Help me talk him down (wrt flu). We have guests coming from Georgia.

[ASusan]

DS is not (yet?) vaccinated. DH just forwarded me an email about the fact that Georgia is reporting "regional flu activity." Our guests arrive in 10 days to stay for a month. Other GA guests will be coming for Christmas weekend.

DH would eventually like DS vaxed.

DS is allergic to egg.

[AllyRae]

Most areas probably have regional flu activity this time of year, so likely it's in your area already. If not, it will be in your area before the month is over, unless you're in some nice tropical area I suppose. 

If your DS is allergic to egg, his only option is the flumist (is he even old enough for it yet?  I'm not sure what age that starts at because we can't do f/m here)....but the flumist is a live vaccine that will shed, so he could potentially infect your guests that way...  Doesn't a child need 2 doses of the flu vax for immunity to be conferred anyhow?  There's no way he'd have full immunity before your guests arrive.  Maybe ask your husband to join in a family-wide immune boosting protocol...lots of sleep, whole foods, green smoothies, vitamins C & D, etc.  Since your DS won't have full flu immunity, even if he *was* to receive his first vax, boosting your immune system is probably the one thing you can do right now. 

[ASusan]

He IS old enough for the flumist. Is the flumist a concern wrt egg?

I'm now seeing that he wouldn't be fully covered until the second dose, which is given 30 days later, right?

And if DH and I got vaxed today, we would be covered, right? (assuming we've both had the flu vax before, AND the vax works as expected)

I totally agree with you about immune boosting in the household. We're ok on the sleep front.

*I* do green smoothies, take D3. DS just stopped nursing last week, and I started giving him Focus Factor for Kids, as it was the ONLY vit in our grocery store that did not have artificial colors or flavors. http://www.amazon.com/Factor-Nutrition-Labs-60-Chewable-Wafers/dp/B002JCSKMC. Incidently, he hasn't had a whiny meltdown since he started them 3 days ago. He was TOTALLY in a whiny phase. We'll see if it lasts. DS also does Carlson's Arctic Cod Liver Oil.

DH won't take any vitamin except Centrum, and even that is a struggle. He is coming down with a sore throat/cold just now. This means HE shouldn't get vaxed at the moment, right?

We're 60-40 on whole:processed foods, I would say. Our primary processed foods, served 1-2 times a week, each, include: Annie's GF/CF pizza; canned refried beans; Campbells Healthy Choice chix & rice soup; baked beans; fritos or other corn chips. At least half our veggies are frozen.

The last time I had a flu vax was in fall of 2003, when I started having problems which eventually led to a lupus dx. I am *not* keen on getting a flu vax. I'd rather dose myself up with Vit. D.

[Tilia]

I don't get how vaxxing DS would prevent your guests from getting the flu?

Even if he was vaxxed, he could still carry it with no symptoms.  And they are planning to leave the house and go into public, correct?  They will be in contact themselves, not just from DS.

[ASusan]

But, aarugh, with respect to the flumist.

1. I am reading that it, too, is grown on eggs.

and

2. It is not approved for children with asthma. While they are not calling DS's wheezing "asthma" - if it walks like a duck...  Basically, almost every cold he gets moves to his lungs; he wheezes in response to (wheat?); he coughs when the heating vents come on at 4am...

[ASusan]

Actually, one of the guests - MIL - probably won't leave the house for the entire time she is here. She's frail, and she has never been  social person. When she's living with her daughter in GA, she goes to church once a week, but that is IT. She won't go to church while she is here. Incidentally, she has NEVER been vaxed. This is what she told me. (I think she may have been vaxed when she moved to the US as an adult in the late 70s/early 80s.)

I think DH is concerned that the guests might bring the flu with them. And under those conditions, DS is at greater risk from the flu because of his reactive airways.

[goldenwillow]

I am sorry this is a worry for you during the holidays. 

Just a thought..... have you considered taking black elderberry and echinacea?  It will benefit your baby if you are taking it yourself while BF'ing or giving it to your baby in a bottle, etc.  We also take mullein as well.  Forgive me if these suggestions don't work with the allergies present. 

[EviesMom]

I think with the egg allergy that you're not going to be able to do the flu vax for him anyway. You could try other things to boost immunity, but the very biggest prevention method is probably hand washing and cleaning off surfaces like doorknobs, phone, etc. that many people touch. 

Also, since it's his first time getting the shot, he needs 2 of them, and they don't give good immunity until 2 weeks after the second dose I believe. So your guests will be gone by the time it does any good anyway. 

[ASusan]

Just talked with him. Phew. That was the most reasonable conversation about vaxing we've ever had. Basically, if DS gets vaxed, it needs to happen at the allergist's office (an hour away, in the city) because of the egg allergy. This is what our local health department - which is where we'd have to get DS vaxed locally - told me. DH wasn't as concerned as I expected that DS isn't vaxed.

DH is more concerned that *we* get vaxed. I told him *he* can get vaxed when he is not ill, and that neither of the 2 flu vaxes he'd have are live.  While our local health dept HAS the Flumist available, it reserves the FluMist for children, although it is contraindicated for DS because of his egg allergy and his asthma.