Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Parenting › Ages and Stages › NICU & Preemie Parenting › Considering the RSV shot
New Posts  All Forums:
 

Considering the RSV shot

post #1 of 50
8/14/08 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Mamas,
My DD was born at 35 weeks July 9th and went to the NICU initially for rapid breathing. Her breathing was normal after a few days but she was jaundice so she ended up staying in the NICU for a week and a half. Our ped wants us to consider getting her the RSV shots starting in October. She will be in daycare full time and I have a 5 yr old son too that's in daycare as well. The shot seems like the right thing to do but I wanted to check with some moms that have already BTDT before I commit to it. Our insurance should pay for it.
Thanks!

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
post #2 of 50
8/14/08 at 4:45pm
We did the RSV shot. It doesn't have the same components as vaccines and it doesn't work the same way as far as providing immunity. We didn't have any negative side effects whatsoever and I really felt it was important for her to have since her immune system was so compromised. Are you thinking about it for this winter/fall? I'm not sure I would do it outside of the RSV season. During the winter, there are usually several kids in Callie's daycare that end up with it, but I haven't seen it happen at all outside of the peak season.
post #3 of 50
8/14/08 at 4:50pm
Starting in October would be about the beginning of RSV season. I never got an RSV shot for my baby but he did have RSV at 8 days old. Though he was term it was a rough experience. I know another mama who's 3 month old had RSV at the same time and although he didn't have to be hospitalized he did have to take albuterol and was pretty sickly.

If my preemie baby was going to be going into daycare I would definitely get the shots. I think the pros outweigh the cons in that situation b/c contracting RSV can give them breathing problems for years. My ds currently has to take breathing treatments and some breathing treatments are very expensive.
post #4 of 50
8/14/08 at 8:37pm
The vast majority of vaccine leary moms I know have done the RSV shot if their kid qualifies. It's not an actual vaccine at all. It's actually a monthly shot of immunoglobulins that help decrease the severity of RSV if your kiddo happens to catch the virus. Seeing that your little ones are in daycare and the baby was a bit premature, I would definitely be going for it if insurance will cover it.
post #5 of 50
8/15/08 at 12:11pm
Absolutely do it! Safeguard your wee one from RSV! We'll be doing a 2nd round wityh my 30 wkers.
post #6 of 50
8/15/08 at 7:02pm
RSV is difficult to consider, my nephew had it when he was young and still has issues from it.

I would consider it. I can't say for certain what I would do.


post #7 of 50
8/15/08 at 7:38pm
We did these with my preemie son and it really seemed to boost his fragile system that first bad season. (And gave me peace of mind.) There were no apparent side effects. I'd say it's better than winding back up in the hospital on a respirator.
post #8 of 50
8/15/08 at 8:13pm
do you breastfeed? my breastfed daughter had it at 3 months but didnt get hospitalized. my cousins baby who was 6 weeks older also had it at the same time. he was formula fed and had to stay in the hospital a week. breastfeeding does help lesson the severity but i would consider the shot for this season if baby is a preemie going into daycare and isnt drinking breastmilk full time. you probably wont have to do the shot next season as baby will be bigger and stronger. here's to a healthy baby all winter long!
post #9 of 50
8/15/08 at 10:21pm
I would do it (and have, with my two preemies who qualified) However, with a 35 weeker, I would be very, very surprised if you get your insurance to cover it - the parameters for coverage are pretty strict, becuase each shot is very expensive. I fought tooth and nail to get my 32 weeker covered in his second winter (he was born in Dec, so he got the shots from dec-april, then they wouldn't qualify him again in October for the second winter) and he got RSV that winter. Spent several weeks in the hospital, and now has asthma and a good deal of respiratory issues that I attribute directly to the scar tissue from RSV.
post #10 of 50
8/15/08 at 11:49pm
Hopefully you will qualify for the shot and insurance will cover it. The shots for Maggie her first year plus 3 months (oct-may) were 12K and thankfully covered but we would have gladly paid for them. I know babies who were better off born and coming home, but ended up not so better off not qualifying for the shots. I also know babies who had the same odds Maggie did- micro preemie, older sibling in school, came home on O2 and not qualify thru insurance. My ped was ready to go to war about it but they covered it.

And yes, I would do it again if I had to.
post #11 of 50
8/16/08 at 10:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amys1st View Post
Hopefully you will qualify for the shot and insurance will cover it. The shots for Maggie her first year plus 3 months (oct-may) were 12K and thankfully covered but we would have gladly paid for them. I know babies who were better off born and coming home, but ended up not so better off not qualifying for the shots. I also know babies who had the same odds Maggie did- micro preemie, older sibling in school, came home on O2 and not qualify thru insurance. My ped was ready to go to war about it but they covered it.

And yes, I would do it again if I had to.
Yep, we wound up paying for them for Rusty's second winter (34+ weeker, qualified first year, not second) and it was the best money I spent that year, hands down.
post #12 of 50
8/16/08 at 12:49pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks mamas! I am breastfeeding. The ped felt like we would qualify and I looked up the parameters for qualifying on the Synagis website. Having a school aged sibling and being in daycare more than 4 hrs a week are 2 qualifying risk factors that apply to us (and 2 is all you need for a 35 weeker) so it should be approved. I don't know about next year though. Paying for it out of pocket is something I hadn't considered but after hearing from some of you I might better be prepared to do it if need be.
post #13 of 50
8/16/08 at 3:53pm
I cant decide on this either. I havent had a chance to talk to my ped yet, that'll probably help, but for now I cant decide. Ds is an almost 33 weeker, so he's not a super preemie and I'm not sure it'd even be recommended for him, nor that my insurance would cover it.

Also, for some reason my hospital does them NOW-which seems really odd. Its the middle of summer, hello? So for now he's not getting it and I signed the waiver.
post #14 of 50
8/16/08 at 8:01pm
Our boys will get it. They were born at 25w4d and they'll still be small when they come home. They'll also be coming home just as RSV season is starting and I'm not planning on any more trips back to the hospital, so they'll be getting the shots.
post #15 of 50
8/16/08 at 8:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skylarsmama View Post
Our boys will get it. They were born at 25w4d and they'll still be small when they come home. They'll also be coming home just as RSV season is starting and I'm not planning on any more trips back to the hospital, so they'll be getting the shots.
Sometimes they even start the shots at the nicu depending on how long they are there.
post #16 of 50
8/17/08 at 9:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amys1st View Post
Sometimes they even start the shots at the nicu depending on how long they are there.
We were told that they wouldn't get them there since they'll be home by the end of Sept. I guess around here, they start with rsv shots close to the end of October.
They do however, start other shots in the hospital. They did, however, try to give my 1.5lb. boys the hep. b shots at 30 days old. They recently tried to give them the dtap and the doctor was majorly pissed that I refused. He told me I was selfish and tried to scare me into giving them. That's a whole nother thread though.
post #17 of 50
8/17/08 at 1:07pm
Wow, thats dumb.

I've been lucky. I told them I was refusing any vaccines for now, as we delay and selectively vax. All I've gotten is interest and positive responses, go fig.
post #18 of 50
8/17/08 at 2:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skylarsmama View Post
We were told that they wouldn't get them there since they'll be home by the end of Sept. I guess around here, they start with rsv shots close to the end of October.
They do however, start other shots in the hospital. They did, however, try to give my 1.5lb. boys the hep. b shots at 30 days old. They recently tried to give them the dtap and the doctor was majorly pissed that I refused. He told me I was selfish and tried to scare me into giving them. That's a whole nother thread though.
That sucks! I've been fairly lucky that Callie's docs were all totally ok with delaying her vax's. The only ones I've gotten the guilt trip on are the flu shot and the chickon pox vax. But then again, we vax, we just do a delayed schedule.

I also wanted to add, Callie's doc wouldn't do her shots the second year. Even if my insurance would have covered them (which it would have), I guess there is a limited supply of them, so we couldn't get it at all.
post #19 of 50
8/18/08 at 12:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by skylarsmama View Post
We were told that they wouldn't get them there since they'll be home by the end of Sept. I guess around here, they start with rsv shots close to the end of October.
They do however, start other shots in the hospital. They did, however, try to give my 1.5lb. boys the hep. b shots at 30 days old. They recently tried to give them the dtap and the doctor was majorly pissed that I refused. He told me I was selfish and tried to scare me into giving them. That's a whole nother thread though.
That makes sense. Our NICU only gave Syngais to the most at risk kids in September and all others started in October. My daughter was the only one to get a September shot because she was trached and vented having significant problems. She came home in October and got her shot that month out patient.
post #20 of 50
8/18/08 at 12:33am
You will hear all kinds of stories about cases of RSV that are severe and those that aren't. But, there's no way of knowing which case your kid will be and no amount of breastfeeding or lack there of can necessarily make a difference. My 25wkr got RSV just shy of her 2nd birthday and ended up in the ICU for a couple of days with her entire stay lasting 10 days. That's not to mention the fact that her lungs took a major hit and have never been the same since then. That was WITH getting Synagis shots monthly. Synagis does not prevent you from getting RSV but it does lessen the severity of the infection. I hate to think of how bad our case would have been had she not received Synagis.

Other friends of ours had triplets that at 3yr old former 26wkrs caught RSV and all were admitted to the hospital with stays lasting anywhere from a couple of days on the respiratory floor to one of the girls spending 10 days in ICU.

My oldest a FT girl caught RSV as an infant and for 3wks we were on the verge of hospital admission. The following 2yrs suffered from chronic bronchitis and frequent lung infections.

You never know what your case of RSV will be like but it frequently causes permanent lung damage even after the acute phase is over. Most of the time insurance will cover at least one years' worth of Synagis shots if your kid was premature.

You may also like:

Sitting or Squatting: What's Really Best in the Bathroom?
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Parenting › Ages and Stages › NICU & Preemie Parenting › Considering the RSV shot