HIB - need help deciding

[snomnky]

DD's 1 yr appt is tomorrow and I am on the fence about the HIB vaccine. I was set on not getting it because it is so rare and she still breastfeeds a lot. On the other hand brother is in school and she is around older kids a lot and meningitis is scary!

DD has had 3 Dtaps, if she gets anything else it will be HIB and then nothing until she is much older.

I was thinking about waiting to decide about the HIB until she was 15mo so she would only need 1 dose, but I am worried about it now.

Any advice? I have researched it extensively and most days I am confident in not getting the vaccine, but other days I am paranoid.

I do plan on breastfeeding until she is at least 2.

[ammiga]

Personally, I wouldn't make the decision to vax until it was one you felt comfortable with for a long time. Like everyone on this board always says, you can always give a vax once you decide it is the right decision for your family, but you can never take one back.

Especially with a breastfed baby, I wouldn't worry about this one at all.

[Marnica]

I hear you...this was the only vax I ever considered. The bottom line for me is that I don't want to mess with DS's intact immune system. At the end of the day, I believe that vaccines, in the long run, do more harm than good. I do think that SOME of them are effective, but at what cost?

For me, I believe that giving DS the HIB vaccine would make him more susceptible to other types of bacteria. Most days I feel good about my choices, but paranoia creeps in from time to time. I am a worrier by nature so whatever choice I make, there will be paranoia KWIM? I also listen to my gut. Most of the time it screams at me to concentrate on keeping DS's immune system strong and intact, and that means running 180 degrees in the opposite direction from vaccines.

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by snomnky

I was thinking about waiting to decide about the HIB until she was 15mo so she would only need 1 dose, but I am worried about it now.

Any advice? I have researched it extensively and most days I am confident in not getting the vaccine, but other days I am paranoid.

I do plan on breastfeeding until she is at least 2.

If you wait 3 months, she only needs one dose. What's her risk/benefit analysis for the next 3 months? Is it different than the last 3 months were? In other words, you were okay with her not having had the vaccine when she was between 9-12 months old, are you not as comfortable between 12-15 months? Is there a change to her risk factors over the next 3 months? (maybe she'll go to daycare, maybe one of her siblings is going to camp or something...I don't know what might change her risk factor, but it is possible) You have to determine whether she meets whatever criteria YOU have determined to outweigh the risk of the vaccine.

FWIW, I do not give this vaccine. My middle son had a systemic Non Typeable Haemophilus Influenzae infection in 2008 that led to him having surgery and then at home with a PICC line for 4 weeks of ultra-strong antibiotic infusions. He was basically a victim of serotype replacement. I don't like it, and I don't want to contribute to that continuing to occur.

[snomnky]

Wanted to update:

We did NOT get the shot today. I had some very simple questions that the ped didn't know how to answer about the vaccine and I decided that I would not give it to DD until I know the answer to the questions I have.

Thanks for your input!

[stacey05]

Thanks for updating. Do you mind sharing what your simple questions were that your ped could not answer? The hib vaccine is one that I go round and round with in my mind for my unvaxed 2 1/2 yo. It drives me batty, but I still have not had peace to go get it done.

[snomnky]

I asked him two questions. First I asked him about breastfeeding and HIB, I mentioned the Swedish? study and he didn't know anything about 'that' and said that he didn't think breastfeeding would help protect 'that much'. He also said that as soon as I was done there would be no protection for DD against HIB. This is contrary to what I have read and felt I needed to read more.

Second, I asked him if I got the vaccine now at 12 mo then again at 15mo would she be better protected after 15 mo than she would be if she only got the 15mo dose. So basically I was wondering if it compounded. He didn't know but assumed it would. This didn't make much sense to me. I want to read more on this as well.

[SunshineJ]

Originally Posted by snomnky

I asked him two questions. First I asked him about breastfeeding and HIB, I mentioned the Swedish? study and he didn't know anything about 'that' and said that he didn't think breastfeeding would help protect 'that much'. He also said that as soon as I was done there would be no protection for DD against HIB. This is contrary to what I have read and felt I needed to read more.

Second, I asked him if I got the vaccine now at 12 mo then again at 15mo would she be better protected after 15 mo than she would be if she only got the 15mo dose. So basically I was wondering if it compounded. He didn't know but assumed it would. This didn't make much sense to me. I want to read more on this as well.

Can I just say how much it frightens me that medical doctors are so gung ho on administering medications, in this case vaccinations, without having a good knowledge of them?? Not being familiar with a study I can kind of let slide, but not even knowing how one works and what protections it actually offers seems pretty inexcusable to me.