Baby with heart problem/surgery and VAX ?

[myseashell]

Hi everyone,

I really need your input on this situation. Let me give you a little bit of brief history of where I'm coming from. I have two children and one on the way in less than 2 weeks! My first, my ds who is now 6 began to receive his shots as scheduled as I was a new mom and ignorant about the other side of vaccine info. Well my ds developed a severe reaction to his 2nd month shots I think the DTP. He cried high pitch unconsolable for over 12 hours, he arched is back in pain, had high fever, and just seemed out of for a few days - I thought he was going to die that night yet not his pediatrician nor the insurance nurse told me to take him to the ER. Anyhow, this is how my research began and decided against giving him anymore vax. Then I had dd #2 who is now 4 yo. and so I also refused any VAX for her.

And now I'm pregnant with #3 a little girl who is due in one to two weeks. This baby was diagnosed with a heart problem and is suppose to require Open Heart Surgery shortly after birth. I've heard a lot about them being immuno comprimised at least for a while and that colds, and flus can really take a toll on their hearts. I really don't know what is the best in this case. Knowing what I know about the vax's I rather she not have them, but because of her condition I'm not sure if she would benefit from these or instead be harmed. I was also trying to advocate for her to have bloodless surgery but she might require a blood transfusion, do you think in this case the Hep. B shot is warranted? Does anybody have any any any idea what I should do in this situation? Thank you for all input - I'm all ears.

[MissRubyandKen]

I really don't have any advice, but couldn't read without posting. This is a tough situation no parent wants to be in. I wish the best for you and your daughter and am sending healing, healthful vibes for you and yours, whatever you decide is best.

[JBaxter]

Well with your new little one I would NOT give a HEP B shot at birth. The main reason is it would have no baring on the surgery. YOu need the complete series to have immunity. All it would be doing is stressing her little system before surgery. If she will be needing a series of surgeries you may want to look at pros and cons because of her recieving blood products but for the 1st surgery/birth the HepB would be a non issue because it wouldnt do any good.

[lovin'leo]

If you're really concerned about Hep B from donor blood, you could ask that she have the immunoglobin after surgery if she ends up having to have a transfusion. Donor blood is screened pretty carefully though, I'm not sure there's much if any risk.

As for the other vaxes when she's older, I really don't know. I probably wouldn't do any, personally.

[mangosink0]

Do you have anyone such as the baby's father who can donate blood for the baby to get? Directed donor I think it's called.

[suschi]

The first thing I would do is request studies from your ped on vaccines given to infants who had heart surgery.

Interesting to note that out of my children who did get vaccines (4 of 5) the only one who had very obvious problems with the vaccines was my son who had heart surgery. Do they even test these vaccines on these children? From what I can find, only HEALTHY infants and children are recruited for the studies, yet the vaccines are given to all.

So see if you can get some studies, and if they are unable to supply them, I would think very long and hard before allowing any vaccines. Part of my son's thymus was removed during surgery, they told me this was routine, and that the thymus had already done it's job. After surgery, I found out the thymus is part of the immune system and continues to operate well beyond PUBERTY.

My son had surgery at 6 wks of age and his 1st round of shots were delayed about 1.5 months, so he got his 3rd round at 7.5 months, and he wasted away before my eyes directly following that round. That was 9/27/99, I stopped all vaccines at that point until I could get some answers, I'm still waiting. Most of the problems went away over the course of 1-2 years, and he's been much better but still very small for his age. He will never get another vaccine as long as I have anything to say about it.

That's just my experience.

Christine

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by mangosink0

Do you have anyone such as the baby's father who can donate blood for the baby to get? Directed donor I think it's called.

Yes, I would line up anyone in your family who is healthy to do directed blood transfusions for your child.

s. I would not vaccinate. JMHO.