Do you feel that your unvaccinated child is healthier?

[Jennyanydots]

Compared with vaccinated siblings or peers, do you feel that your unvaccinated child(ren) is (are) healthier, and if so in what way? Fewer ear infections, chronic conditions, behavioral issues? Do you have an unvaccinated child who does suffer from these? I think it's clear that the healthiest outcome is our collective hope as parents, and what drives us to make the decisions we make on behalf of our children- and why we've wrestled with the vaccine decision. I'm just curious about what others feel they've experienced.

[Jennyanydots]

I'll add my anecdote.
I have three DC, two fully vaxxed and one unvaxxed. My oldest was sick all the time as a baby, and now has a number of chronic issues, including allergies, asthma, and behavioral (all of which are being treated very successfully with the help of a great ND and some dietary changes!), middle kid is healthy as a horse, but had terrible ear infections, minor skin issues, and respiratory issues as a toddler. My youngest, un vaxxed, gets every bug that goes around. He's always got an ear infection, and he's been sick at least 5 times in the last year with stomach bugs, hand foot mouth, roseola, etc. DP had chronic ear infections as a baby, also, and I'm told part of it is just anatomical. By the age he is now, however, both of his sisters had been diagnosed asthmatic, and had issues with eczema, and the oldest had been hospitalized. Aside from a single course of antibiotics, the youngest has not required heavy intervention for any ailments to date. They were/are all bf, too fwiw... DD1: 15 mo, DD2: 24 mo, DS 18 mo and still going.

[kathymuggle]

All 3 of my kids are pretty healthy.  My oldest suffers from GERD from time to time, but I do not think it is in relation to the the vaccines he received as a baby and toddler (he was vaxxed until 18 months).  My middle (unvaxxed) is very healthy.  My youngest has some lung issue, but she received her first, and perhaps only (but who knows?) vaccine last year….long after her lung issues started.  Her lung issues are related to a birth defect and have nothing to do with vaccine status.  Otherwise she is quite healthy.

My oldest is bright, but scattered.  He definitely has dysgraphia (which is well compensated for with use of a keyboard) and might have mild ADHD.  I would not say conclusively that vaccines contributed to his scatteredness, but I would not say they didn't, either.  I have no idea.  He is also a boy (ADHD is more common in males) and his birth was my trickiest.  

I do not think their partial/non vax status heavily attributes to their health; I am pretty sure it comes down to luck, genetics, health choices around nutrition, etc.  I do think some of the reasons they have thrived have to do with us being very careful and cautious consumers  and not buying into (pun!) pharmaculture - of which vaccines play a role, but hardly the only role. 

ETA:  Do I think my middle is healthier than her brother - a little bit.  It is very hard to say if that is due to vaccines or not.  Do I think my kids are healthier than their peers in this area - absolutely.  Vaccines probably do not have much to do with it, but who know?

Edited by kathymuggle - 1/4/13 at 7:39pm

[ssun5]

I don't like to look at peers all the time as their genetics, nutrition etc can all play a role too. So just my own family.

Comparing with my family on all sides: full of Vax reactions (my mom got polio from the vax and spent 2 weeks in the hospital, first unconscious and unable to walk for days because of it). Many have auto immune problems. In fact I can't think of ANY one in my family except myself, my kids and my younger sister who doesn't vax who is healthy at all. They all seem to be sick all the time, have multiple allergy's etc.

My oldest went to daycare, church, play groups and still never had a cold until he was almost 3. I swear he has been sick 5 times now in his life. When he has gotten something, it is over VERY fast! He has also been an amazing eater and loves healthy things and can't stand to really eat sweets. He also is an avid vitamin/ mineral taker. I am sure all that helps. No ADHD, He is 2 years ahead of his grade, no allergy's, no auto immune and no problems that most of my other family seem to struggle with at all.

My middle did get a cold at 6 months but then went on for 2 years not getting anything else. She as well doesn't get sick often (slightly more than my son but still small) She has fought me since age 3 on her diet however and isn't so great at vitamins or keeping sweets away from her! When she does get sick, she kicks it quickly. AS well, no health issues whatsoever.

My youngest is almost 2 but did have Chicken pox and Measles this last summer but got over both of them very quickly. She had a cold for a day at the beginning of Dec and that is it so far. Again, only comparing to other babies in my family around the same age.... no issues while they struggle.

And how about a review on myself?

My parents did get a few Vax's for myself but in the 70's when there weren't many but I still started having ear infections and constant sickness right after and new allergy's so they stopped for any more until I was a teenager. Sick at first and then by around age 7-- I was hardly sick and not bad.

Then as soon as I had "boosters" I became constantly sick for 2 years straight. I even passed out when they gave me the 3rd shot. It took me 30 minute to wake up.       It was horrible. (And yes, the doc at that time said there was no way I passed out from Vaxes so I would have passed out right then regardless and of course I wasn't sick from them either)

After a year of that crazy time, I decided to ask help from the "fringe" grandmother who is very holistic, and she helped me rebuild my health. I felt like it took about 5 years to get back to normal.One of the best decisions of my life!

How about now?

I have not had any Vax since then. Currently, I feel like I am in the best health of my entire life! I even used to be HORRIFICLY allergic to eggs and dairy but now suffer from no allergy's at all.   Yeah!!!!

S- 12

D-7

D-1

Edited to add: Do I know that Vax status is the only thing contributing to why we are all healthy and my family is not... no. However, many of them are very "crunchy" with all that entails, eat well, live comfortably and are great parents/people. The only difference I can see is Vax.

[emmy526]

With my four kids and the oldest is partially vaxed, and three more unvaxed, in our experience, the UNvaxed are much, much healthier and get over illnesses so much quicker, and much less severe, too.   

[Chloebelle]

My children are 4 & 6. I would say that both are above average regarding their health. No ear infections, no antibiotics, immune systems seem to work very efficiently, they sleep well, very smart, focused, etc. I attribute that not only to not vaccinating, but also to our lifestyle. I'm careful about what they eat, they're vegetarian, BF for 18 months (self weaned), never had cow's milk, take vitamins daily, I don't use chemicals in the home, no fluoride, little sugar...etc, etc.

[Belkin]

Here's my scorecard: 1 dead child within hours of receiving hep B vaccine at age of 5 weeks (swollen brain, medical textbook vaccine adverse reaction). Two thriving unvaccinated kids age 9 and 12. They have none of the plagues afflicting their vaccinated peers in school (no allergies, asthma, ADHD, autism, seizures, neurological damage, etc.). Normal healthy kids. Unvaccinated kids.

I would have to be a total idiot to vaccinate my kids after what happened to our daughter. I'm not an idiot, I'm a UC Berkeley Business School graduate who uses statistical models in financial markets. Wish I'd applied my analysis to the risk of vaccine adverse reactions vs. the risk of disease complications BEFORE they vaccinated my daughter against a sexually and blood transmitted disease at the age of 5 weeks, a disease that she was not at risk for.
 

Thankfully, we now have a doctor that is 100% on our side about not vaccinating. He is listed in Seattle Magazine's top doctors. That is how I found him.

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest risk to my children is not disease, it's  falling into the hands of the brainwashed medical profession who will vaccinate anything that moves with the entire CDC vaccine schedule. They have never read the medical textbook of a vaccine adverse reaction or the vaccine package insert section on serious adverse reactions reported in post-marketing experience.

Experiencing normal childhood illnesses is how the human immune system develops natural and permanent immunity. Medical bozos are replacing herd immunity gained through eons of exposure (that is passed down from mother to baby) with ineffective and toxic shots that require constant boosters.

If you are part of that sick and twisted medical paradigm, good luck getting immunity from a needle. You'll need it (luck).

Include us out. 

My family is living proof that vaccines are dangerous, deadly, unnecessary and counter-productive for human health.

Read my Congressional Testimony here: http://therefusers.com/refusers-newsroom/michael-belkin-testimony-to-congress-on-hepatitis-b-vaccine/

Listen to our free music here: http://www.reverbnation.com/therefusers?profile_view_source=view_profile_btn

And join our FB discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRefusers?sk=wall

Michael Belkin

[Mirzam]

My eldest is my only vaxed child and I can't say she is unhealthier than her unvaxed siblings, she is 22 now, but as a child was strong and robust, never needing antibiotics, no ear infections, chest/lung problems etc. I put that down to good genes and long term breast feeding (she weaned at 4). She does however, display very mild signs of minimal brain damage manifesting as ADD. She definitely had vaccine reactions to her first two DPT shots at 4 and 6 months - the inconsolable crying, so I would say she suffers from mild post-encephalitis syndrome from the vaccines.

I have two completely unvaxed children and an unvaxed dog who are all super healthy, they rarely ever get sick and when they do they are over it within a couple of days. But what sets them, the children that is, apart from their older sister is how much calmer and more reasonable they are as children and now teens than she ever was. She was much more of a challenge to bring up. She is awesome now though!

As for the doggy, he is a sweetheart, no itchies, no allergies, no aberrant behaviors, an all around great dog!

[dawnetorres]

My daughter is unvaxed and seems to be healthier than her little friends who seem to be always sick especially the pediatricians daughter! The only time my daughter has ever had the least bit congestion of any kind is with teething. Of course I am still bf and she's 2. Only a few of us moms breastfed in her playgroup and I know their diet isn't as healthy. A few also go to daycare a few days a week. My daughter doesn't. However, just as a few of you pointed out, the marked difference is in her calm agreeable nature. Not as much agitation it seems as other kids and other parents comment on it. You could say that it is parenting, but think in our mom's group we all parent similarly and all are reading the same books. I think outside of the immune system the assault on the nervous system with vaccines is just as important.

[sassyfirechick]

Hmm, I only have the one at the moment, 14mos, partially vaxxed, stopped after the 4mo shots.  But in comparison to myself and DH I'd say so far she is doing much better. BUT my mother only BF me for 6 wks, DH was only BF 2wks - I'm still BFing DD. She had one cold at 4mos (last winter - DH brought it home and was sick 2wks, DD and myself better in 5 days) and she and I just got over a cold Christmas, maybe 4 days of sniffles?  By her age, I'd had a few ear infections and pink eye at least twice.  I think it's a combination.  No more vaxxes, we eat heathy (mostly organic, minimal meats, nothing overly processsed), see a chiropractor regularly, and get outside as much as possible to play in the dirt!  I don't own anything antibacterial and with 4 raw-fed animals in the house (2 dogs, 2 cats) conventional science says that my child should be a walking vector for disease, but we're doing ok here ;-)  If I was to compare to peers, she's 10x healthier, but again, they have far different lifestyles that include not just vaxxing fully, but antibiotics, processed foods, and other pharmaceuticals.

[japonica]

Hmm. Sort of. For one child, it definitely seemed so in the beginning, but as time has gone by, the field seems to have leveled out somewhat.

My children are 8 and almost 5 years old. No vaccines yet.

My oldest child, well, she seemed not to have to contend with a lot of the stuff her peers did. She only had her first ear infection at 4 years old. No GI (diarrhea) episodes either until she was 4.5 years old. I don't even think she had antibiotics until she was in preschool. She wasn't really sick as a baby and toddler. I'd hear about other kids (whatever their vax status) who were seemingly always sick, always on antibiotics, just generally unwell. She was just seldom sick. When she'd catch a bug, she'd have a fever for a day and then it was all over with. That said, the other variables: she was breastfed until age 3.5 and I was a SAHM, so she didn't start mixing with other kids on a regular basis (aside from the occasional playgroup) until she was three years old. She did pick up a few more URIs once she started preschool, but not unusually so. I just remember a lot of moms in playgroup talking about continual bouts of illness that required antibiotics to clear up that their kids always seemed to have and she never did. I'd just commiserate and say, "Oh, we've never experienced that. Hope they're better soon."

My DS is also unvaxed, but he's not had the same constitution. Part of that, I believe, is the multiple doses of antibiotics I received during his delivery. The nursing staff didn't know my strep status so they just kept hanging bags of abx on my IV (after 4 bags, we asked them if I'd had enough yet). Turns out I was negative, but oh well, too late. He had lingering GI issues from the time he started on solids well until he was three. I'll spare people the gory details, but with the GI stuff and the ear infections (had his first one under a year old, then recurrent ones), I'm sure that vaccinating him on schedule probably would not have done him any favours either. His natural flora obviously took a hit when he came into the world and we've been working to re-establish it. He also tended to become ill more often than his sister did and was just generally less robust, even though he also breastfed until age 3 and was at home with me. As another anecdotal example, when DH brought home pertussis, it was DS who fell ill but DD never did, despite two family members coughing around her for weeks. In our family, we have two kids, similar genetics and environment, but totally different constitutions. Thus, would the one-size-fits all vaccine schedule have been best? I don't think so. 

Edited by japonica - 1/6/13 at 4:04am

[Roy Dittmann]

I have 4 kids (3 DS, 1DD). None of them have been vaccinated. My oldest was exposed to mercury when he was in the womb (his mother received the old Rhogam shot with thimerosal). He ended up being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. The oldest was always getting sinus infections and complained of having a hot stomach. We now refer to this as the gut-brain allergy common to children along the autism spectrum. But with all of them... I gave them daily facial dips (a facial bath made up of a sink-full of warm water, a tablespoon of iodine, and a few tablespoons of salt) and hygiene baths (same thing only in a full bathtub). It was amazing. No matter what they were exposed to... mumps, chicken pox... they got over it in less than 48 hours. Even stomach flus and full blown high-fever flus were out of them within 48 hours. The key is to take the overload off of their immune system, just enough so that their immune systems can learn from the experience. Children that develop their own immunity are often much healthier in the long run[Edited my moderator to remove promotional content]

[Bronwen13]

I have 2 DD's, both unvaxxed; they both have different issues, but will say with NO HESITATION that my two unvaxxed kids are much healthier than their vaxxed friends. We live I a close community, and the girls who live here, aged 5-8 play together almost daily. The 3 vaxxed girls always have colds...one takes an inhaler regularly for bronchial issues. My kids get their colds, but I usually just start them on echinacea right away and they never last long. My eldest DD does suffer from annoying allergies (my husband had horrible allergies as a kid) and we're constantly trying to find natural ways to help her. I'm glad we did not vaccinate, I feel her allergies would most likely be worse than they are if we had've.

[lilblueberry]

Roy- do u talk abt your facial baths in your book? That sounds interesting...

[Roy Dittmann]

Yes. I have a chapter on hygiene that goes through the different types of hygiene baths and facial dips (for pennies a day) and include a bunch of information in my vaccine chapter on how to prevent infections in you and your children if you choose not to vaccinate.

[ReadingRenee]

Out of my 3 children so far my oldest who is fully vaxxed is also my "sickly" child. :(  Her sisters are almost 4 and 9 months and (knock on wood) neither of them have been to the dr.  My oldest daughter got colds as a baby and ear infections starting around 2 years old. She has gone to the dr often since then.   I bfed her and her sister til she was 2 and am currently bfing the baby.  Of course, my oldest also has a different father but his family doesn't seem very "sickly" so I don't know.  It makes me sad sometimes and wonder if her health would be better if I had been better researched and not gotten her vaxxed.

[JulieWojo]

It is so interesting to read everyone's posts.

My 1st was born in 2007.  I did not know that you even had a choice in vaccinating.  So she had the Hep B shot when she was born.  Then when she was a month old they gave her 2 shots in each thigh and the oral vaccine.

That night and the next day she had fever and cried non stop.

After that, I did some research and decided to space them out.  I only get her get 1 at a time and I would not allow any combo shots at all.  But a couple years later they told me that the manufacturer stopped making the MMR in separate doses.  So even though she had already had the Measles portion of the vaccine, I had to let her have the MMR vaccine.  I wasn't very happy.

At 9 months old she suffered a kidney infection.  She had random. unexplained fevers when she was toddler and an episode of strep and pink eye when she was 3.  She was also speech delayed. She went to speech therapy and started talking when she was 3.  Now she is 5 and you can't tell she ever had a problem.

My 2nd was a boy, born in 2009.  I did not vaccinate him until he was 2 and talking.  He has only had 1 so far.  He is so healthy. Never been sick at all.  The doctor in MN tried to tell me is speech delayed...but I knew he wasn't.  She argued a lot with me. We never went back to that doctor again.  

My 3rd is 18 months old now.  He hasn't been vaxed yet.  He says More and Mama.  I'm a bit worried that he should be talking more.  But having a speech delay is a sign of higher intelligence...so I'm not too concerned about it.  :)

Both boys are very healthy.  They have never had any ear infections.  My 3 year old has only ever had a cold.  My 1 year old has only ever had 1 fever in his life.  

I will vaccinate them for school.   But I do a very delayed schedule and they are only allowed 1 shot at a time.

What bothers me the most is that they dont measure the doses based on weight.  It is one size dose for all!  And, if you wait to vaccinate them, they need less doses when they are older.   Why is that?

I just don't think their little brains are ready for all those chemicals.  I think it messes with their immune system.  If they are breast fed then I do not believe they need to be vaccinated that young.  I did a lot of research...so I hate how some doctors look at me like I'm stupid.  I did go to college.  Goodness.

I loved the Vaccine book by Dr. Sears.

So glad I found this forum. :)

Edited by JulieWojo - 1/15/13 at 10:04am

[Marnica]

hmmmm yes and no would be my answer.

I have a 4.5 year old DS, totally unvaccinated. He was sick quite a bit in his first 3.5 years (this last year has been better). He had a cold or some respiratory infection every other month or so starting when he was an infant. He also has food sensitivities and eczema. He has not had any serious illnesses and he has only been on antibiotics once and in retrospect he didn't need them and I gave them out of fear. I believe 100% that had we vaccinated him he would have had far more serious issues. His immune system has been allowed to strengthen naturally and I think he is stronger for it - and is getting sick a heck of a lot less now than he was a year ago. He was also a C-section and I attribute some of his issues to not only genetics but to not getting colonized with all the good bacteria at birth.

My DD is only 8 months. She has only had a mild runny nose that I wouldn't even call a cold. She was a Vbac. 

[Roy Dittmann]

My 13 year old has never been vaccinated or given antibiotics. He was a healthy young boy.... around the age of 3, when he went to preschool and began interacting with other kids on playgrounds, he came down with several flu infections. He spiked fevers of 103/104F. We gave him two to three hygiene baths a day, hydrated him with homemade soup broths, and gave him immune boosting nutrients in his protein shakes. We would also give him magnesium citrate to move his bowels... this is one of the best secrets for bringing down a fever. It tastes like lime soda... so most kids like the taste. Each time, his fever would drop right after his bowels finally moved. This cycle went on for about a year. After that... his immune system has been as strong as a horse. Other kids come over sick... and he never catches it. If he does get a fever, it is around 100F and it only lasts a few hours. He knows now that he has to keep his bowels moving and rehydrate his body with healthy fluids and stay away from sugar until he gets well.