Vaccination questions

[hbainter]

Hi, I live in Utah and feel a little alone in this topic. I have three beautiful little boys that have not been vaccinated. Well that is not true, my seven year old started his when he was a baby but we stopped giving them to him at six months old. I am currently in nursing school and have been given grief for not vaccinating my children as you can imagine. I don't know anyone else that has not vaccinated there children and am only getting one side of the dogmatic information from the biomedical field anyway. I am open minded and feel that there is a place for eastern and western medicine, but I also don't know if I feel that I should give my babies a foreign substance that hasn't completely been proven effective (save a few). I have been ridiculed in school that it is a form of child neglect to not vaccinate my children. I feel very alone in this and just want to protect my children. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I am very open minded. Thanks.

[SundayCrepes]

You'll probably get a lot more info if you go to the vaccination forums.

For my 2 cents. I am an RN and have not vaccinated my kids. Some days I worry we've made the wrong choice. I do think vaccines have made a difference. I also think vaccines have risks. There is a congressional fund that will pay families hundreds of thousands of dollars if their kids are disabled or killed by vaccines. Hmmm...so much for being perfectly safe.

The problem with the CDC and such is that they are looking at a big system. If everyone is vaccinated, less people will get diseases. They're kind of like Mother Nature. If we lose a few of the weaker ones along the way, oh well. We kept the system going. I don't mean to imply that individuals at the CDC don't care about individuals, I think it's just a numbers game to them.

There is a new study showing that the more vaccines given during the first year of life, the higher the infant mortality rate is. You can find it all over the internet, but here is the pubmed link (which will give you more credibility than if you go to vaccine information sites.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Infant%20mortality%20rates%20regressed%20against%20number%20of%20vaccine%20doses%20routinely%20given%3A

Here is another study (also at pubmed) showing that there is a 3 times increase risk of autism in boys given Hep B vaccine during the first month of life: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170

[BRmama]

Hi, what part of Utah do you live in? We are in Salt Lake county. We also don't vaccinate our two boys, and I also was going to nursing school but stopped :(. I may continue in the future.

My oldest had the hep b vaccine because I was pressured by the anesthesiologist while opened in the middle of my c-section in the o.r. Then he didn't have any until he was about 15 or 18 months and I stupidly did the hib to ease my dh from worrying. Then my son reacted violently to it and my dh finally agreed with me after that incident to not vax again. My second boy is eight months and never had anything. Stick around because there are plenty of moms here who don't vax. There's also a vax forum here if you feel discouraged or have questions. As far as I know our state has all three exemptions and you can opt out if you want. I get a lot of grief from close family and friends too who know about our status, and I've learned through the years to acquire thick skin, and also to not tell the whole world about it. Btw it is not a form of child neglect. Don't listen to whoever says it is. Hope this helps and welcome to Mothering :)

[BRmama]

Here is another study (also at pubmed) showing that there is a 3 times increase risk of autism in boys given Hep B vaccine during the first month of life: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058170

Hey SundayCrepes I think we posted at about the same time. Thanks for the link. I've heard about this study bur couldn't find it. I also agree with you about the cdc. For me though maybe and big maybe I'd consider vaxing if the dr.s around here actually admitted and dealt with vaccine reactions as opposed to dismissing them, and even then I probably wouldn't do it because of the ingredients in them. 

[hbainter]

Sorry it took so long for me to reply back. I am rarely at my computer these days. Thank you to BRmama and SundayCrepes for your replies. I found them very helpful and comforting. It is good to know that other people have the same beliefs and values. I am much more at ease with my decisions. God bless.

[MnMtm]

I'm an RN, too, and had my oldest DS while I was in nursing school. It was fun to get all the reactions and "helpful" input from the teachers and fellow students regarding planning a homebirth and my plans for vaccinations, and everything else. The best thing was just to be really educated and prepared to debate and defend myself. I always ended up knowing more about the topic than those ragging on me, so it worked out. My advice would just be to research and become ultra-educated.