When did you start questioning the "necessity" of vaccinations?

[salsero96]

What was it that actually made you start thinking about the benifits/risks of vaccinations?

For me, it was a book that opened my eyes. The book was IMPOSSIBLE CURE -
The Promise of Homeopathy by Amy L. Lansky, PhD.

I'm glad that I read it when I did. (before the birth of our daughter) It opened my eyes completely. I am sure that if i hadn't read that book, that I would have went right along with the recommended vaccination schedule. I wouldn't have even thought twice about it. I am also currently studying to be a Doctor of Homeopathy because of that book.

The book is mainly about her son Max, who had autism. She writes about the connection between vaccinations and autism. She also writes about how he was cured of Autism with Homeopathy.

[Orion'smommy]

The first time I ever thought about it was when I found out a newborn recieves the Hep-B. It made me think now how on earth is a newborn going to catch Hep-B.

After that moment I ran-across mothering mag, and came here, learned more about the subject, and decided to hold off vaccinating (most likely forever)!

[mammom]

My journey started about ten years before I had my ds. I was dating a chiropractor who put the idea into my head. I didn't really start researching until ds was born, but I knew we were at least going to delay/selectively vax. Now, of course, as I have done MUCH more research, I know we will not vaccinate at all.

[Pen]

I stumbled into the "vaccination" section here.

[aisraeltax]

Originally Posted by Pen

I stumbled into the "vaccination" section here.

:

[CNutty]

I was actually going to Massage Therapy school, and we had an instuctor for anatomy and psysiology who was an AMAZING man. He would sit and facilitate discussions about Illness and vaxes and really made US come to very common sence conclutions that vaxing was not a positive thing to do to a body. The absolute best part was that he sat back, gave out facts, and let us come to our own conclusion...I credit him with opening my eyes! (oh, and I guess Ill take some credit for allowing my eyes to be opened!) Although I do know a few from school who have chosen to vax, I think many who listened and participated would think twice about it now!!
I love you Gary!

[joiedevivre184]

It was about 2 years ago, my friend's daughter isn't vaxed, so i decided to research them. Then decided that none of my children will be vaxed. (I'm only 18..in a few weeks...so that's still a few years away.)

[CallMeMommy]

I found a book in my chiro's office, I can't remember the title off-hand, but it showed graphs and figures of how diseases were in decline way before the introduction of vaccines, and how diseases were misrepresented in order to skew the numbers in favor of vaccines (i.e., prior to vaccine introduction there were 100 cases of disease X, which recently had a vaccine come out, and 5 cases of disease Y, then suddenly after said vaccine introduction there were 5 cases of disease X and 100 cases of disease Y). That's when I started doing my research and came to the conclusion there was a better chance of my son having a vaccine reaction than dying from the actual disease.

[lyttlewon]

It was when I found out that you could actually be damaged by a vaccine. I was 21 and my sister was reading about it because she was pregnant. Then I started reading about the diseases and started wondering why we are so scared of them?

[MomInFlux]

Originally Posted by Pen

I stumbled into the "vaccination" section here.

Me too. Prior to that, I was a sheeple, blindly following my DS's ped. I swear, it was like a door opening onto a whole new world.

[Laurel723]

It was actually when my vet told me not to bother trying to vax my baby horse until the following spring (he was born 6/7/05) because his immune system wouldn't create a response until then anyway. Three mos later our friends son was born and I learned about the shots they gave at birth. Dug in and started reading everything I could get my hands on, then found out a few months later that I was preggo.

Boy am I glad I found this site, though. I've learned more here recently than I had other places.

[schatz]

I had heard about a possible link between autism and vaxes on the news or something but the report I heard said it was more common for boys. My first dc was a girl so I thought "whew, now I don't have to think about that".

Then, when my dd was born premature and the NICU staff wanted to give her HepB just before discharge. My dh said "why would a newborn who shouldn't even be born yet get a vax for a disease passed by needles and sex?" But, we went ahead with her 2 month shots and 4 and 6 months.

Then, I read somewhere that varicella was on the schedule for 12 months. That's when the lightbulb came on for me. I thought that was the craziest thing ever - a vaccine for chicken pox. By that time I had found MDC but had been too scared to come to this forum. When dd was 11 months I started lurking here and have never looked back. Dd has had no more shots and ds has had none. They also rarely get sick and when they have been ill, it hasn't been serious.

[runes]

i've been working with children with special needs and i specialize in working with children on the autism spectrum. i've had many mothers, completely unsolicited by me, tell me that i should seriously look into not vaxing my baby when i had one. i've heard heartbreaking stories time and again of normal babies that started stimming, avoiding touch and eye contact and regressing in language and social skills after having their vaxes.

then we became pregnant and started digging deeper and investigated studies from both sides of the fence. after careful deliberation, the decision to not vaccinate our child was actually quite easy to make.

[Warda_Rose]

I was never totally convinced on Vaccines. My Parents din't vax us at all. My dh is somewhat mainstream in his medical opinions. Our first got all up his vaxes before the entering school series. Our second got some, but not all. When my then two year old got a rash/virus all over his mouth that lasted 3 or 4 days THE VERY SAME DAY he got his shots, I was turned off permanently. Co-incidence, they chalked it up to. Maybe it was, maybe not. I still hadn't read up on the subject but was picking up here and there more indications that I didn't HAVE TO, and DIDN'T want to do anymore. When my dd was born I was struck by a very strong feeling not to vaccinate her. Her peds agreed to wait. She developed exzema, then asthma around 5-6 months (EBF, btw). We still delayed, theoretically, until age two. Dh still "believes" in vaxing but I'm pretty sure they aren't neccesary or safe.

[nonconformnmom]

MominFlux wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pen
I stumbled into the "vaccination" section here.


Me too. Prior to that, I was a sheeple, blindly following my DS's ped. I swear, it was like a door opening onto a whole new world.

Same here. Only for me it's too late. My kids are all over 18 months old and received all the "required' vax'es. I'm so disappointed in myself! I pride myself on questioning things, doing my own research, not being a sheep! I've been that way since long before I came to MDC but somehow, it never occurred to me to research vaccines. I researched the heck out of childbirth and epidurals (had all 3 children with unmedicated, spontaneous labors in a hospital birthing center). WHY didn't I research the vaccines?

[mamachandi]

my midwife, for my first babe, did not vax her kids (age 16 and 18 at the time,12 1/2 years ago). she asked me if I new anything about it and gave me some resources to look up, it all started there!

[MomInFlux]

Originally Posted by nonconformnmomSame here. Only for me it's too late. :( My kids are all over 18 months old and received all the "required' vax'es. I'm so disappointed in myself! I pride myself on questioning things, doing my own research, [I

not being a sheep[/I]! I've been that way since long before I came to MDC but somehow, it never occurred to me to research vaccines. I researched the heck out of childbirth and epidurals (had all 3 children with unmedicated, spontaneous labors in a hospital birthing center). WHY didn't I research the vaccines?

I know, I know. I thought I'd researched everything that needed researching.

DS received all vaxes through age 2.5 (even to the point of taking him to the County Health Department to get his chicken pox vax : ). But you know what? It's not too late. When I see all these new vaxes being pushed through and all the additional boosters being added, I'm just so grateful that I got here when I did and can make better decisions for my kids from here on out.

[newcastlemama]

After a presentation at the local health food store......the ingredients were gross and I as picturing them mutating in people bodies (I have an active imaginaiton!)

Jennifer

[Robin926]

I was mostly lurking on an online diary of a very crunchy mama while I was pg. She did all the non-mainstream things that I never thought of, and it inspired me to start researching on my own to see what was best for my own DS. When she mentioned not vaccinating, my first thought was "but you HAVE to!" But I brought it up to DH and started reading on my own. At first, we planned to delay for 2 years, but by the time he was born we'd made the decision not to do any vaxes at all.

[Guest*]

When I became pregnant with my dd, I started reading up on everything. After she was born, vaccination was the next thing on my list to learn about. I started looking at each vaccine and disease and very quickly, none of them made sense to me. I didn't even realize not vaxing was a controversial thing to do until I started talking about it.

I eventually found MDC and articles and books that talked more about the political and social issues surrounding vaccines. What I learned from these sources only solidified my non-vax decision.