What vaccinations are you giving your new baby?

[luminesce]

I'm so torn over whether to vaccinate or not, especially the DTaP vaccination. I value the opinions of the mamas in this DDC - what vaccinations are you getting for your new little one?

[Gumby]

Not planning on any. But we'll probably reevaluate in a year or so.

[hanno]

none
I was a little afraid of what my doctor would say but he didn't even ask.

[Marcimama]

None until age two. I just really guard my little one from others, and hope for the best. However, Addie hasn't had any and she only went to the Dr. once last year (I thought she had strep, but no) and she has never needed to take antibiotics.

[MommytoTwo]

I am not sure yet. I need to look at the newborn schedule and figure it out. I do know he wont be getting the hep b and nothing else for at least 6 months

[Velvet005]

We are not vaccinating for at least 18 mos. I am going to research more. I got all of ds's on schedule but I am opting to wait this time after hearing some really frightening stories.

[wildthing]

None.

[MaxiMom]

none!

[doudat]

Is it safe not to vax if your child will be going to daycare??
She won't be for a while, but I was wondering about that...

[Mavournin]

Crashing the party from the March DDC...

I've had my kids in daycare at various times and we don't vaccinate at all. Do some more research on vaccines and the diseases they "protect" us from. Frankly, efficacy ratings are a lot lower than you think, and as you learn more about diseases you might not be so afraid of them anymore.

A good example is chicken pox. We all had it, we all survived it. Itching and a week off of school right? But read varicella vaccine literature or talk to your pediatrican and I bet you'll hear how "harmful" and "deadly" varicella is. Propaganda. The same is true for other "vaccine preventable diseases".

[reillys_mom]

I think that my answer to your question would be none until 2yo except for a couple of things. 1) DH and I run a children's summer camp on a farm that is a couple of hours from major medical services. 2) It's a working farm with plenty of prime conditions for tetanus. 3) There have been pertussis outbreaks in our area. So, ds1 had DTaP and we will get it for ds2. I think the vaccination issue is so difficult because of the public health/scare tactics on both sides. Being skeptical and having the strength to go against commonly held beliefs helped dh and me with our decision to do a very limited and delayed vaccination schedule.

[OnTheFence]

We are selectively vaccinating but we are going to start when Kara is 2m old on the regular schedule for those vaxs.

We are doing DPaT and HIB (its combined) and the Polio vaccine. We are discussing the Pneumococal Vaccine (sp is wrong I am sure) and I am leaning more towards doing it than not.

[gardenmommy]

None. This is my fourth, and we've not done any vaxes for any of our children. We lead a normal busy life with our children, don't avoid anything. We have had exactly one ear infection, which we treated without abx, and work really hard to make sure our children are healthy.

We are regularly on a farm, around other children, at various activities, etc.

Check out the vaccination forum for lots of very good information and links.

[Peppermint]

None.

[crunchymomof2]

None.

[luminesce]

Thanks for all the replies. I feel a lot more comfortable with considering not vaccinating. The only thing I am really concerned with if I choose not to is pertussis. For those of you who haven't vaccinated - did your kids get whooping cough? If so, at what age? What was the experience? Were you BF'ing at the time?

[alegna]

Not in your group- but my dd is 2.5yrs old and hasn't had pertussis. Totally unvaxed and we don't do anything special.

-Angela

[wildthing]

Have you checkd out the vax forum here? I am sure there is more in depth info there. What is interesting, is that I have lots of freinds who also do not vax, and it seems like we all have one thing that we are more concerned about than the others. One friend is worried about measles, one is more concerned about pertussis. Mine is rubella (I still don't vax for it, it is just the disease that concerns me most.) Chicken pox is one of my least concerning ones, because my 3 oldest had it, and it was no big deal.

Anyway, I haven't had any of my kids get pertussis, or any other disease that is vaxed for (excpet chicken pox). Maybe there are more stories in the vax forum.

[luminesce]

I've read existing threads on the vax forums but wanted to get mama's opinions here in the DDC. I feel like I know you all and the vax forums can be a little intimidating at times for people still on the fence.

I talked to DH and he is ok with not vaccinating. It is difficult for me to feel comfortable either way but deep down, I feel more comfortable not vaccinating or at least waiting until DS is older. I was formula fed and fully vaccinated as a child and wish I hadn't been. I have an auto-immune disorder now (MS) - who knows if they could be connected? The funny thing is that I don't even have full immunity to rubella, the one thing I sorta wish I had immunity to.

[Mavournin]

You probably don't have full immunity for Rubella because vaccines don't generally give you full immunity.

My kids haven't had pertussis, but I know many who have. From what I understand, it's really not a big deal. Just a whole lot of coughing. Keep in mind though that the pertussis vaccine (which only comes combined with diptheria and tetanus - DTaP) is really ineffective. Pertussis is caused by bacteria, not a virus, and vaccines just don't work that way.