Coming up on a well visit and re-thinking vax...

[Attached2Elijah]

My son will be 7 in September and we stopped doing vaccinations with him at the age of 3... My daughter was fully vaccinated only until the age of 4 months. We have not been doing well visits since. I have a philosophical exemption on record at my son's school and have never been given any kind of trouble at all. However, we noticed recently that my daughter seems to have a bit of a lazy eye when she is sleepy and wanted to get that checked out as well as having my son seen to schedule a surgery for an inguinal hernia that we recently found so am scheduled for a check-up next week. As it draws nearer, I am re-thinking my no-vaccination stance. However, I am not sure how to go about it. I am thinking I would like to catch them up completely... but I really don't want to do them ALL at once a I don't want their little systems to be bombarded with all of that at one time. So my question is ... what schedule should I follow? I'm not 100% which ones they actually need. They were fully caught up when I decided to quit.... I never felt comfortable with them getting vaccinations when they were babies but now that they are older, I think they could handle it but not all at once. I'm just not sure how to broach this with my Dr (who does NOT support anything but full vaccination) without getting railroaded into what SHE thinks is best (probably catching them up all at one appointment)

[Attached2Elijah]

Thinking about giving this to my Dr when she questions me about the vaccinations... what do you think?

Dear Dr. Castrop and associates,

I have chosen to alternatively/selectively vaccinate my children. I have done my research and am comfortable with my decision. I am aware of the risks and benefits associated with my choice and feel it is in my children’s best interest to follow our own schedule for vaccinations. I propose the following vaccination schedule for my children.


Catch Elijah up on all needed vaccinations on August 4th, 2010.

DTaP: August 4th, 2010 -- October 2010 -- December 2010 -- February 2011
IPV: August 4th, 2010, October 2010, December 2010
MMR: February 2011, August 2011
__________________________________________________ ______________

If Eden has not contracted Chicken Pox by the age of 12 years old, Varicella may be administered at 12 years of age along with Hep B, if needed. Elijah will receive all boosters as needed.

__________________________________________________ _______________

At this time, we will not be administering The Flu shot, PCV, HIB, or Hep A.

What do kids on a normal schedule usually get before kindergarten? I think those are what he needs to be caught up completely.

[mgg]

The link below is to the CDC's schedule for "catch-up" immunizations. It is very comprehensive and delineates who needs what. There are a lot of things that vary based on age and number of previous immunizations received, etc...

What I would suggest is you sit down with your child's existing immunization record and you will be able to fairly easily determine what he or she still needs. The intervals indicated are the MINIMUM intervals. You can always stretch them out longer.

While I am a pro-vax pediatrician, I do have patients with altered schedules (and some who don't vaccinate at all). And while I don't agree with their decision, I much prefer it when they come in with a plan. Then it's very easy to implement, and I know what they are comfortable with.

To construct your plan, just do the following:

1. Review the schedule and determine what they need.
2. Decide how many immunizations you are comfortable with at one time.
3. Decide what interval you are comfortable with for scheduling the immunizations (a week? a month? three months? etc...)

At this point you will be able to easily write up a schedule and share it with the pediatrician.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/sch...chedule_pr.pdf

[Attached2Elijah]

Well, both kids are completely caught up on immunizations now... 6 shots in one day for my little girl. That was rough but I do feel better that she is protected now.... I'm very nervous to see how she reacts to all of that in her little body though. I really hate this part of parenting

[mgg]

Oooh! Six shots deserves a treat! But I'm a big fan of that approach. No evidence for increased reactions, and get all the unhappiness done at once!

Hang in there mommy!

[PinkinPA]

If they had a reaction, how would you know which shot your child was reacting to?

Why would you vaccinate for anything without knowing what your children were even at risk for?

[carriebft]

I assume he didn't get something like hib or rotavirus I would think that a 7 year being caught up would be getting ones like DTaP, MMR, etc.

"risk" is also pretty relative. you may feel there is no risk for something like...rubella...in the USA, yet I was just recently exposed to it through travel according to my airline and the health department. there mnight not be dipitheria here, but many travel to endemic areas. you may feel pertussis is "treatable" and not a risk for older kids, while othersm might want the protection against extended illness and risks like pneumonia and cracked ribs.

did they not even offer you a combination vaccine? that would have cut down on all the needle sticks, esp if you wanted those vaccines done, kwim?

[Attached2Elijah]

The almost 7 year old only got 3 shots, which were MMR, DTaP/IPV and Varicella. He did exceptionally well and is absolutely fine this morning. There's not even any swelling or soreness.

My 3 year old was the one with 6 shots and as a PP said, I am nervous about her having that many and NOT knowing which one she was reacting to if she would... She is actually doing pretty well this morning. No fever, no swelling. However, she is having some trouble walking on her right leg. I assume it's pretty sore. Poor little thing. She did have a few combo Vaccinations... I think one was a 3 in one (DTaP/Hib/IPV?) and MMR and Varicella were also a combo, I believe.

She is completely up to date on everything now which feels good but I do regret not being more forceful in WHAT I wanted her to have. She never mentioned Hib so I didn't realize she was getting it until afterwards. Same with the Hep A ... When I went into this, I never intended to NOT do vaccinations. I just wanted to wait until they were older. They are now and I am mostly okay with them receiving them... Part of me wishes we would have broke it up more so her little body wasn't fighting off SO much at once but then another part of me is glad it's over and she won't have to do any more for a year.

My children are probably not "at risk" for any of the diseases but we do intend to travel in the next few years so I'm more comfortable with them being caught up then not. After 7 years of fighting with everyone I come across that finds out they aren't fully vaccinated, it actually feels kind of good to not have to worry about that anymore. I know it's not really the "crunchy" thing to do... but it's what feels right to me at this point in time and that's what attachment parenting has meant to me over the last 7 years. I find most times it's better to follow my instincts and everyone else be damned on either side... mainstream or crunchy. But trust me, I am watching them with a magnifying glass today to make sure they are not reacting poorly and so far, so good. We are also doing everything we can to help their little bodies fight off everything in the shots... vitamins, herbs, sleep, extra fruits and veggies and liquids. I think delaying until 3 and again until 6 with my son and until almost 4 with my daughter is not too bad... I'm happy with my decision.

[carriebft]

I don't think vaccinating makes you any less crunchy. I am pretty crunchy I think in many ways...from a diva cup to homebirth to limiting meat intake to treating illness naturally first to sewing and line drying when we can. I feel you can care deeply about keepng life as "natural" as possible and still turn to something like vaccines after looking into the issue. AP is about instinctive parenting for us, sometimes our instincts may lead us to modern medicine.

[Attached2Elijah]

Originally Posted by carriebft

I don't think vaccinating makes you any less crunchy. I am pretty crunchy I think in many ways...from a diva cup to homebirth to limiting meat intake to treating illness naturally first to sewing and line drying when we can. I feel you can care deeply about keepng life as "natural" as possible and still turn to something like vaccines after looking into the issue. AP is about instinctive parenting for us, sometimes our instincts may lead us to modern medicine.

Thanks...

[lynsage]

Originally Posted by carriebft

I don't think vaccinating makes you any less crunchy. I feel you can care deeply about keepng life as "natural" as possible and still turn to something like vaccines after looking into the issue. AP is about instinctive parenting for us, sometimes our instincts may lead us to modern medicine.

I am a non-vaxing parent, but IMO, AP/"crunchy" parenting is about THINKING about your choices and doing what you believe is best, not just toe-ing some invisible line of when you're AP (or natural or whatever) enough. What I tell my friends who are crunchy, vegan, extremely religious, etc when they make conscious choices that they feel are best for them but don't fit the party line of whatever their particular subculture may be is, "They're not going to come take your membership card away!"

[carriebft]

exactly! i had typed out something similar to that and I couldn't get it to sound right. saying "for me, crunchy parenting is, a lot of the time, about the thought I put into decisions"--but I love your wording.

[Attached2Elijah]

Well, maybe I should have worded that differently... I support everyone's right to do what they think is best for their children, even if I don't agree. I just meant that most people on this board say that if you question the safety of vaccines at all, you probably shouldn't do them.... which I DO question the safety of them, but I also question the safety of NOT getting them too so I had to sit back and make a very hard choice about which I was more comfortable with and I know a lot of people here would not agree with the decision I did come to but it's nice to see that everyone is being supportive and respectful of the fact that I did actually take the time to research BOTH sides and ultimately had my children's best interest at heart I haven't been coming to this board for quite some time (loss of a computer for awhile and then not feeling like I belong anymore since I don't have a nursling/co-sleeper anymore) and now I'm kicking myself for not coming sooner because I forgot just how much I love this place!