parents who choose/chose/may vax: dealing with stigmas

[Mynn]

I've heard the "Why give an STD shot if you don't expect your kid to be sexually active till college" statement, but then again, I know a lot of girls who were supposedly given "the talk" who were pregnant by thte time I finished high school. And I'm sure for some of my friends, they may well have ended up teen mothesr as well, good intentions and "father's shotgun" notwithstanding.

And then in the same breath, I often hear rants about how useless "abstinence" education is. (And have eyewitnessed dozens of examples of its uselessness.

I'm sure the non-vaxers have a lot more practice warding it off, but when they come at you with "well you did A, why *not* B" ... how have you been able to handle it? Any suggestions?

[alegna]

On that subject I just wouldn't give in to the STD side of it. I'd just say- it's such a new vaccine, we're going to wait until it's been in use awhile before we consider it.

-Angela

[wonderwahine]

On that issue.....regardless of if its an STD like HPV or hep b......I still wouldn't give into that arguement.

And also, I would ensure my kids got FULL sexual education, not just "don't get pregnant". Thats your job as a parent, to protect them and educate them. But that being said, schools need to step up their act for the kids who have parents who won't even mention the word sex.....so that everyone, regardless of their parents, gets a full informative sexual education talk.

[Lynnseedoil]

We declined HepB and will do so at least until DD starts school. We might decide to put it off forever. I like the idea of waiting to see with the new vax. It just seems SO unnecessary to me for a 6 month old, breastfed, non-daycare kid to be vaxed against a bloodborne illness. When she's 4? I don't know...

As far as her future sexual activity... that's something that'll still be an unknown when she's 4, and 8, and 12....

[boongirl]

Hep B is one of the vaxes my naturopath is in favor of. Hep is a blood born pathogen, not necessarily a sexually transmitted one. If a child had it and bit mine on a playground, mine could get it. There are other ways you could get it, too. But, I would not do it until the babe is over 1 to give immune system a chance to strengthen with nursing and good care.

[Nora'sMama]

I think that when dealing with well-child visits, it makes little difference whether you selectively/delay vax or don't vax at all. It's still a hassle to explain your position!

[wonderwahine]

If a child had it and bit mine on a playground, mine could get it. There are other ways you could get it, too.

I'm sorry, i just had to point out that the actuallity of that happening is EXTREMELY rare....thats like saying you'll never let your kids swim in the ocean because they may get a sting ray barb in their heart and die, or they can't play outside because they may get hit by lightening.

Yes its a blood borne illness, but it is highly unlikly that the kid in the playground has hep b, they were probably vaccinated, dont do drugs, and arn't sexually active. Not to mention, that child would have to have bleeding gums in order to pass the infected blood into your childs wound. This is the exact same stupid fears that people have of HIV postive children.

[LongIsland]

Originally Posted by romans_mum

Not to mention, that child would have to have bleeding gums in order to pass the infected blood into your childs wound.

Actually the saliva of an infected person does contain the virus, but it's not as high.

Regardless, your point about the chances of a child being bitten by a child with Hep B is right on. The only reason why people worry about it? Because a vaccine exists and it's indicated for infants. Prior to the 1991 recomendation for infants, I highly doubt most parents even gave Hep B second thought.

[mamakay]

Ok, then, why give an infant a shot for an STD if they won't be sexually active till high school?
Or heck...puberty, at least?

[wonderwahine]

money, convenience, scaremongering

[Mynn]

Originally Posted by Nora'sMama

I think that when dealing with well-child visits, it makes little difference whether you selectively/delay vax or don't vax at all. It's still a hassle to explain your position!

That's my concern, as well; it's one thing to blow off or tell family MYOB, it's another when you're running low on pediatricians. I finally met one of the practice of my new Ped's office (we are nearly free of the old one) and she was ... rather firm about making sure I got the kid's shot records to her as well as their health records. But I chose the office to see her partner; hopefully this won't be as much of an issue with her partner.

[chaoticzenmom]

Why do A when you didn't do B? I tell people that I researched the effectiveness of the vaccine vs. the risk of vaccine injury vs. the risk of the disease it's meant to prevent to decide which vaccines to give my children. So far, only Polio is on that list for us. We did one dtap, but got a reaction, so no more of that one.

At different ages, there are different reasons to vaccinate. As adults, our kids might need to be vaccinated against chicken pox because the herd vaccinations did not allow them to get the disease on their own and the risks of the disease are higher as adults. My daughter might want to get the mmr vaccine in highschool so that she doesn't risk getting rebeolla during pregnancy.

Lisa

[Mommy To Baby Roni]

Just chiming in here, though my child isn't vaxed at all, on what I've heard from parents. It is most definitely acceptable for parents to delay or selectively vax than not vax at all. Most parents seem to find that it's enough in line with their way of thinking that it's not threatening. The fact that they'll be be vaccinated, eventually or mostly, seems to be acceptable to other parents, while not vaccinating at all,ever, is just not fathomable. Chickenpox is the one that, from my experience, is completely acceptable not to vaccinate for, by most parents. I'm guessing that's because most parents have experienced the illness for themselves and are not fearful of it.

[Gendenwitha]

My son is 9, not interested in girls yet, but showing physical signs of puberty. I said years ago we'd get the MMR and Hep B at puberty (for boys because mumps can cause infertility, for girls because of the rubella and pregnancy, Hep B because it's sexually transmitted) by making the "at puberty" statement when he was an infant I nixed any speculation about his adolescent sex life right at the start. I was just as concerned about the affects psychologically of him thinking "mom thinks I'm ready to have sex" or "mom thinks I'm lying that I'm not having sex" as I was about the actual timing it right. This way it goes along with when his BODY is preparing itself for reproductive purposes.

BTW, OT on sex ed vs abstinence... while both sides want to play up their strengths, what it boils down to is sex ed kids are more likely to have sex, but when the abstinence-only educated kids DO have sex they are less likely to use birth control both because of lack of knowledge and because they didn't go into the situation prepared because they were trying to resist. So the pregnancy and STD rates are almost equal, due to the higher rates in the sexually active portion of the less-likely-to-be-having-sex abstinent group, and the lower incidence in the more-likely-to-be-having-sex sex-ed group.

Does that make sense?

[DocsNemesis]

Originally Posted by Mommy To Baby Roni

Just chiming in here, though my child isn't vaxed at all, on what I've heard from parents. It is most definitely acceptable for parents to delay or selectively vax than not vax at all. Most parents seem to find that it's enough in line with their way of thinking that it's not threatening. The fact that they'll be be vaccinated, eventually or mostly, seems to be acceptable to other parents, while not vaccinating at all,ever, is just not fathomable. Chickenpox is the one that, from my experience, is completely acceptable not to vaccinate for, by most parents. I'm guessing that's because most parents have experienced the illness for themselves and are not fearful of it.

I totally agree with that. Even though we havent completely made up our minds as to whether we will be vaxing our dd at all now, we still tell health professionals that we are delaying and doing selective vax. It isnt entirely false; we just dont know what we are doing yet. Anyway, I definately get a lot of positive comments and the like for saying that we are delaying, but the one or two times I have said we are not vaxing at all I got a lot of lecturing.