum
Not more than 100 micrograms of residual formaldehyde
Unspecified amounts of gelatin
Unspecified amounts of polysorbate 80

HiB shot:
(Label appears to be incomplete on the FDA’s page, which was later removed.)
10 micrograms purified Haemophilus b saccharide
Approximately 25 micrograms CRM 197 protein
single dose 0.5 ml vial contains no preservatives

IPV shot:
40 D antigen units of Type 1
8 D antigen units of Type 2
32 D antigen units of Type 3
0.5% of 2-phenoxyethanol
100 micrograms of formaldehyde
less than 5 ng neomycin
less than 200 ng streptomycin
less than 25 ng polymyxin B
less than 1PPM of residual calf serum (cow blood)


Prevnar shot:
2 μg of each saccharide for serotypes 4, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F
4 μg of serotype 6B per dose (16 μg total saccharide)
approximately 20 μg of CRM197 carrier protein
0.125 mg of aluminum per 0.5 mL dose as aluminum phosphate adjuvant.
(serotypes are cultured in soy)

Are you sure your baby does not have an allergy or sensitivity to dairy, soy or antibiotics?

[bbrandonsmom]

Trust your gut-just wait for awhile. Until you are ready to do what you want with vaccinating. The dr's can't make you vax, but they'll try to talk you into it, and use fear mainly to do so.
I did 3 rounds of vax as I didn't know not to. Each one was worse then the one before it and each one had my gut telling me something was wrong. It makes me sick when I think about what I allowed to be injected in him. My ds didn't have behavior change that I can remember, but he had skin reactions to the vaccines and we believe his immune system was compromised. Our second ds had no vaccines and is healthier.

[alynn1224]

Wow, thank you everyone. I hate that people think I'm crazy for quesitoning the shots. I don't feel entirely educated enough about them to argue the point.

I read that in 1983 the number of vaccines given to children was 10. Now it's 36. Something's not right there. I was an 80s baby and I can tell you I did just fine with those 10 vaccines. Why must we constantly add new ones to the mix? And why is the CDC not looking out for our children?

I did find a doctor who is vaccine-friendly. He is fine with either modifying the schedule or doing no vaccines. He's not a pediatrician, which worries my husband, but he's a family practicioner. My regular pediatrician "offered" an alterantive schedule (THEIR alternative schedule) at an outrageous fee, and before I could even do it they wanted to sit down and discuss vaccines with me. (AKA, instill fear and doubt.) I refuse to debate vaccines with a pediatrican who has been taught that vaccines are life-savers. So we're moving on.

A huge thank you. I am hoping he starts acting more like himself and will be doing much more reading and research into this before I meet with our new doctor. Thank you!

[Deborah]

My daughter takes her two to a family practice doctor. She made the move after she got booted from the local pediatric practice for not vaccinating. The doctor was pretty creeped out by the home birth stuff, too, I think.

Anyway, family practice has worked out fine. Children are now 10 and 6, both healthy, both minimally vaccinated.

[mamadelbosque]

I'm a non-vaxer DS1 is nearly 3 (in a week! How time flies!! :sniffle), and DS2 is nearly 7 months. Neither have ever had any vaccines at all. Delay untill you know exactly what you want to do. Despite what any doc might tell you, there is *NOT* a big rush to get these done. Waiting another month or 3 or 6 or 12 isn't going to hurt your baby. Delay till you've done *YOUR* research and know what vaxes you want to give, and why. I garuntee you, your doctor has *not* researched vaccines. Almost none of them have.

And always remember: You can *ALWAYS* do them later. But you can *NEVER* take them back!!

[littlemizflava]

please follow what you see and how you know this is not right. dont listen to the dr's saying it is normal it is not related to the vaxes. if you things something is wrong then there is.

i followed the dr's telling me all was well and on and on. even tho dd was having reactions. her leg that got the shot was swollen and you could feel a knot in that thigh for months. she got really nasty skin it felt like scales, screaming, fevers, the not my normal baby acting, not BFing.

i vaxed my dd late for all her shots by 2-6m. dont know why but i just did. she had reactions from everyone of them. i was coodled from all the dr's saying its normal its not related to the vaxes. at 2.5 years i took her for the 2 year vax and i got a different child i never met b4. it was a total change. her behavior is not normal, she was gifted had a thirst for learning she was doing pre k-grade 1 work. then she was struggling with the samethings she has already learned. has trouble holding on to infomation learned.

she is now 7.5 has not had a vax since she was 2.5. she still has some problems that i know are from the vaxes because there was nothing else to trigger the switch. it is like night and day in her change. some school stuff she struggles with when she was doing it when 2. we homeschool so this is not a problem. she has allergies and now asthma. i say she the minimum that she has is ADD but i bet there is more.


oops for got to add that my ds is 3.5 and has not had one vax and i will not vax any of my children again. i have looked in to whats in them. i think it is wrong to give babies something to protect them because it is deadly when they are a baby but it takes many doses to have any effectiveness against the illness. childhood desease are just that they are safer for a baby/child then a adult. even tho you have a vax for ___ does not make it safe or effective

[mayasmum]

Hi!

I had my ds early - he was a 33 weeker. The NICU team whisked him away asking about Hep B - as I was getting the placenta out and otherwise engaged, dh said yes I was pretty darn mad after.
He got out of the NICU after only 11 days, but then went on to having apneas and had to be stimmed to breath 3 times, and was hospitalized for a month altogether. I panicked and said yes to a modified schedule - so at 3 months (1 adjusted) he got his DTaP and Pneumonicoccal (can never spell it, don't really want to know how anymore lol).
Then my mummys gut came into play - I started questioning why a preemie would be given shots on the same schedule as a full term????It did not make sense to me? So for now, I am delaying, I have also decided not to give dd any more vaxes. My gut is telling me not to..I would say listen to your mommy gut, too many people do not nowadays, we need to learn to rely on our own feelings and trust our instincts. I am currently researching - I have given some of my research to my ped, who is onboard with my decision - in fact he started doing some of his own research after I gave him mine...and he was also the one who said about delaying because ds had bronchiolitis for quite some time.
More than likely, the way the info is looking nobody (apart from dh who is military and HAS to be vaccinated..grrrr) will be having any more vaxes. There is credible science out there that backs my decision up,
I am sorry your little one had that reaction.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by alynn1224

I did find a doctor who is vaccine-friendly. He is fine with either modifying the schedule or doing no vaccines. He's not a pediatrician, which worries my husband, but he's a family practicioner.

Pediatricians are specialists. I once heard that the US is very unusual in treating Pediatricians as general practitioners for children.