For those who selectively vaccinate,

[MommatoGray]

are Hib or Prevnar on your list? I have been struggling with Hib for the last while, and I think I have decided to do Hib between 15-18 months. Now I have moved onto prevnar, got to be honest some of the ingredients freak me out. I believe it is polysorbate 80 that is linked to male fertility. And since I have a little boy that sent up alarm bells.

My guy is 11 months and so far not vaxed.

What is funny is while I was obsessed with deciding about Hib I never worried about prevnar, but now that I am so concerned about prevnar I rarely worry about Hib. Hmmmm....does make me think that if there was no vaccine for it I would not worry about it.

Anyways, if either of these were/are on your list I would love to know why you decided for it or against it. I don't love the argument we did not have so why give it, although I have used that rationale time and again thus far. And if you did give it what age did you decide to do it? Thanks ladies!!

[emmy526]

http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_hiberix.pdf

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/p/pedvax_hib/pedvax_pi.pdf

[JBaxter]

This might sound off the wall but over my 20 yrs of parenting ( oldest is 20 youngest is 3) I learned to research and then listen to my gut ( DH calls it the little mommy that lives in my head)  I did HiB something told me to do so I cant explain it.  Jack ( my yougest) was 1 when he got his first vaccine and it was HiB.   My oldest had a non covered type of meningitis at 14 months old maybe thats what scared me BUT it such an individual choice.  We also chose to do DTaP ( 18months, 2ys and 2.5yrs)   We are done with vaccines for several years.   

[MommatoGray]

Thanks for the links Emmy526. If we did Hib we would use the ActHib brand. Thats what we have available here in Canada.

And thanks JBaxter for your thoughts. I think you are right about following your gut, I think I am starting to trust it. But all my friends vaccinate, I know one out of 20+ that doesn't so I don't have a lot of people to discuss options with. And my husband just basically gives it over to me to decide. And yep basically it is just scary thinking about meningitis. I know the vaccines do not guarentee 100% but I feel at least we would be protected against certain strains. I guess what keeps stopping me it all the talk about serotype replacement. I don't want to make my guy more suseptable to other strains either. On this forum I have read some peoples posts and they say if you give Hib you have to give prevnar, because Hib makes them more susceptible to pnuemo(sp?). Ahhh, it is a difficult choice and so different for everyone - makes it even more confusing!

Thoughts anyone???

[mrskingred]

We started off delayed and selective vaccination (in USA), but are now almost up to date (at least by Spanish standards). DS got Hib, but has never had Prevnar. We were going to delay until after 2, for the one dose, but ended up moving to Europe. DS ended up getting Men C vaccination at age 4.5yo.

Never heard that you have to give Prevnar if they have Hib, no one mentioned that either in UK or here in Spain.

[JBaxter]

Jack is 3 and has had 2 ear infections.   Thats the extent of his illnesses.  My oldest 2 never had prevnar my 3rd did but he's the reason we re thought our parenting style.   I have never heard  that you needed to give them together either.  

[MommatoGray]

Thanks again for the replies!!

JBaxter - you did decide to get the prevnar for Jack? How did that go? 

I think it was plummeting (?) that mentioned that because you get Hib then chance of pneumo goes up. So its not like they are related to eachother, but that since the risk goes up for one after getting the other it makes sense to want to get one if you get the other. Oh goodness, does that make sense?

I could be wrong, I read way too much info on here and it kinda gets jumbled in my head. Can you still claim baby brain even if your baby is almost one?

[nia82]

We don't start until after 2 years, and then you only need one HiB or Prevnar if you do those. We decided against Prevnar but for HiB. It's all based on our personal research and risk factors. neither of my kids ever had ear infections. After 2 HiB is rare but it still scares me and I acted out of fear of HiB in this case. We did a DTaP and will do a measles down the road but that's about it.