Preparing a vaccine schedule

[IdentityCrisisMama]

What's everyone doing as far as vaccines?  I'm kind of in the middle - won't do the AAP schedule but will likely vaccinate, probably fully or close to it.  

Just today I started looking over some of the delayed vaccine schedules out there and the few I've seen aren't a good fit for me so I may make my own.  

I also feel like maybe I need to know which brands and combination vaccines are used at DC's pediatrician's office so I can be prepared to deal with that issue.  

What's everyone else doing?  

[Stayseeliz]

If you ARE going to vax Dr Sears books is interesting. It has a delayed/selective schedule. We don't vax personally as the ones I'd be most concerned about are almost non-existant now. I read more and refine my thinking every few years but we've never decided to vax.

[justrose13]

[kittn]

we dont vax here at all anymore. it is a very personal and difficult choice

[puddle]

We do selective vaxes.  I also recommend the Dr. Sears book.  It's pretty thorough about helping you understand each illness and each vaccine so you can weigh the risks for your own situation.  We don't use any of his schedules, but the information was really helpful for me with DD. 

[LaurenAnanas]

We did delayed and selective vax for our daughter and plan to do the same with the new baby. We read the Dr. Sears book and as many articles as we could find and then went to our awesome holistic ped with this plan:

1. no vaccines until 3 months
2. delay MMR until age 2, based on family history of reactions
3. blood titer to determine need before doing a second HepB (many kids acheive immunity with just one)
4. no varicella, as we'll try to get the pox for real (may vax if she hasn't had it by age 8-ish)

From there, we went with her recommendations for a schedule and what to prioritize or omit- she and several local peds don't do rotavirus at all b/c they believe the risks outweigh the benefits, and we put off Hep B until everything else had been covered because our kids are low risk (no family members with Hep). The first two shots we did (don't remember the specifics) were not combos, but once it was clear that our daughter tolerated those without problems, our ped recommended some combo shots because they actually contain less of the scary "extras" in total than separate shots would have.

We ended up doing MMR at 18 months because we wanted to avoid doing that during the winter when the likelyhood of cold/flu might make any vaccinations more difficult and it was fine- no reaction at all.

Based on our ped's recommendation, we also pre-treated with the homeopathic Thuja (Arbor Vitae) right before each vaccination, and for two days after.

[CookAMH]

We don't vax at all so it's pretty simple for us.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Yea, I'm thinking this part is easier for those who either don't vax or full vax on the AAP schedule.

I was a vaccine mess with DC - I was totally unprepared for the issue but there was also no way I was going to let my kid get a shot of some random acronym that I had never heard of.  We also moved overseas where there were different vaccines available and all kinds of confusion.  In the end, I was pretty happy with what we ended up doing with DC but we really made it up as we went along.  

I want to be a bit more prepared this time and think it will go smoother if I have an idea of what we want to do but I also know the doctor will have some opinions, which I will take into consideration.  Again, what the doctor normally offers vs. what we would need to have special ordered is also a concern.  

LaurenAnanas - I have noticed that the delayed vaccine schedules start quite a bit earlier than I expected them to.  Why did you choose to start at 3 months as opposed to 6 months or even a year?   Just curious.  

Puddle, what do you not vax for out of curiosity.  

[LaurenAnanas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IdentityCrisisMama 

LaurenAnanas - I have noticed that the delayed vaccine schedules start quite a bit earlier than I expected them to.  Why did you choose to start at 3 months as opposed to 6 months or even a year?   Just curious.  

According to our research, the "blood brain barrier" isn't fully developed until 6 weeks, and we wanted to be well past that. Also, before 3 months fevers are riskier for infants and fevers are a common adverse reaction to several vaccines. In addition, we felt that having that time to learn and understand her normal would make it easier to identify any adverse reactions. So that's why we waited until then to start.

We didn't wait longer because DD was going to start part-time daycare in a small facility at 4 months. If I'd stayed home full time, or if she were going to a home daycare, we might have waited longer.

[bleumoose]

We vaxxed DS1 on schedule, but delayed DS2 until 3yo... unfortunately we've only taken him in for 2 vax appts so far. I'm kind of bad about that sort of thing. We'll be delaying most if not all vaxes until after 3 with this one, as well. I feel better about waiting that long because it gives their immune systems a chance to get that much stronger. We'll likely do most of the ones they can get at that point, including MMR.  Our family doc said that if they haven't shown signs of ASDs by 3, they are pretty safe and the vaxes won't affect them in that way (assuming there is a causative relationship there at all). No varicella though, I prefer them to get it naturally.

[puddle]

At her 2 month visit, I was overwhelmed and couldn't decide and ended up getting the full recommended regimen, minus rotavirus.  However, after that the Dr. Sears book came out and I felt more confident about declining them, and since then we've only done DTaP, Pc and HiB, and only one vax per appointment. 

[crazyms]

We selective/delayed vax too. DS actually still has only had one round of shots (he's 3 1/2) and I need to finish his schedule. I still need to work on a schedule for this baby. I refuse to vax until at least 6 mos and prefer to wait longer. I'm not sure when I'll start vax for this baby but sometime after a year, most likely after 2. I like to spread out the vax and some we just don't do. Another resource I'd suggest looking at is the CDC "catch up schedule". It is meant for babies that have fallen behind on the full AAP schedule but if you look at the notes on the chart it shows which vax are needed and how many of each depending on when they start the vax. The later some are started the less even the CDC suggests them getting. That's one thing I look at to lower the number of vax they get altogether.

[crazyms]

Here's the CDC catchup schedule:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/catchup-schedule-pr.pdf

It shows how many of each vax is recommended by them. It also gives a time line for how long to wait between each vax and I found that helpful.

[bleumoose]

Wow! That looks enormously helpful! Thanks so much for posting that link. :D Part of the reason I've been dragging my feet getting DS2 caught up is not having a good idea of the timing and number of doses he needs of each one. Our doc hasn't been super helpful in that regard for some reason.
 

Originally Posted by crazyms 

Here's the CDC catchup schedule:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/catchup-schedule-pr.pdf

It shows how many of each vax is recommended by them. It also gives a time line for how long to wait between each vax and I found that helpful.

[mclisa]

We decline the hep B in the hospital. 

2 months Pentacel (Dtap, Polio, Hib) and Prevnar.  Decline the oral Rotavirus and hep B.

4 months same

6 months same

9 months none

12 months Prevnar, hep B

15 months Varicella, hep B

18 months Pentacel

24 months MMR, hep B

I have friends who do one shot a month from 2-7 months.  My schedule doesn't allow that.

[dayiscoming2006]

We don't vax either. I just don't think God screwed up. LOL 

Sites like this one have also helped me in making my decision...  http://www.vaclib.org/

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

We dont vax either...we Breastfeed for a very long time! We travel all over the world and have been 100% a-ok!

[Bird Girl]

We do our pediatrician's recommended schedule. (We're Kaiser members, so it's a little different from the AAP.) My older two kids are homeschooled, and so many of the families in our charter won't vaccinate at all that we are sure to stay on the schedule, plus I'll be restricting our homeschooling activities until she can be vaccinated against whooping cough. Where we are, whooping cough is in an epidemic, and I've had a friend who's had all three of her babies get it and be hospitalized.

[kalamos23]

As of this moment, DD is unvaxed due to DH's bad reactions to vaxes (his ped almost 30 years ago told them not to vax him until later because of the reactions) and because she had dairy/soy/egg allergies (some of the vax cultures are grown in eggs). I'm not opposed to vaxing, but the only 2 I'd really consider would be rubella as a teen (because she is a girl and it can cause birth defects if she is not immune) and possibly tetanus. I'm undecided on whooping cough, because we just don't get out and are pretty low risk. I am not really considering vaxes until after age 3+, then I will reconsider. 

[mclisa]

Originally Posted by kalamos23 

As of this moment, DD is unvaxed due to DH's bad reactions to vaxes (his ped almost 30 years ago told them not to vax him until later because of the reactions) and because she had dairy/soy/egg allergies (some of the vax cultures are grown in eggs). I'm not opposed to vaxing, but the only 2 I'd really consider would be rubella as a teen (because she is a girl and it can cause birth defects if she is not immune) and possibly tetanus. I'm undecided on whooping cough, because we just don't get out and are pretty low risk. I am not really considering vaxes until after age 3+, then I will reconsider. 

Only influenza is grown in egg culture.  My C has severe food allergies and we skip this vaccine for her.  The rest of the siblings do the nasal form which does get shed so she gets some immunity from them.