Will they pressure us to vax before surgery? 8 week old baby

[heartandhands]

My 8 week old baby has been diagnosed with a congenital problem which requires surgery. Vax starts at 2 months and he will not be 2 months for 2 more weeks. We do NOT want to vax him at all but I'm worried that the large childrens hospital is going to recommend dpt before they do surgery. Does anyone know if that is standard policy? We are in Canada. Thanks.

[2boyzmama]

My middle son has had 4 surgeries, and vax has not been an issue. It was a checkbox on the pre-op physical, I told them he was not up to date, and that Dr so-and-so was managing his vaccines. It was rather easy to "get away with" because he was special needs, obviously not "normal" and it's pretty typical that there would be an alternate schedule for special needs kids.

One thing I did consider strongly was HepB. I would never consider it for my other children, but my middle son does stand a chance of needing a blood transfusion during his surgeries. For now I have decided not to vaccinate, and he hasn't required any transfusions, but that is one that you might think twice about, depending on what kind of surgery and how good you think the screening process is.

[mkmoro311]

Getting vaxed right before the surgery would be weakening your baby's immune system when they need it strongest. I would be more worried about staf infection in a hospital than WCough!

[Fraurloth]

Originally Posted by mkmoro311

Getting vaxed right before the surgery would be weakening your baby's immune system when they need it strongest. I would be more worried about staf infection in a hospital than WCough!

Exactly what I was thinking. I just read an article this morning about how antibiotics render useless to the many super bugs we have in hospitals. Here's the link.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029485_an...s_useless.html

[Marnica]

They may suggest it, but just decline. There is policy anywhere that i know of that kids have to be up to date to get a necessary surgery!

[Fyrestorm]

Originally Posted by Marnica

They may suggest it, but just decline. There is policy anywhere that i know of that kids have to be up to date to get a necessary surgery!

There was a thread here a few years back about Shriner's hospitals not accepting unvaxed kids

[Annie Mac]

Since he's 8 weeks and you're in Canada, probably not. There might be variation from province to province, but where I am (BC), the health unit will not even start the vaxes until they're solidly 2 months. I decided to get my LO her shots, and when I took her they were super clear that it was MY choice and I could walk out without any shots whatsoever, or any combination of the vaxes on offer. They even pointed out that I don't need vaxes for her to enter school. In my experience, anyway, it's not the war described by some mamas, and I think Canada's different laws might be partly responsible for that.

[heartandhands]

One additional q re tetanus

Thank you everyone who responded. We are set to decline the shots if they are suggested but I hope that due to his age, they won't be.

Oh, one more question re the tetanus shot. Isn't it true that the immunity after the first dose is negligible, which is why they do so many boosters? Also, at one point I read that if anything, I should request and anti tetanus toxoid bc he has no previous vax (isn't yet 2months old) and the regular tetanus vax would be useless?

I just want to be fully aware of the facts so that I can have a conversation about this with the paed. Thx

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by heartandhands

Thank you everyone who responded. We are set to decline the shots if they are suggested but I hope that due to his age, they won't be.

Oh, one more question re the tetanus shot. Isn't it true that the immunity after the first dose is negligible, which is why they do so many boosters? Also, at one point I read that if anything, I should request and anti tetanus toxoid bc he has no previous vax (isn't yet 2months old) and the regular tetanus vax would be useless?

I just want to be fully aware of the facts so that I can have a conversation about this with the paed. Thx

I think it may be quite the opposite. Many vaccines for the majority of people induce a good immune reponse after the first dose, the sunsequent doses are to catch those few who do not. I'm not sure about tetanus vax however.

I think in regards to your other question you are thinking of the TIG. Tetanus Immunglobulin. It is not a toxoid vaccine. It is given to people who sustain an injury that is at risk for tetanus who have not been previously vaccinated.
http://www.talecris-pi.info/inserts/hypertet.pdf

[just_lily]

Originally Posted by Annie Mac

Since he's 8 weeks and you're in Canada, probably not. There might be variation from province to province, but where I am (BC), the health unit will not even start the vaxes until they're solidly 2 months. I decided to get my LO her shots, and when I took her they were super clear that it was MY choice and I could walk out without any shots whatsoever, or any combination of the vaxes on offer. They even pointed out that I don't need vaxes for her to enter school. In my experience, anyway, it's not the war described by some mamas, and I think Canada's different laws might be partly responsible for that.

Unfortunately, I think your experience was rare, even in Canada. I am in Alberta and know several selective/delayed mamas who are given a hard time when they don't want to "catch up" their kids every time they go for a vax.

My DD just came down with chicken pox and when I called all of my daycare parents to tell them I have to be closed this week I had one parent tell me that she didn't know that they could decline that vax, and that the nurse only told her that is what her son got AFTER they had injected him. She had absolutely no idea that they could select what vaccines they did, and her son has been through 4 rounds of vax so far.

So as much as I wish your experience was the norm, I really don't think it is. You may have just lucked out with a really awesome nurse.

To the OP, I would just say to anyone that asks that you will be delaying vaccines at least until after you child has recovered from surgery. I can't imagine you getting a lot of push back on that at such a young age. I hope your little bub has an easy time with the surgery and recovers quickly!

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by Fyrestorm

There was a thread here a few years back about Shriner's hospitals not accepting unvaxed kids

It isn't necessarily all of them; I think the one in question was in Chicago.

[mkmoro311]

Originally Posted by heartandhands

Thank you everyone who responded. We are set to decline the shots if they are suggested but I hope that due to his age, they won't be.

Oh, one more question re the tetanus shot. Isn't it true that the immunity after the first dose is negligible, which is why they do so many boosters? Also, at one point I read that if anything, I should request and anti tetanus toxoid bc he has no previous vax (isn't yet 2months old) and the regular tetanus vax would be useless?

I just want to be fully aware of the facts so that I can have a conversation about this with the paed. Thx

Bring a couple of signed religious exempt forms with you just incase!

[MyBoysBlue]

For the most part there are no exemption forms at all, because there are no vaccine laws. Except for in 3 provinces (Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick) where they have a few vaxes that are required for school only and then they have exemptions "for medical or religious grounds and reasons of conscience."

http://www.vaclib.org/exempt/canada.htm

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by heartandhands

My 8 week old baby has been diagnosed with a congenital problem which requires surgery. Vax starts at 2 months and he will not be 2 months for 2 more weeks. We do NOT want to vax him at all but I'm worried that the large childrens hospital is going to recommend dpt before they do surgery. Does anyone know if that is standard policy? We are in Canada. Thanks.

My son had to have stomach surgery at 7 weeks old, and the doctors all actually were very receptive to my argument that I wanted to at least delay vaccines until after he was healthy again (I never did the vaccines, and here we are 3 years later; it was just my excuse to not discuss it at that time). They seemed to agree, even, that it was best to wait. And this was at a big children's hospital in Canada.

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by just_lily

Unfortunately, I think your experience was rare, even in Canada. I am in Alberta and know several selective/delayed mamas who are given a hard time when they don't want to "catch up" their kids every time they go for a vax.

My DD just came down with chicken pox and when I called all of my daycare parents to tell them I have to be closed this week I had one parent tell me that she didn't know that they could decline that vax, and that the nurse only told her that is what her son got AFTER they had injected him. She had absolutely no idea that they could select what vaccines they did, and her son has been through 4 rounds of vax so far.

So as much as I wish your experience was the norm, I really don't think it is. You may have just lucked out with a really awesome nurse.

It's not the norm. We lost our doctor over it as she refused to be our doctor if we didn't vax. Another clinic had openings and refused us once they asked about vax and we said no.