safe for non-vax baby in daycare?

[durafemina]

I was reading the Dr Sears vaccine book and he says if you choose not to vax to breastfeed for 2 yrs (ok, easy to follow that one for us) and to not have your child in daycare. I have to return to school when dd is 9 months and she'll be looked after 1-3 days a week by a friend whose own kids are in school/larger daycare for some of the time. Dd has had no vax.
It seems to me that normal immune building through this type of exposure would be fine (she lives in the country, has animals, dd will still be mainly consuming breastmilk), but was wondering if any one had any thought?

tia!

[EVC]

My unvax'ed dd has been in daycare since she was 10 months old, and I personally don't worry about it :

I would worry more about the food being served (i.e. that they are providing healthy meals).

Most of the viruses that go around daycare aren't things that are vax'ed for anyway, so a healthy diet is really the best prevention

[alegna]

This is one reason I don't like what Sears has to say on vaxes. Scare tactics IMO.

Either the vaxes work- and most kids in daycare will be vaxed, so not a lot of worry. OR the vaxes DON'T work and then why would you give them to your kids?

Just doesn't make sense.

Kids in daycare are going to get sick more than kids not in daycare. Goes with the territory. It happens for a lot of reasons.

But they will get colds and stomach bugs and the like. Nothing that there's a vax for as a rule.

It wouldn't change my decision making process.

-Angela

[Spy]

he says if you choose not to vax to breastfeed for 2 yrs and to not have your child in daycare

So, if you choose to vaccinate, its ok to feed them formula and have them in daycare? Strange guy this dr Sears.

Daycare for babies is not a safest place in its own right, totally regardless of vaccination. All being equal, I'd put my money on an unvaxed breastfed baby in daycare rather than on vaxed and formula fed - to be better of, that is.

[greeba]

Originally Posted by Spy

So, if you choose to vaccinate, its ok to feed them formula and have them in daycare? Strange guy this dr Sears.

Daycare for babies is not a safest place in its own right, totally regardless of vaccination. All being equal, I'd put my money on an unvaxed breastfed baby in daycare rather than on vaxed and formula fed - to be better of, that is.

i loved the book and i'm not vaxing. it gave tons of info about what's in the vaxes and why some people choose not to do whichever vax. very balanced even though he recommends most of them.

i think he's saying it's okay not to do certain vaxes if you are long-term breastfeeding and your dc is not in daycare. he definitely supports ebf and attachment parenting though.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by greeba

i think he's saying it's okay not to do certain vaxes if you are long-term breastfeeding and your dc is not in daycare. he definitely supports ebf and attachment parenting though.

But the thing is, it's "okay" not to do ANY vaxes even if you're not long-term breastfeeding and your kid IS in daycare....

Scare tactics IMO. "well... it's alright to skip a FEW vaxes, if you're PERFECT on everything else"

-Angela

[readytobedone]

yeah, i agree with alegna. either you want to vax or you don't. it's kind of a separate decision in some ways from daycare or breastfeeding. i wouldn't vax just because DD weaned early, or something like that. doesn't make sense.

we are not vaxing (yet, probably at all), i plan to CLW, and DD goes to daycare (small, in-home, 4 afternoons per week).

i would look at smaller daycares (in-home for me is great!)--i have found DD is not any sicker than she was before we began. and i don't really worry about VADs, but i was worried about persistent annoying colds and such.

[UnassistedMomma]

I've had a similar question and just hadn't gotten around to asking it yet. Our DS is unvaxed, and we had planned on selective vaxing once he was 3. Now, we have a new baby arriving just about the same time, and I have concerns about the live virus in the vaccine "shedding" and causing a problem for the unvaxed new baby.

Is that a situation to be concerned with, either in the home, or in the daycare where an unvaxed child will be surrounded by other children getting fresh and shedding vax's?

I'm not sure which ones shed and which ones don't, so I'm still trying to sort out the potential complications of our original plan here and figure out how we may need to modify it due to the new baby on the way.

[mamagranola64]

Unassisted Momma.... i believe you are in the right to be concerned about the virus "shedding" bc that's exactly what it does... and from what i understand, not safe for a newborn's immune system.

My 5 month old is in daycare at my midwife's home (with her 9 homeschooled children) and they are all nonvaxd. she wouldn't even take a child into her home who wasn't because of the "shedding".

something to look into...

[attachedmamaof3]

This is my number one issue with Dr. Sears' book. It has TONS of incorrect information in it and this is a huge one.

Give me a break. What, you're supposed to stay at home, nursing 24 hrs a day until your kid graduates from....what? Preschool? Daycare's unsafe but elementary school is fine? I notice he didn't recommend homeschooling if you're unvaxxed. Just the completely unfounded recommendation to consider vaxes if your kid is in daycare. That doesn't even make sense.

My partially vaxxed oldest and completely unvaxxed youngest were in daycare from around 9 mo old. (I pulled DS#2 out at around age 3 because I was SAHM with DD by that point).

No, it's sooooo not something you should worry about. They'll encounter just as many germs if you go to a playgroup with any frequency or go shopping everyday or go to the library, etc. Of course, close contact may increase things like colds/runny noses.

Ridiculous.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by UnassistedMomma

I've had a similar question and just hadn't gotten around to asking it yet. Our DS is unvaxed, and we had planned on selective vaxing once he was 3. Now, we have a new baby arriving just about the same time, and I have concerns about the live virus in the vaccine "shedding" and causing a problem for the unvaxed new baby.

Is that a situation to be concerned with, either in the home, or in the daycare where an unvaxed child will be surrounded by other children getting fresh and shedding vax's?

I'm not sure which ones shed and which ones don't, so I'm still trying to sort out the potential complications of our original plan here and figure out how we may need to modify it due to the new baby on the way.

The ones that shed are - rotavirus (given only in early infancy), MMR, Chickenpox and flumist (not the flu shot, just the mist)

Why do you feel your 3 yr old needs vaccines now?

-Angela

[amnesiac]

Please keep in mind that this area is for discussions pertaining to not vaxing at all. Concerns specific to selective or delayed vaxing should continue in that subforum.

[EVC]

I generally don't worry about shedding. The only one of concern, imo, is rotavirus--that can be nasty, but also pretty easy to prevent through good hygiene and only given to infants (forget at what age--maybe 4 months?). The others don't bother me. The MMR doesn't seem to shed enough to cause transmission of the viruses,, chilckenpox might but we want chickenpox anyway. Flumist is nasty, but most of the toddlers I know got the shot (which doesn't shed), not flumist.

Having said that, my dd has never caught a VPD from a vax'ed child--and all the other kids in her group are totally vax'ed (right down to the aforementioned flu shot).

[Arduinna]

My dd was in daycare as a toddler since I was a single mom and we never had any issues. But this was almost 20 years ago, so prior to all the additions made.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

Originally Posted by alegna

But the thing is, it's "okay" not to do ANY vaxes even if you're not long-term breastfeeding and your kid IS in daycare....

Scare tactics IMO. "well... it's alright to skip a FEW vaxes, if you're PERFECT on everything else"

-Angela

You just described my life in a nutshell. I could not breast feed past 3 months, I tried soooo hard, but my body just wasnt doing it for us. My son as been in daycare since he was 8 weeks old. So, according to Dr. Sears, my son is going to get a VPD? I wish I could EBF and keep him home with me. In a perfect world, that would be the case. but since we live in THIS world, and I am still his mother and make all his health choices, I have chosen NOT to vaccinate him, regardless of his breast feeding status or daycare status.

[Chubby]

My son went to daycare at 2, he's had a couple of colds and some "crap" but nothing life threatening. It happens. It happens in vaxx'd kids, it happens in unvaxxed kids.

Bugs are bugs and even with the best intentions kids will get sick. My daughter and I just got some nasty Norovirus? ugh.

Son is totally unvaxxed and healthy, healthy. He sheds the colds and some of the kids in daycare never seem to shed them. I don't worry about shedding, because as *I* understand it, they are actually giving him a bit of exposure to it to which his immune system can work it out for himself. We are all around people who shed, day in and day out, daycare or no daycare, especially as a military family, so deal with it now or deal with it later.

I would leave unvaxxed and just keep on being healthy (which, in my house means NO microwave, NO teflon, NO soda pop, etc.)

We all do what we can but nothing will be perfect...........

[durafemina]

thanks for all the replies mamas. My intuition did tell me that it was fine - not much difference from us spending the day with friends who have kids in school, etc. I feel comfortable that the environment will be a healthy one - lots of fresh air, whole foods, etc. and I don't think isolating dd will be doing her any favours health-wise.