overwhelmed about ds's 2-month appt tomorrow

[samstress]

ds has is 2-month pediatrician appointment tomorrow and i'm feeling overwhelmed (and guilty for not educating myself better about this before now).  i just looked at the cdc's recommended vax schedule and it looks like there are SIX recommended for 2 months.  that seems like a lot and i'm not comfortable with this (i'm guessing this is what the ped will be recommending as well.  i'm not concerned that she'll give me a hard time (she was very receptive to me delaying certain vax with my dd in the past), but i'm just not sure which ones i should go ahead with and which ones to wait on.  i did just find dr. sears' selective and delayed schedules here in the archives, but feel like i need to be better informed.  just checked my local library and they have a copy of the vaccine book, so i'm going to get it today, but realize i don't have time to read it all before tomorrow's appt.  

anyone have suggestions about what i should be focusing on?  also, are there certain brands of vaccines i should be asking about (are some better/safer than others).  like i said, the ped (while she recommends the traditional schedule) is very open to my questions and concerns, but i'm just not sure what i should be asking.  with dd (now four) i pretty much followed the traditional schedule (with some delays and a couple i opted out of), but honestly i can't remember what they were (or why i made the decision at the time).  i guess i did the research at the time and have since forgotten it. 

[nia82]

Well read the books and it is totally up to you which ones you prefer. As for brands, the DTaP from Daptacel has no thimerosal and medium Al, whilst Tripedia has thimerosal but less Al, so it's up to you which one you find more concerning. We don't vaccinate until age 2 and we only do DTaP, HiB and measles (which we get monovalent in Europe).

[Spring Lily]

We delay our vaxes and only get one at a time, and one thing that helps me decide which ones to get is by talking to our ped about which diseases have current outbreaks in our area. We did the DTaP at 2 months because Pertussis is very common. Pneumococcus is another one that I was worried about with my babies who were born during cold & flu season. That one is more common in the fall-spring months, but does require a series. Hib is another that we talked about with cold & flu season. Ask your doctor about risks right now in your own community, rather than national statistics for the year, and it might help you figure out which ones you're comfortable with.

And remember, if you still aren't comfortable with more than one at a time, you don't have to do that. Come back in a few weeks or a month and do another, if you'd like. Don't beat yourself for what you wish you knew! Read up on what you can, write whatever notes you need to remember, and go talk to your doctor. Good luck!