Help! Vaccine reaction in 7 month old

[Geigerin]

My 7 month old had her second round of dtap and hib at 3 pm today. She ha been screaming for over an hour now. I gave her tylenol, but it doesn't seem to be working. Waiting for a call from the on-call ped.

In the mean time, anyone experienced this? Any advice? My heart is broken- you should hear her hoarse cries.

[PinkinPA]

I think she is having brain swelling. I think this has been called encephalatic scream or cry. I'd go to the hospitanl to have it documented as a reaction.

I don't think there is anything that you can do.

[chaoticzenmom]

My 3rd son screamed for 2 days straight after his dtap. That was the last vaccination any of my kids recieved. The dtap can give them a huge headache that acts like a migraine. The pain is so bad that it causes the baby to scream a high-pitched scream that is called the "dtap" scream also called the encephalitic cry. It's basically brain swelling. So, I'd keep noise and lights low, keep baby warm and snuggle.

You can read other reports and report your child's reaction here.
http://vaers.hhs.gov/index

Here's some more information
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...?dopt=Citation

[Geigerin]

Can this cause permanent damage? We're going on 2 hours now. The ped had me stagger the Tylenol with ibuprofen, but that isn't helping. I'm so scared and so regreting the stupid shot.

[carriebft]

that second link is about DTP and not DTaP; DTP was associated with those issues. DTaP was not licensed until 1991.

I would be hesitant to take your description and jump to "brain swelling"; other explanations could be that there is pain in the injection site. Do you see swelling of any kind where the babe got the DTaP shot?

perhaps ice the area? or some other kind of natural numbing? just throwing that out there.

I would be more likely to use ibu than tylenol for this issue as well.

[PinkinPA]

Also, make a report to VAERS.

This scream (if it isn't something else) was taken off the adverse reaction list and classified as "normal". This is a heartbreaking reaction that is way too often played down.

[PinkinPA]

I would be hesitant to take your description and jump to "brain swelling";

Hey, just putting it out there because of it's association as a reaction after this particular shot. I highly doubt a baby will scream herself hoarse because of pain at an injection site.

[carriebft]

Originally Posted by Geigerin

Can this cause permanent damage? We're going on 2 hours now. The ped had me stagger the Tylenol with ibuprofen, but that isn't helping. I'm so scared and so regreting the stupid shot.

There are quite a few studies out there on prolonged crying and DtaP vaccination (again, do not look for studies concerning DTP). for example this one:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...8&searchtype=a

from my cursory look at the first few pages of studies on this, no neurological impairment was reported in any of them.

Do you know which brand you got?

I would get that information and then go to the package insert and see what they say on prolonged cry and check out the studies they use to site those stats. they are always on the inserts. you might find more long term results there.

for example if you got infanrix you can see the info on prolonged cry within the insert:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...GLS4ujIncEmsIw

[carriebft]

I also see the classification of pain being from the injection site if they are unwilling to move that limb or if touching that limb seems to cause increased pain. I know, for myself at least, swelling and pain like that are more easily taken care of by ibu/advil. that might be another sign if you use that and it works.

[Geigerin]

I don't know the brand, i'm ashamed to admit. I will find out tomorrow. She's finally nursing a bit, and the screaming has been reduced to waves. We're snuggling and rocking in the dark.

This is so hard! I hate not knowing the right thing to do for our sweet girl. We did so much research before she was born, tried to find a middle ground. Now, I'm doubting myself all over again.

Thanks so much foe your support and quick response! I love you all!

[chaoticzenmom]

If you read the insert for tripedia (reportedly the dtap vaccine with the fewest reactions) it only decreases adverse events (compared to the dtp) about 50 to 80% depending on the event. Read the package insert and read vears and you will see that the encephalitic cry is still happening, but 80% less often than with the dtp. The same toxoid is present, but not as much as the older dtp.

[carriebft]

Originally Posted by Geigerin

I don't know the brand, i'm ashamed to admit. I will find out tomorrow. She's finally nursing a bit, and the screaming has been reduced to waves. We're snuggling and rocking in the dark.

This is so hard! I hate not knowing the right thing to do for our sweet girl. We did so much research before she was born, tried to find a middle ground. Now, I'm doubting myself all over again.

Thanks so much foe your support and quick response! I love you all!

Glad to hear she is calming a bit. Do not beat yourself up about knowing the brand, I admit sometimes I do not even check even though we have preferences. When my son went in for this booster recently and our moms' group had pertussis going around, I was more concerned that he finish off the series than exactly which brand he got.

[Starry-eyedMom]

My first son had increasingly bad reactions to Dtap. We don't do any shots now because of that and a lot of research. Thought you might want to know, in case you decide to give again, that the public health nurse admitted to me that some kids get worse with their reactions each time! She also said that at least he has partial immunity now (after 3 shots), but that didn't seem as important after he was so sick (high fevers intermittently for two weeks).

[Geigerin]

Quick update to let you know she stopped crying about 30 minutes ago. Just got her to sleep. So much to reconsider. Thanks again for your help!

Sending hugs and love from me and my girl.