connecting vax with illness

[sweetkid]

My ds is 16 months,he has just started his dtap and polio vaxes. He has had 3 hib (starting at 4 months) as my dd goes to a school with children that live on a prep school campus. We space vaxes out so he got the hib by themselves,the dtap and polio together then the dtap by itself. He is due for his final hib(which I'm actually NOt doing) and second polio in April.

Sorry for the boring back story.

So every time except 1 ds has gotten very sick 10-14 days after the vaccine. He has had 4 ear infections that have required antibiotics and 1 that we chose not to and a respiratory type thing(no antibiotics). He currently has a "virus" that has had him in a fever between 100-102 for 3 days  and the 4rth ear infection. I see a pattern,the Dr.s see coincidence..UGH!!!

Am I crazy?

Would you continue to vax?

What do you give your kids prioir to vaxing?

What are your experiences with vaccines?

We live in an awesome state for unvaxed/selective vax (Maine) both my kids are in school or parttime daycare with no problems at all from admin.

[GoBecGo]

I vax on schedule.

It might be conincidence, it might not.

My DD's have never had an illness before 7months, despite being vaxed a lot before that time.  DD1 had a rubella-like rash 4 weeks after her first MMR, and one doctor told me it was a coincidence, i had to point out that the literature HE gave me when she got the vax said it might happen in that timeframe!  She was fine though, she had no fever, just a light rash.  Neither have ever had antibiotics.

Because my kids have the majority of their vaxes close together and early i can't comment on the illnesses really - at 14-24months my DD1 got ill a TON, because she was out in the world a lot more, interacting more closely with other kids more and generally able to contract these things more easily (i.e. would like the rails on the bus and so on!).  Do other kids you see have similar infections?  Can you see where he's getting these things from?  Is he in daycare or creche or out with other kids a lot?  An immune system, ultimately, has to develop to be effective, and that means being ill and getting better.  Ear infections are a really unfortunate thing (my DD's seem more prone to coughing-type infections) because not treating the more serious ones can impact on hearing, whereas i feel safe to wait it out with chest infections (DD1 has LITERALLY had a cough for 4+ weeks every winter since she was born), so i do feel your pain (i too would feel uncomfortable having to resort to antibiotics so often).  Is it possible the ear infections aren't clearing up properly or that there is an anatomical thing which is predisposing him to them?  Does he still nurse?  That can help keep the ear canal open which helps avoid ear infections.  High fevers are really scary but they aren't usually harmful in and of themselves.  SOME children fit with a fever, but those who do usually fit before the fever is noticed, and those who don't won't even when the fever is skyhigh.

For ME it wouldn't make me stop vaxing, because i believe it's the best thing overall for my kids.  But you might feel differently, and i don't think you should discount gut feelings.  I don't give my kids anything but breastmilk before vaxing for their early vaxes and nothing specific later on either.  Probably not much help, it's only anecdotal, but it MIGHT be coincidence, i know my DD1 got ill every 3-6weeks at that age, anything from a sniffle to the flu and everything in between, and she wasn't in any kind of daycare, only a few toddler group settings a week.

[cappuccinosmom]

The problem with this is that children, vaxed and unvaxed, get sick. 

Also, there is no logical connection between ear infections and these vaxes.  http://www.drgreene.com/qa/causes-ear-infections   They are more common in young children for physiological reasons, and exacerbated by things that are simply common  to young children--more vulnerability to colds, etc.

Also, this is *the* season for getting viruses.  I wouldn't connect that to anything other than the season.  There are "bugs" going around, and they go around from fall to spring.  It is no big shock that people are getting stuff from the sniffles all the way to the barf-your-guts out bug.  My kids rarely get sick (all fully vaxed), and they've never gotten the flu.  This year we were in a different living situation, with more exposure than in the years previous, and lo and behold, they've been getting bugs more often and worse.

If it were me, I wouldn't stop vaxing.  I would look into whether there might be an issue with his Eustacian tube that is making him vulnerable to ear infections, and I would press that with the doctor. 

[EVC]

It might be conincidence, it might not.

Yup.

I will just add that my dd was totally unvaxed until her 5th birthday. In her short life time, I wouldn't be surprised if she had close to 40 ear infections. When she was 2-3 years old, it was seriously almost every month or two for  a while. EVERY SINGLE cold/runny nose went straight to her ears.

Only recently we found out that it was likely due to her enlarged tonsils/adenoids--they were so big that fluid was getting trapped in her ears. Thus, the frequent infections. No ped ever looked for this as the cause, no ped even mentioned this as a possibility. We only found out because she eventually developed sleep apnea and we took her to the ENT specialist. 

So this is how I would proceed:

1. I would temporarily stop vaxxes while I begin to search for OTHER likely culprits (perhaps with the assistance of an ENT specialist).

2. In the meantime I would eliminate dairy (to see if that is an issue--some have noted huge improvements, but it didn't really help us much). 

3. If another likely culprit is identified, then I would resume vaxxes and see how it goes.