anyone put unvaxed kids in daycare?

[juniper_mama]

I know everyone says that you should keep your unvaxed kids out of group childcare but I'm wondering if anyone has done it and what your experience has been? I have to go back to work for two days pw in about two months time and childcare is really hard to get here so I'm trying to think through my options. I'm thinking I may splurge on a nanny in my home for the two days but they are also hard to find, though worth it I suspect. Thoughts?

[CrazyCatLady]

Oh yeah. Day cares, babysitters, church nurseries, etc. My dd is unvaxed, has been everywhere and touched everything (and licked everything!), yet has rarely been ill. I don't like germs, but I'm not terrified of them and I've never seen the point in hiding our non-vaxed kids from public. Everything about that theory kind of sounds pro-vax really...

I trust her immune system, I trust my ability to handle illness when it happens, and I trust my mother's intuition that says not vaxing is the right decision for us.

[dillonandmarasmom]

Who is "everyone"? I had non-vaxed kids in my in-home childcare almost exclusively. But, they also all ended up in larger daycares and preschools. We rarely dealt with illness other than an occasional stuffy/runny nose, really.

Really, though, who is "everyone"? No one has ever said this in my circle of friends.

FTR, my kids aren't vaxed. DS1 was partially vaxed until he had pertussis at about 3 years of age (which we treated with the usual round of abx for the entire family and about three other families...). It was then that we really looked more deeply and chose to stop with vaccinations all together. Now, my kids are some of the healthiest I know.

Srsly, who is "everyone"?

[CrazyCatLady]

Really, though, who is "everyone"? No one has ever said this in my circle of friends.

Dr. Sears and his followers I think. I'm pretty sure he suggests keeping unvaxed kids at home pretty much until they're two. I could be mixing something up though. And if I am, I'm sure someone will be alone to correct me.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

Originally Posted by CrazyCatLady

Dr. Sears and his followers I think. I'm pretty sure he suggests keeping unvaxed kids at home pretty much until they're two. I could be mixing something up though. And if I am, I'm sure someone will be alone to correct me.

No I think your right.

If you stop and think about it though, OP, what choice doesn someone like me have? I am dead set against vaccines, for reasons OTHER then wanting natural immunity to the VPD's. So if I were to follow that line of thinking, my options are move out of my house and sell everything of value ive worked so hard for so I can stay home with my unvaxxed children, Quitting a job I was very lucky to get with awsome benefits and substantial pay (For someone with no college degree) OR send them to daycare fully vaxxed and run the risk of seriously damaging them physically/neuologically and possibly KILL my little guy, who has allergies to Milk, Eggs, and Peanuts (VERY Possible reaction to other ingredients in the vaxxes)



Doesnt make sense does it? My kids are 2 and 3. Both unvaxxed, little guy completley, older son stopped at 4 months, as which time i KNOW he had a slight reaction (Stopped smiling, laughing, making noises other then crying for about 2 months. Dodged a bullet there) They go to daycare full time September through June. We have had some doozies of illnesses. The worst were stomach bugs. The rest were colds, some chest, some head. Comes with the territory, and I look foward to possibly having a leg up on the illnesses once the boys start kindy.

[Marnica]

My 2 year old DS in unvaxed and has been in daycare full-time M-F 8am - 5pm all year long since he was 3 months old. He has gotten his share of cold/coughs and we had 1 barfing bug.

What is a parent who does not vax but has no choice but to work full-time to do otherwise? If I could have afforded a nanny for his first year, I would have done that. After that I would have put him in daycare anyway for the socialization.

[Emmeline II]

I did not put my partial/unvaxed children in a bubble; they've never been prevented from going somewhere due to vax status. Daycares are crawling with all kinds of ickies passed from child to child, most of which are not VADs.

[WifeMomChiro]

My unvaxed child is in daycare, church nurseries, Sunday School, etc. FWIW- Her teacher and school director ask me what we do to keep her so healthy since she is the only unvaxed kid in the school and she is rarely sick. I tell them we avoid vaccines, eat healthy foods, and get adjusted regularly.

[Lisa1970]

The only people who say that are the people who believe in the myth of "herd immunity" and think that their vaccinated children won't be protected if someone who is not vaccinated is around them. Sort of as if, the non-vaccination will suck the vaccination out of them. I am sure these people believe in super powers and other fantasies too. I do not buy in to those scare tactics. Pharmaceutical companies who wanted to raise their profits started the "herd immunity" advertising campaign to boost sales through getting people to shun kids who are not immunized.

[juniper_mama]

Srsly, who is "everyone"?

Yes I suppose this idea in my head originally came from Dr Sears and has been reinforced by several other websites and a few friends who are not vaxing and taking extended leave to be at home with the kiddos. Plus, the babes I know who are now in childcare are sick CONSTANTLY - mostly just colds and flus and pink eye sort of stuff but yucky nonetheless. It's funny you know, I made the decision to not vax and tried to promise myself that I would not live in fear of VPDs but but here I am making decisions with vax status in mind. It's hard not to. Childcare, exposure to kids who've just been vaxed - there are plenty of things to worry about. Also, I'm a bit concerned that our immunity is down atm because we are getting so little sleep right now. Plus I still feel like a new mom and want to protect him from anything serious. It's funny, I expected a more diverse response but you're all saying rather unanimously to not live in a bubble - good advice I think.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by juniper_mama

Yes I suppose this idea in my head originally came from Dr Sears and has been reinforced by several other websites and a few friends who are not vaxing and taking extended leave to be at home with the kiddos...It's funny, I expected a more diverse response but you're all saying rather unanimously to not live in a bubble - good advice I think.

But WHY do they not vaccinate? It seems like the non-vaxers you know personally are primarily afraid of vaccine reactions but would gladly do them if they were "green" or otherwise "safer"; but until that happens they will just have to sequester their vulnerable children.

I think that most here do not believe that non-vaccination causes their children to be particularly vulnerable; that their immune system is designed to function for their protection and that any vaccination can interfere with the function of their immune system even if they were "safer."

[Dmitrizmom]

Both ds and dd1 went to daycare, non-vaxed. Both were very rarely sick and got better faster than their (vaxed) peers who had the same illnesses.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by Emmeline II

I did not put my partial/unvaxed children in a bubble; they've never been prevented from going somewhere due to vax status. Daycares are crawling with all kinds of ickies passed from child to child, most of which are not VADs.

I found that choosing not to vaccinate was a huge bonus because my son's a kid who gets sick a lot, and having a toolbox of ideas to use (originally I researched because I wanted ideas to help with VADs came around) for all those other illnesses was incredibly helpful. Incredibly.

There's a world of illnesses out there, tons. I don't suspect that any of the many illnesses my son got while he was in daycare were vaccinateable. A couple after may have been, once I was no longer employed, but back then I think everything was regular colds, stomach bugs, and the like.

Go over to Health & Healing and start Searching for threads on dealing with colds and croup and diarrheal/vomiting illnesses, there are a lot of good ideas over there. Make a list, start gathering things to have on-hand and mentally make a game plan. Kids get sick, whether they're in childcare or not (my son actually got sick just as often after I quit work as when I was working and he was in daycare, I guess that's atypical though) and having a toolbox of ideas is really helpful. Plus read some threads on prevention, things like getting to a good vitamin D level and having good gut flora (probiotic foods like kimchee, very yummy, and probiotic supps for little ones too young for solids esp if you think gut flora may not be great), you can pick and choose what seems most likely to help in your case.

And having an alternative-type doc to go to, that's helpful too, if you can. Someone who does cranial-sacral is great, a chiropractor trained in pediatrics, that's helpful too, someone like that.

[Angela512]

Originally Posted by WifeMomChiro

My unvaxed child is in daycare, church nurseries, Sunday School, etc. FWIW- Her teacher and school director ask me what we do to keep her so healthy since she is the only unvaxed kid in the school and she is rarely sick. I tell them we avoid vaccines, eat healthy foods, and get adjusted regularly.

We do this, as well! My kids are rarely ever sick...and when they do get sick, they recover much faster than most people.

My son was outside running around with a bunch of kids and took a bad tumble and gets up and says, "Hey, mom...I need to get adjusted." We stopped and got him adjusted on our way home and he comes out smiling, "I feel like a new big boy." (He's 3 1/2).

I think more than anything, diet, proper alignment and having as little toxins in the body (either by way of vaccines or food) is the key to being healthy and getting healthy after an illness.

[cms2]

Are these child care centers or home daycares?

I am planning on putting my non vax'd DD in a child care center for 2 or 3 days a week next year. She will be 14 months then. I was just reading the centers parent handbook online and it said "Parents must have children vaccinated against major diseases"....etc, etc. I'm hoping to not run into any issues with them.

[danipoppins]

Originally Posted by cms2

Are these child care centers or home daycares?

I am planning on putting my non vax'd DD in a child care center for 2 or 3 days a week next year. She will be 14 months then. I was just reading the centers parent handbook online and it said "Parents must have children vaccinated against major diseases"....etc, etc. I'm hoping to not run into any issues with them.

Find out what kind of exemptions your state has. Those typically apply to child care centers as well. Though, I don't know if they *have* to take your kiddo if she's not vaxed (whereas a school *has* to - but of course can boot them out for 21 days or whatever if some evil vaccine 'preventable' disease is going around).

You'll probably just be able to write out an exemption letter or fill out their exemption form.

[mamadelbosque]

Well, my boys aren't in daycare... but ds2 has been going to playgroup with us (DS1 started ~17 months, before that he was occasionally around other kids at the ymca nursery and such) since he was, oh, 2 or 3 wks or so old Neither ones ever had a single vax Some people choose to be paranoid about it. I don't. We live our lives. I honestly can't think of anytime I've ever thought twice about doing anything due to vax status... I mean, ds2 went to the freaking water park w/ us ~1.5-2wks old!!!

[peilover010202]

I run a home daycare and none of my 3 boys have had any vaccines. I also feel they are pretty healthy overall. 1 is prone to ear infections, but so was I (and still am).

[just_lily]

I run a home daycare as well. I can only have up to six kids at any one time, but we also attend a number of playgroups of over 20 kids at a time, and DD attends Sunday School at church. Not a single vax, and no worries here.

We get our share of sniffles for sure, but I find that DD hasn't had the constant thick snot that the other kids always seem to have all winter long. If she gets a cold it lasts a couple of days and then that is it.

The worst we have had was an outbread of hand foot and mouth this summer. All of the kids got it as well as myself. It definitely wasn't fun (I had the worst case out of everyone) but no vax for that.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by just_lily

I run a home daycare as well. I can only have up to six kids at any one time, but we also attend a number of playgroups of over 20 kids at a time, and DD attends Sunday School at church. Not a single vax, and no worries here.

Last week dd (4--unvaxed) woke up with a fever of 103; it was completely gone by the time I went to bed. However, that afternoon I developed a sore throat and I'm still working through that cold. Dd goes to dance class once a week but otherwise isn't out much. Dd is the only completely unvaxed person in the family and she always has a lesser case of whatever we all have and gets over it faster.