Has anyone ever regret their decision to NOT vax???

[browneyeNYmomma]

I'm just curious about this.

Has anyone regretted their decision to stop vaxing or even to not vax at all from the begnning? If so, what happened to make you regret that decision?

[browneyeNYmomma]

Anyone??

[CookAMH]

There was a post on this pretty recently, let me see if I can find it.

[CookAMH]

Interesting, you started the other thread. Are you looking for a different audience in this board vs. the I'm Not Vaccinating Board?

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1286435/has-anyone-ever-regret-their-decision-to-not-vax

[browneyeNYmomma]

Yes I did start that other thread:). A few people questioned my fairness in posting that question under that category, as in no one who chooses TO vax was seeing it.

[shelleyd]

My dds are five and two and have not had any vaccines.  I don't know that I would say that I regret that decision but I am certainly questioning it at this point.  I will be vaccinating my daughters shortly.  I know lots of people on here are saying that the Wakefield study didn't factor into their decision or doesn't change how they feel now but I will say that it did influence me and it has me questioning my decision on all vaccines but especially MMR.

The other thing is that I used to feel that I wanted my daughters to get natural immunity from the diseases themselves.  But I was a SAHM when I thought that.  Now I am in nursing school full time and my dh works out of town.  If my daughters get chicken pox or measles or whooping cough, I cannot miss school for even one week.  I would fail my program if I did.  I'm terrified that they'll get chickenpox. So my stance on that has changed.  I also feel an obligation to my patients to minimize their potential exposure to vpds and that means vaccinating my daughters.

And finally I now feel that reading research is a learned skill.  I am currently taking a research class where we are focusing on how to read and evaluate scientific research.  I now believe that I didn't previously know how much I didn't know.  I will keep reading about vaccines especially as I take this course.  I have a feeling that my previous antivaccine stance will shift.

So that's my wishy washy answer.  I don't totally regret not vaxing my daughters and I still won't be getting them every vaccine on the schedule but I have changed my mind about vaccines.  

[carriebft]

I didn't "regret" it but I changed my mind. I stopped vaccinated my first daughter completely until I could look more closely into things. When I got done with that initial look, I went with a delayed schedule. Now, after even more research, we do a lot more vaccines and delay a lot less. I do know people IRL who had changes of heart due to pneumococcal disease, influenza and a complicated case of pox (they then decided to vaccinate the other kids with pox and MMR).

My kids did get rotavirus on an international trip, that did make me question skipping that one....oh man the horror!! But I have not had to reface the decision until now with our new baby coming soon. the fact that I have to pay for my doc to get the vaccine in does have an affect on my answer though.

being exposed to rubella while in my first trimester made me feel even more secure in my decision to do MMR for the kids.

We were also exposed to whooping cough through our moms group and weren't infected, but reading the stories of the 9 people who were was another reason I felt more secure in my decision to vaccinate because we don't do vaccines just to "avoid death"  kwim?

[raelize]

i didn't do MMR with dd1 until she was around 2.  i was on the fence about it.  Pertussis scared teh piss out of me, so i did that one, all others i was delaying and really stretching out.  but, i didn't know what to make of MMR. i didn't realy trust wakefield, but i also had read that Kennedy piece, so i just wasn't sure.  then one day, jsut before she turned 2, i was at a yarn store and the owner of the store was talking about her good friend she had been nursing through a measles outbreak.  he was an adult.  i FREAKED out that she might possibly be carrying the virus from being around her friend and GOOD LORD what if dd1 got it????   i realized i was so scared about a little toddler getting it and the complications that come with it, that i realized we needed to get it ASAP. so we did.

around the same time, i became friends with a mama who's little girl was fighting leukemia.  she couldn't get a lot of vaxes cause she was doing so poorly on the chemo. i finally understood that it wasn't a luxury for me to not get vaxes.  this little girl who was fighting for her life needed my dd to have her shots to help protect her from getting what would be deadly viruses for someone on chemo.  i understood why herd immunity is so important and how someone who can't get vaxes due to immune complications needs the rest of us to build a wall of immunity around them.

that was when we started vaxing on schedule and caught up with everything.  and with dd2, we've done everything but Roto and Pox.   

[Arduinna]

nope

[Nicoleandco]

No, but I do regret the 2 month vax she got.  I should have stopped and researched first.  We have not had any vaccines since.  What I like about my decision not to vax, is I now have the luxury of rereading the information and research whenever I want and can remake my decision, if I need to....if that makes sense! 

[Ruthla]

I delayed all my kids' vaccines until age 2 or so, then got them "all caught up" by preschool and continued vaxxing through kindergarten- just enough to avoid needing an exemption for schools. I rethought that decision when they changed the vax requirements, making my middle child need either a "booster shot" or an exemption (while my older child [i]just[/i] misses out on needing these extra shots.)

DD2 has some learning issues (that are clearing up) and I suspect vaccines may have been partially responsible- but I have no way of proving that.

Right now, DD1 is very sick with what I strongly suspect is pertussis. That's making me rethink things. My baby is suffering- could I have prevented this? Did I avoid vaccines out of pride or some other selfish reason, and did that decision cause my child pain?

I'm still leaning towards "vaccines are more dangerous than the illnesses themselves" especially now that DD1 is clearly doing OK (though not 100% better yet), and the rest of us aren't showing any signs of catching it.

If you choose not to vaccinate, then you need to be prepared to nurse your kids through some of these illnesses. And some of these illnesses are NASTY. They're not always dangerous, but they're miserable and time consuming and frustrating and may make you start to doubt your decisions.

[ammiga]

Nope, no regrets for not vaxing.

We've dealt with a few VADs in our house (rotavirus, flu, etc.). It can be exhausting to help a kid through illness, but I am happy to nurse through an illness with a finite life rather than risk the infinite duration of vaccine damage. It's hard and tiring to have sick kids, but I guess I don't expect my kids to never get sick. Some people do, and I think that applies equally to those who vax and those who don't.

[Marnica]

No and Yes if that makes sense.

No I don't regret not vaxing my DS who is 2.5 at this point in time because he has a lot of allergy and immune issue and I feel had I vaxed him, he would be even worse off. I also have strong autoimmunity issues in my family which is another reason we chose to decline. There are certain diseases that do scare me and I wish I could just trot on down to the pedi and get DS vaxed to have "piece of mind". But what I realize if that piece of mind is an illusion.  

If I did that, went down and chose the 1-2 vaxes that I would even consider, and My DS's issues got worse or he had a serious reaction (which given his issues is a very real possibility IMO), I don't think I could ever for give myself. Parenting is a joy and a nightmare IMO because all any parent wants to do is protect their baby from harm, and they make the best choice they can given the information they have, and even then there are of course no guanantees.

I will never say that I will never give DS or any future child a vaccine, I always will reevaluate the info and take into consideration our personal health circumstances, but right now, I think (for my child) the risk would outweigh the benefits.

I don't subscribe to the social responsibility arguement. I do however think it is a parents' responsibility to keep their child home when they are sick. This sadly seems to be an exception rather than the rule.

[bbrandonsmom]

 Nope.  I do feel guilt over partial vaxing my first.  But, on the other hand, I doubt I'd be where I am on vaccines and health, if there hadn't been problems.  And because of what I know now and am still learning, a part of me needs to be thankful that we stumbled on the vaccine issues.  

  One thing I've learned is that letting fear be a part of the factor doesn't really help much, because it can easily sway a decision, if you aren't knowledgeable on the matter.  Make sense?  So for me, it was reading as much of the pro's and then the cons and many, many, many studies, court proceedings, and dealing w/ medical people irl who were bullies, who make a sound decision for me not to vaccinate.  That, and having confidence in our nutrition and faith to get us through any illness.  Which even if I did vaccinate, I'd still have to know how to deal with a disease, because people still get the vpd's who are vaccinated.  Many get a vaccine out of fear, but still do not know how to treat the disease they just got vaccinated against. 

[Jugs]

Yes and no. I'm glad I took the years I did to carefully research and come to a place where I felt more comfortable with vaccinating than not, but its tough to explain to a preschooler why they are suddenly getting a needle every few months.

[KLM99]

Originally Posted by Jugs 

Yes and no. I'm glad I took the years I did to carefully research and come to a place where I felt more comfortable with vaccinating than not, but its tough to explain to a preschooler why they are suddenly getting a needle every few months.

 This is huge for me too.  We're starting to do some of them with my 3yo and she has had a really tough time with them.  Much easier to do vaccines on a younger child.  Not that that makes it better, but something to think about.

[annjo]

No! My unvaxed daughters are now 5 & 3. I know it was the right decision for us and thankfully we have a very supportive doctor.

[mattemma04]

My kids are 8 and 12.At this time I do not regret not giving them vaccines. I suppose if they die from a VPD I might wish I had risked the vaccine.