Has anyone ever regret their decision to NOT vax? - Page 2

[a-sorta-fairytale]

Nope - no regret here.  And i had to FIGHT.  DD was in the nicu at birth with brain damage and oh boy you would have thought that vax would cure brain damage from how they shrieked at me.  Luckily the ped neurologist backed me up and said no way should she have any vax until she was much older and possibly never.

anyhow, dd is 6 and has had CP and measles.  Both times she was itchy and had a rash and that was it.  She has had swine flu and was exposed to pertussis and had a cough for a few days.

None of my kids 6, 2, and 5 months is vaxed at all and i do not regret it.

[Shanesmom]

Granted Shane is a mere five months, but I have absolutely no regrets. In fact, I am greatful that my cousin opened my eyes to the truth about vaccines. Shane has never been sick a day in his short little life yet, and he gets around.

Now if Shane were to contract and die from one of the dieases that he could have been vaccinated for, then I might have regrets. Or I just might remeber all the research I've done and all the doctors that are AGAINST vaccines and come to realize that the contuination of life is never guarented.

[sarafi]

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers ladies!

My baby is home, all his tests came back negative and he was checked out on our Christmas day. So other than the fact that he did have some kind of infection he is in the clear So glad. He is still crabby and has a wicked case of diarrhea but over all he is well.

It's very strange as we have a strong family history of appendicitis and both the ped.'s blew me off every time I asked them to check (we also have a history of presenting "wrong" and two of my sisters almost died when theirs burst). I am going to be watching him very closely until then, but since she refused to call anyone in over Christmas to "make me feel better" home is probably a better place to wait. I do hope I am wrong and he is in fact better.

We go back in for a check up in two days and I insisted that she ultrasound his stomach to check, I really think the whole "non-vaxing" thing made this visit MUCH harder than it needed to be, but I am still in the no-regrets camp.

Sorry to hi-jack, just wanted to update

[mattemma04]

Sarafi glad your LO is home.Speedy healings and shame on doctors for not fully checking.They never like it when the patient/parent makes a suggestion.

No regrets at this time for not vaccinating.My kiddos are now 8 and 11. Got a lot of flack for not giving dd the HepB at birth.Little did they know the hepB vaccine injured me as an adult,so screaming at me that dd would die without it did little other than push me to question ALL vaccines.

[sosurreal09]

well I can tell you I completely regret vaxing. I had an un-medicated birth to a beautiful healthy baby...when she was 2 m/o she got her first vax ( i didnt want to but cracked under pressure i was 21 and the Dr treated me like an idiot) she got sick right away...i vaxed her until she was 9 m/o and she was sick from the time she was 2 m/o until 9 m/o no lie. everything under the sun virus after virus, blood in her stool, stomach problems, intolerances, roseola, some real scary virus too that ended us up in the hospital...in between being "better" it was always a cold which lead to sinus infections ect ect

I finally put my foot down at 10 m/o when my BFing SAH child was sick yet again and the Dr said oh i think we should give her her flu shots today and maybe give her next vax a little early b/c she gets sick so much. I practically ran out of there.

I have never vaxed her since and she is 15 m/o. so she had not had a vax since 9 m/o so in 6 months she has had 2 colds and 1 virus. 

you can not imagine my relief. all the worry I endured all the freaking out of WHY WHY WHY is my child so sick. my FF friends baby in daycare is waaaaaaaaaay less sick than DD (but still pretty sick), then one day it clicked it was her body's reaction to the vax. I just knew if I stopped vaxing her she would get better.

As of 2 months after her last vax she gut healed and there was NO MORE BLOOD in her stool for the first time since she was 2 m/o she was no longer in pain. she used to scream in her sleep it hurt so badly. she went to countless Drs and I on countless diets. Then one day I *felt* she was better and took some stool to the Dr NO BLOOD her first stool ever tested that had no blood in it.

I started slowly adding things back to my diet.....no reactions at all with anything!

I regret cracking under pressure completely, I feel like I failed her injecting her with that poison. Every single time my instincts told me NO DON'T DO IT..but the Drs kept pushing and pushing and I was afraid.

we were just at the hospital the other day (b/c the one virus she had is the one she has right now, and she got it from me) her pedi sent us there (apparetly b/c she wasnt vaxed so she was scared but I didn't know that was why...) and the nurse says is she up to date on her vaccines? I said no I stopped at 9 m/o. she says and why is that? just because?

OOOH I was pissed I said no I have done extensive research and feel it is in my daughter's best interest.

she didnt say anything..

anyways good luck I hope you win hubby over. I just told mine, my instincts were going off and I'm not vaxing again. He trusts me enough to know I wouldn't endanger her.

[browneyeNYmomma]

Wow, I haven't made it back on here in awhile, I am so happy to see so many replies! And no one regretting their decision yet:). Thanks for all the personal stories too!

[sleeveless]

No, I regret vaxxing my older kids. I have anxious moments now and then worrying my youngest will get something preventable by a vaccine, but I'm an anxious person.

The scare tactics actually make me feel more comfortable with my decision. Recently I was interviewing peds. I told the doc I was not vaccinating, and she launched into a lecture about all the migrant workers' children from Mexico who died from measles when she did her internship 20 years earlier on the West Coast.

So, I said, were these children in good health to begin with? Were they properly nourished? Did they have comfortable homes? Low stress? Access to regular health care?

I'm thinking the children she saw who died from measles 20 years ago were impoverished, malnourished, stressed and in generally poor health. She didn't know the answers to my questions, but LOVED telling a parent about how omitting a vaccine can lead to DEATH of a child. Please. I found another ped.

[ShwarmaQueen]

Hmm, i don't know if this is any value or not, but my close friend doesn't do any vax (and doesn't BF past a few weeks because her milk 'dries up') and her DD, 5, caught rotavirus a few years ago and was almost hospitalized for dehydration. She says the toll that it took on her daughter felt like torture (the vomitting and diahhea lasted over a week) and the nights of worry it caused her and her DH were not worth it. She says she wishes she just would have gotten the vaccine since it is oral and not as dangerous as the injectibles. Of course I strongly feel the not breastfeeding part was a HUGE factor.

Not me personally, but maybe what you're looking for? 

[Norabella]

Well, I am an adult who has never regretted my parent's NO vax decision, does that count? And, I know they and my 4 non-vax'd siblings agree with me on that. And, in childhood, I had mumps, and we all had pertussis. With the mumps, my mom took me to the Dr to confirm her Dx, refused their Rx, took me home and treated it from her natural healing books, I was sick for less than a week I'm pretty sure. Pertussis she didn't take any of us to the Dr, no hospitalizations required, lasted a couple of weeks. Was it fun? No. Was it traumatizing or life-threatening? No. I know when we were all sick w/ pertussis, that my dad questioned the decision a little bit, but, in the moment, when a child is sick, of course a parent is going to question whether there was *anything* they could have done differently to prevent their child's discomfort.

Also, when I was 6 mos pregnant with my DD there was a pertussis exposure/outbreak at work, and some of my (vax'd) co-workers got it. The assistant director was freaking out about me being exposed, b/c of the pregnancy, so I asked my midwife, and she said that since I had actually had the disease as a child I probably had better immunity than anyone else in the building. Sure enough, I was completely fine. (And, pertussis while 6 mos pg (even if it hadn't done any damage) would have been way more miserable than it was when I was 10).

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen 

Hmm, i don't know if this is any value or not, but my close friend doesn't do any vax (and doesn't BF past a few weeks because her milk 'dries up') and her DD, 5, caught rotavirus a few years ago and was almost hospitalized for dehydration. She says the toll that it took on her daughter felt like torture (the vomitting and diahhea lasted over a week) and the nights of worry it caused her and her DH were not worth it. She says she wishes she just would have gotten the vaccine since it is oral and not as dangerous as the injectibles. Of course I strongly feel the not breastfeeding part was a HUGE factor.

Not me personally, but maybe what you're looking for? 

given your sig, as I'm sure you know babies that have PTT often have mothers who experience milk drying up at a few weeks (usually before 3 months) unless the mother has a robust supply.  Without proper diagnosis (there was very little criteria 5 plus years ago for the general populace) there's often not much you can do.

while lack of breastfeeding can be problematic in terms of developing the immune system, there are, I believe, many ways to circumvent that and bolster the immune system.  just saying that doesn't need to be a factor.  My oldest was not able to be breastfed.  though he received pumped milk he was largely formula fed.  He has an incredibly robust immune system-arguably the best of my three.  The others were ebf.

Of course breastfeeding lays an excellent foundation, but it's not the only path to health.  I wouldn't chose to vaccinate simply because a child wasn't, for whatever reason, breastfed.

[sosurreal09]

I agree with Panser, although I do breastfeed and DD has never had formula  urge my bff who FF not to vax

[aslyn]

Well, we stopped vaxing and had no regrets until our ODD got pneumonia..and we dont regret stopping vax but really it was VERY difficult for us to deal with Dr's and Hospital staff who kept insisting we vax. My DD was in the hospital for 8 days, 6 of them in the ICU and my husband was getting calls from the Infectious Disease people grilling him about s not vaxing. when he said t was a religious decision they wanted to know what kinda religion would not believe in vax and even the social worker at the hospital wanted to "dig deeper" to make sure there wasn't any neglect in the home because we dont vax (of course there was nothing to stand on)..yeah it was a fiasco to say the least. We were treated like crap, our daughter was subjected to things we never consented to..it was a complete nightmare for all of us. She is home and happy now but we did question our decisions and really got annoyed with the hospital staff. i really believe that hospitals need to be more understanding and supportive of families who chose not to vax and attachment parent.

[peainthepod]

No regrets whatsoever. I'm glad I listened to my instincts and researched vaccines thoroughly before consenting. Like others here, the attempted scaremongering and bullying just reinforce my decision. If vaccines were truly so safe and effective, the pharmaceutical cartel wouldn't have to work so hard to push them on an unwilling public. They'd sell themselves.

Incidentally, I'm now wondering if it's better just to lie and say your child is up to date on vaccines if they ever have to be hospitalized. It's not like any hospital is going to be testing for vaccine reactions as a cause of the symptoms anyway. And most practitioners freely admit that vaxed kids can and do get vaccine-available diseases, so it probably wouldn't rule out a VAD diagnosis either. I hate lying and have no regrets about not vaxing, but if lying is what it takes to get decent medical care and avoid CPS harassment, then maybe it's worth it.

[fruitfulmomma]

No regrets here either. My oldest is 10 and my youngest is 2. All are completely vax-free.

[Smokering]

Over the summer we thought DD had chicken pox (turned out it was Hand Foot and Mouth) and I got a lot of "I bet you wished you vaxed her now!" comments.  But we didn't regret it, and wouldn't have regretted it even if it was CP.  Twenty years ago getting CP as a toddler was normal, and a relief for 'getting it over with'.  Now it is reason to panic??

Bizarre... surely the concept of a chicken pox party hasn't entirely disappeared from popular culture? Surely people know that parents often TRY to expose their unvaxed kids to it rather than getting the vaccination?

(Slightly OT, but I have the opportunity to expose DD to chicken pox right now. She's a few months shy of 3. I'm 17 weeks pregnant, and according to blood tests I'm immune to CP (had it as a kid). Is there any reason not to expose her now? Either age/development-wise, like "She'd cope better with it when she was 3 or 4", or to do with the unborn baby? Shingles? I should really look this up before the kids next door recover!)

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by peainthepod 

No regrets whatsoever. I'm glad I listened to my instincts and researched vaccines thoroughly before consenting. Like others here, the attempted scaremongering and bullying just reinforce my decision. If vaccines were truly so safe and effective, the pharmaceutical cartel wouldn't have to work so hard to push them on an unwilling public. They'd sell themselves.

Incidentally, I'm now wondering if it's better just to lie and say your child is up to date on vaccines if they ever have to be hospitalized. It's not like any hospital is going to be testing for vaccine reactions as a cause of the symptoms anyway. And most practitioners freely admit that vaxed kids can and do get vaccine-available diseases, so it probably wouldn't rule out a VAD diagnosis either. I hate lying and have no regrets about not vaxing, but if lying is what it takes to get decent medical care and avoid CPS harassment, then maybe it's worth it.

I've lied on an ER visit for a head injury when my son was 18 months old. I would not lie however, if he was in the ER for seizures or a high fever of sxs of meningitis. I see what you are saying, but if staff think a child has had say HIB and Prevnar vaxes, they probably would NOT do certain tests, because they would assume it couldn't be certain things. You'd be surprised how many medical personel believe that just because you've had a vaccine for something means you cannot possibly get that disease!
 

[sosurreal09]

[peainthepod]

Originally Posted by Marnica 

I've lied on an ER visit for a head injury when my son was 18 months old. I would not lie however, if he was in the ER for seizures or a high fever of sxs of meningitis. I see what you are saying, but if staff think a child has had say HIB and Prevnar vaxes, they probably would NOT do certain tests, because they would assume it couldn't be certain things. You'd be surprised how many medical personel believe that just because you've had a vaccine for something means you cannot possibly get that disease!
 

I know that can be a serious problem with pertussis diagnosis. If a patient has had the DTaP/TDaP, they can't possibly have pertussis! It must be run-of-the-mill bronchitis.

[Arduinna]

Oh yeah, I lied in the ER once too. We were only there for stitches after a head butt with the coffee table. I have no regrets about lying in this instance, there was no reason vax status was applicable to our visit.

[stacey05]

I found a blog today about a family who lost their 3 year old to hib last year.  They are one of the PA families we heard about the beggining of the year in 2009.  I cried for so long reading about her being in the hospital, being brain dead and then her family losing her.  They seemed to be non vaxers because the Mom said she wished she had known about Hib and done differently.  It was so sad!  Seeing a face with the number or statistic was really hard.  I have an unvaxed 3 yo and I cannot even imagine.  I know there are countless stories of vaccine damaged children and even children who have died from vaccines.  It is so hard to feel completely comfortable either way.  I started rethinking the hib vaccine and, of course, I worry about making him more vulnerable to other bacteria that might move in and could cause invasive disease too.  Does anyone know if vaccinating for hib will make your child more vulnerable to other meningitis causing bacteria?  I haven't regretted my decision to not vax, but I don't think you can always change your mind and go get a vax...like in this mother's case...it was too late.  Such a tough decision!