what about my doctor

[FIJI Water]

My two year old is about to turn three and when I take him for his check up, what do I tell the Dr. about me not wanting to vaccinate him anymore? Do I need to give him a exemption form? What am I supposed to do, and what am I to expect? Please help, and PS I'm pregnant with my second child, just found out Monday, and I don't want to vaccinate this new one either. Any advice. If it helps, I do live in Texas. Oh, I plan to home school my children too. So, I'm just conserned about the Dr. I mean will he like call social services on me or anything?

[Fyrestorm]

It is not a law that you vaccinate. It is only mandated for school.

You do not need an exemption for your doctor, just for school entry.

Just tell your doc that you are no longer vaccinating and will not be vaccinating the next one CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

Be prepared, your doc will most likely fire you...so it may be time to find a no vax friendly ped or just skip the while thing all together.

If you still want to do vaccine compliance visits (I mean well child visits), you might want to post in your tribal area in search of a new ped.

[Gitti]

Congratulations on coming to the right decision!

My dd stopped vaccinating her son at age 15 mo. and never took him to the ped again. She was so pissed off at him for telling her such stupid things that the child will die without vaccines, etc. Her son is now 10 yo and is perfectly healthy and has never seen another doctor.

I have two more grandchildren (different dd) and they were not vaccinated right from the start. They are 2 and 4 and have seen a ped maybe 3 times altogether and that most more to be nice to the ped since he is a friend. LOL

Social services have no right to talk to you about vaccines. That is outside of their jurisdiction. And you don't ever have to talk to them should they come to your house for any reason whatsoever.

This is your child. You and your dh have the right to decide what is right for your child. No state has the power to overrule that. We do not live in a police state. You don't have to be afraid. And don't believe anyone who tells you differently.

The only thing the state requires is that you vaccinate the child before the child goes to school. But the government also recognizes that there are people who oppose vaccines for various reasons and therefore they put vaccine exemptions in place. The exemptions are philosophicla/religious based but the religion is not defined. It can be as loose as a home religion or a personal/philosophical belief that guides you to be against injecting your child. Basically it's up to the parents.

You do not have to home school in order to avoid vaccines. We use a religious exemption although we are not religious in the way most people consider it, and my grandson goes to a regular public school. No problem.

If I were you, I would cancel the appointment. There is no need to take a healthy child to a doctor. Those wbv are mostly just to give vaccines. When you don't want to vaccinate and you tell the doctor, he will most likely tell you to either don't bother coming in or he will see you when you need him and treat you as a "new patient" each time. That's what the ped of my grandchildren does. (Maybe this way it doesn't mess up his perfect record of vaccinating all his patients for his Pharma bonuses.)

If you do go and the ped gives you a paper to sign relinquishing him of all liability, take it home with you to read thoroughly before you sign it. You can always bring it back. DD did and threw it away. He never asked her again. lol

You do not owe the ped an explanation of your decisions. Simply state the fact that you will no longer be vaccinating. Don't let him persuade you in any other direction because if he manages to vaccinate your child you will be very upset with yourself afterward. If you do go in, maybe take a support person with you. Your dh or mom or whoever is on your side.

Go to the appointment totally decided. Don't let the ped talk about vaccines. Change the subject by saying "we have made up our mind." If it becomes too coercive, take your child OUT OF THERE IMMEDIATELY.

Generally nurses are the worst. So, don't answer any questions as to why or how did you decide? They will start out very friendly and then get out the big guns. Don't let them get that far. Stop them right away by saying, "this is my child and I have decided to not vaccinate".

You may be looking for a new ped soon. We'll help you. Good luck.

[guestmama9944]

It may not even come up. Do they even do shots at a 3 year WBV?

Who am I kidding, they probably do

It won't come up if you don't go . Well-child visits are set up around the vaccination schedule. People used to only take their child to the doctor if they were actually sick. If your child is well, why bother?

[Mom2Ian]

I second what everyone else said. However, I just wanted to add that even though you should be prepared to stick to your guns if your nurse/doctor tries to talk you into something you don't want to do, there ARE doctors out there who will respect your choices.

Mine is absolutely wonderful. He encourages me in my quest for knowledge and helps me in this any way he can while always telling me where the info. comes from. He respects my decisions even if they are not "popular" decisions or decisions he would necessarily make for his child and applauds me for taking responsibility for my health and my child's health. He also wholeheartedly supported me through a completely healthy vegan pregnancy and he is what people would call "mainstream." He also doesn't assume that he knows everything and is open to learning. It's all about respect. IMHO, if you don't get it immediately for trying to do what you think is right for your child, and you still want to do check-ups/doctor visits, I would look until you find the right person. They're out there

Good luck!

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

I would just like to share my experience with you, as I found myself in the same situation. I decided after my sons 4 month well baby visit that I was done vaccinating, EVER. So I called my doctors office to make sure they would still see us as patients, and low and behold, NOPE. he was actually pretty rude about it. So I am glad I called first rather then have him try to bully me face to face. Because then I would have left the office in tears, and had to drive my car while trying to see through the waterfalls. So I dropped him and called around til I found a doctor who was supportive of me making my own decisions about my childs health. So my advice to you is find out BEFORE you go to the appt. Try to call the office anonomysly if that helps.

[ribeccalin]

There is lots of info on not vac here, but since I'm in Texas too, I thought I'd chime in anyways. When I was researching TX laws, they have both a religious waiver and philosophical (sp?) waiver. You can actually apply online for the school waiver. There is a link at http://vaccineinfo.net/exemptions/index.shtml

Though you said you plan in home schooling, since CPS makes me so nervous, I went ahead a applied for the waiver (also needed if you want to put your child in most daycares). This way they can never say I didn't vaccinate because of neglect, but was a concious choice. Since neglect is the only way they can say anything about the vaccinations, I figure it's better to prove it was a choice! This waiver had to be applied for either online or via the mail and then once you get it, it has to be notarized, so it's pretty official.

I'd also check out http://www.vaclib.org/exempt/texas.htm for info on giving birth and avoiding Vit K etc at the hospital (if you're going to a hospital and are worried about these things).