newbie to some/no vac. (questions)

[mothtomany]

Hi I am a newbie to all of this and have 7 children that got all there vac.'s
I just had twins that are a month old today.
I am just trying to figure out what vac's to give my new babies and what ones are not needed.
We homeschool so my kids are not out much unless we are going some place fun or out to dinner and there are usually a lot of people around.
We do live on a farm with lot's of different farm animals and work in a garden,
My kids do love to run around bear foot in the summer around the farm.
And I do see my (birth mom) once in a while and she likes to see her grandkids but the thing that scares me is that she used to be a drug user and has every hepatitis there is. She makes me mad when we do go to see her because she will take a sip of one of our drinks with out asking and don't tell us so I don't let my kids have drinks around her or I tell them to keep the drinks close so she don't sip off of them, she thinks it's OK to share food or drinks, I don't! She also always seems to have sore's on her face because she is always picking zit's on her face or around her mouth and then she wants to give my kids kiss's and hug's. Can you get Hep. from something like sipping off the same straw? For the record I do not have any Hep. my birth mom got them some time after I was born and I was raised by my Aunt.
We raise our own meat, honey,veggies (in the summer), and we will be drinking milk straight from the cow after my BIL get's a milk cow soon and we will share the milk.

So here is what vac's I was thinking my twins should get
-Hep.A & B (because of being around my birth mom)
-Tetanus (because we live on a farm and have a large garden) do they have just a tetanus shot? What are the risk of the other two mixed with it?

At what ages would you give them?
One of my twins did all ready get the Hep. B shot at the hospital after I told them not to and signed papers. I didn't find out until I got home and found my son's vac. card in my papers with a stamp on it saying he got the shot. The baby that was a pound smaller and had to go to NICU is the one that didn't get the shot.
I also have a older daughter who is almost 13 what do you all thing about the MCV4 (meningococcal) shot? She hang's out with friends from church, other homeschoolers her age or family members her age.
Is it the MMR that might be linked to Autisim?
Any input on this to help me would be great. Also is there any shots you would recomend or not?
Would you suggest any thing else for us from what I explained our life style to be like?
Thanks for any idea's and suggestions.
Shawnii

[alegna]

I would wait and do more research.

What Hep. does your mom have?

Tetanus is incredibly rare in children, and always has been. Do some searches here for more info.

-Angela

[Science Mom]

Shawnii, Since you have known exposures, I would recommend Hep B and DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and acellular Pertussis) or DT (Diphtheria and Tetanus). If you are exclusively breastfeeding, Rotavirus vaccine isn't necessary and Hib vaccine can be started later if you opt for that. As long as your children are healthy and immunocompetant (intact immune system) then you can opt out of Hep A vaccine as it is rarely a complication in children. You would want to start the Hep B at around 2 months providing your children are healthy. There is no MMR-autism link. I can't imagine that you could possibly have the time to read the recent Omnibus Autism Proceedings that gathered experts in their respective fields to testify as to the biological plausibility of MMR vaccine causing autism. But any 'evidence' of such a link was thoroughly refuted.

Yes, you can get Hep B from the type of contact that you described. It would be prudent to put your foot down with regards to the type of contact she has with your children as hepatitis may be only part of the picture.

The fresh meat, veggies and milk sound great but please do not give your infants and young children unpasteurised honey or raw milk, they can be loaded with pathogenic organisms that can be particularly dangerous for babies/toddlers.

SM

[mothtomany]

Originally Posted by alegna

I would wait and do more research.

What Hep. does your mom have?

Tetanus is incredibly rare in children, and always has been. Do some searches here for more info.

-Angela

She has every Hep. thats out there.

[mothtomany]

Originally Posted by Science Mom

Shawnii, Since you have known exposures, I would recommend Hep B and DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and acellular Pertussis) or DT (Diphtheria and Tetanus). If you are exclusively breastfeeding, Rotavirus vaccine isn't necessary and Hib vaccine can be started later if you opt for that. As long as your children are healthy and immunocompetant (intact immune system) then you can opt out of Hep A vaccine as it is rarely a complication in children. You would want to start the Hep B at around 2 months providing your children are healthy. There is no MMR-autism link. I can't imagine that you could possibly have the time to read the recent Omnibus Autism Proceedings that gathered experts in their respective fields to testify as to the biological plausibility of MMR vaccine causing autism. But any 'evidence' of such a link was thoroughly refuted.

Yes, you can get Hep B from the type of contact that you described. It would be prudent to put your foot down with regards to the type of contact she has with your children as hepatitis may be only part of the picture.

The fresh meat, veggies and milk sound great but please do not give your infants and young children unpasteurised honey or raw milk, they can be loaded with pathogenic organisms that can be particularly dangerous for babies/toddlers.

SM

Thank you for the info.
Shawnii

[alegna]

Originally Posted by mothtomany

She has every Hep. thats out there.

Really? Because they are naming new ones all the time.

But that being the case, I wouldn't vaccinate. I would just limit her her contact.

Because if she has "every Hep. thats out there" then she has Hep. C too and there's no vax for that. So vaccines will not protect your children. You must do that.

-Angela

[Science Mom]

Originally Posted by alegna

Really? Because they are naming new ones all the time.

But that being the case, I wouldn't vaccinate. I would just limit her her contact.

Because if she has "every Hep. thats out there" then she has Hep. C too and there's no vax for that. So vaccines will not protect your children. You must do that.

-Angela

So why not protect against the one that is clinically significant? Just because there is not a vaccine for everything means you shouldn't do any? I fail to follow that logic.

SM

[alegna]

Why is only B clinically significant? From my reading, Hep C is one of, if not THE nastiest. And if grandma has it, then mom needs to REALLY focus on making sure she doesn't infect the kids.

-Angela

[rredhead]

Hepatitis

With regards to hepatitis, it's transmitted via bodily fluids and needle sharing. To get it from sipping off the same straw, you'd need to ingest quite a bit of saliva. I'm looking up the "fact sheets" now. Below are links and excerpts.

NIH on Hep A:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddise...a_ez/index.htm

WHO on Hep B:
http://www.who.int/features/qa/11/en/index.html
The main ways of getting infected with HBV are:

* perinatal (from mother to baby at the birth)
* child-to-child transmission
* unsafe injections and transfusions
* sexual contact.

NIH on Hep B:
Hepatitis B spreads by contact with an infected person's blood, semen, or other body fluid.

NIH on Hep C:
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hepc_ez/
You can NOT get hepatitis C by

* shaking hands with an infected person
* hugging an infected person
* kissing an infected person
* sitting next to an infected person

So, it's unlikely that your children will get hepatitis unless they are constantly in contact with your birthmom's bodily fluids. At least, that's what I gather from the information I've read.