On The Fence, With Both feet Dangling in This Yard?

[meagarou89]

Our first was fully vaccinated, she's 2 1/2 now. I delayed her vaccinations after her 8 month check up, and I was bullied by one of her pediatricians when she was 15 months for the delay, and then when she turned 2 I was gently coerced into getting her up to date by another pediatrician- had I not had the traumatizing experience I had when she was 15 months I probably would have chosen not to get her any further vaccinated.

Anyways, our second daughter will be two months old next week. We've refused the HIB(ETA: Oops, I meant Hep B) vax all four times it's been offered to us since she was born. Her pediatrician knows that we're considering not vaccinating. My concern is that if we don't get her vaccinated she'll get sick with one of the "vaccine preventable" diseases and something awful could happen because of it, but I'm even more worried that the vaccines could hurt her immune system, or worse... and I seriously question vaccine effectiveness...

I don't want to get her vaccinated, neither does my husband, I just want to feel confident in my decision that I'm doing the right thing.

What are your reasons for not vaccinating?

Edited by meagarou89 - 6/9/11 at 10:10am

[SilverMoon010]

Oh boy....where to begin.  There are so many reasons for my decision. The first and foremost being that we were given an immune system by God to protect us (yes, I am religious and spiritual about this).  The most important thing is to keep the immune system free from toxins (especially in children) so their systems have a chance to develop properly without being assaulted and bombarded.  I believe they are much healthier this way.  I don't agree with subjecting small children to the multitude of harmful ingredients in vaccines when no one knows what effect it is having on the child either immediately or in the future.   I see the vaccine schedule today as a form of medical abuse.  Seven shots in a baby? That is way WAY too much.  Our bodies weren't created to handle so many viruses and subjection to so much at one time, especially newborns.  It's not natural.

Vaccines are a risky procedure and are cetainly a gamble. But honestly, you are gambling either way. We all are. There are never guarantees in life. Let me just say this: If your child comes down with a "VPD" (I use that loosely as vaccines are not 100% effective) you may feel guilty for not vaccinating but if you get your child vaccinated for a "VPD" he/she may never end of getting and he/she has a terrible reaction/complication from the vaccine, you will feel terrible about that as well.  The way I look at it is if a healthy child who is not exposed to so much crap in so little time, who actually has time to develop the immune system properly, and who takes preventative measures such as healthy diet, vitamins, proper caring for illness (actually treat the illness rather than cover up symptoms), that child will have a great chance to fight off illnesses and will fare well when it comes to fighting an illness/disease. 

Another issue I have is with the recalls, such as the polio vaccine infected with the SV-40 virus in the 50s, and other recalls more recently with rotavirus vaccine.  All they say is, "Ooopps, we did it again," after thousands of people have received that vaccine.  They say they now know how to monitor things such as SV-40, etc., but what other viruses are out there that they don't even know about that can potentially be in the next batch?

Among the above, there are many others reasons for my decision such as lack of effectiveness, politics, safety, etc.   The way they vaccinate children today without even knowing the effects vaccines are having on them is way too much of a gamble for me. To push vaccines on small children the way they do today with not enough evidence of their safety is too difficult to comprehend.

Anyway, hope you and hubby come to peace with whatever you decide Being a parent is certainly tough!

Edited by SilverMoon010 - 6/9/11 at 9:47am

[ma2two]

Just to clarify, you've been offered the hepatitis B (Hep B) shot four times already, not the Hib, which is a different vaccine.

There are a ton of reasons I don't vaccinate. I don't have time to list them all, so I'll offer two things to think about.

Even if there is no noticeable side effect, how would you know with an infant, if there was a side effect such as long lasting tingling in the fingers and toes, or slight weakness in the arms or legs? You wouldn't. If that happened to you after a vaccine, you'd consider not getting the vaccine again. But you wouldn't have that knowledge to work with if it happened to an infant.

Also, you should research how vaccines skew the Th1 and Th2 immune response, increasing the risk of autoimmunity and allergies.

[meagarou89]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Ma2two, I thought I may have been naming the wrong vaccine- you're right, it was the Hep B! I had looked it up in the hospital when they offered it to us, and thought it was a little ridiculous that they want to vaccinate newborns for something that in most cases, is only obtained from risky lifestyle choices?? Maybe that's just me though. And thanks for pointing out that infants could experience side effects without us even knowing, I remember worrying about that when DD1 was little.

SilverMoon010, thank you for your insight, I completely agree with you. I am very spiritual too, my uncle is a functional medicine doctor, and these two factors have played a huge role in our scepticism in regards to vaccinating.

Our daughter's pediatrician wanted to know why we were considering not vaccinating when we first told her, and as crazy as it sounds the question took me off guard and I wasn't sure how to respond. I guess in part, I was surprised that she seemed to be so accepting of our decision (albeit it wasn't set in stone yet), and I was even more surprised that she appeared to think we had logical reasoning behind our decision? Plus I'm not good at talking on the spot. Hopefully at the next appt I'll be able to give a better reason lol. It's not that we didn't have reasons for why we didn't want to vaccinate, it's just that I was caught off guard- not to mention, I had just given birth only three days prior and was running on very little sleep.

[MyBoysBlue]

I would suggest studying up on the vaccine available diseases and how to treat them.  I found the CDC's Pink Book with stats on complications and death rates to be reassuring.  If you know the risks of the diseases and are ok with those risks then you can feel better about not vaxing.

[Chloebelle]

Oh gosh, I struggled with this when my fist child was a baby. It was so hard to know what to do. Now I am SO glad I didn't vaccinate. The more I read about it, and see how healthy my children are, the more I'm convinced I made the right decision. What I would tell my doc is that it simply does not make sense to you to assault your child's perfect, developing immune system with dangerous, toxic materials, and you will decide as your child gets older if you want to do some vaccinations, but at this time, you are not comfortable with it.

I pretty much agree with SilverMoon010 and believe that God made our immune systems perfect, and I do not believe He would want us to put toxins and human/animal tissues into our newborn children.

Oh boy....where to begin.  There are so many reasons for my decision. The first and foremost being that we were given an immune system by God to protect us (yes, I am religious and spiritual about this).  The most important thing is to keep the immune system free from toxins (especially in children) so their systems have a chance to develop properly without being assaulted and bombarded.  I believe they are much healthier this way.  I don't agree with subjecting small children to the multitude of harmful ingredients in vaccines when no one knows what effect it is having on the child either immediately or in the future.   I see the vaccine schedule today as a form of medical abuse.  Seven shots in a baby? That is way WAY too much.  Our bodies weren't created to handle so many viruses and subjection to so much at one time, especially newborns.  It's not natural.

Vaccines are a risky procedure and are cetainly a gamble. But honestly, you are gambling either way. We all are. There are never guarantees in life. Let me just say this: If your child comes down with a "VPD" (I use that loosely as vaccines are not 100% effective) you may feel guilty for not vaccinating but if you get your child vaccinated for a "VPD" he/she may never end of getting and he/she has a terrible reaction/complication from the vaccine, you will feel terrible about that as well.  The way I look at it is if a healthy child who is not exposed to so much crap in so little time, who actually has time to develop the immune system properly, and who takes preventative measures such as healthy diet, vitamins, proper caring for illness (actually treat the illness rather than cover up symptoms), that child will have a great chance to fight off illnesses and will fare well when it comes to fighting an illness/disease. 

[meagarou89]

Thanks, I really appreciate your input as well!! And thank you for the advice in regards to what I could say to the dr, I will definitely use that.

[Marnica]

After many years of research I feel the risks far outweigh the benefits for my son. I took into consideration my own previous reactions to vaccines and our family medical history. My son has multiple environmental and food allergies and has been sick quite a bit in his 3 yrs of life (not with any VPD's) and I can't imagine how much worse he would be had I vaccinated him.

That is not to say I think not vaccinating him does not carry risks. Just being alive and breathing puts one at risk. We do the best we can and make the best choices with the information we have.

[peainthepod]

Something that's posted here a lot and bears repeating is "I'd rather treat a sick child than risk injuring a healthy one". I can live with it if my child gets a vaccine-available disease and needs medical treatment, and of course we work hard to boost immunity with healthy living and excellent nutrition. But if my otherwise healthy child were to suffer a vaccine injury, I'd have a much harder time accepting that I directly caused it by allowing someone to give him a powerful pharmaceutical drug with known side effects up to and including death.

There's an MDC poster (can't remember who, sorry) with the signature, "Vaccine injuries are 100% preventable." I agree.