Family history of febrile seizures...vax decisions?

[NCSSM04mom]

Currently I'm almost 35 weeks with my first. We've known since we started trying to conceive that we wouldn't get all the vaccinations. But it was only in the last few days that we really sat down to decide exactly which ones.

Using Dr. Sear's book, we came up with a selective list. It doesn't exactly correspond to his lists, but it's what we felt was important. We crossed of Pc and Rotavirus due to a family history of seizures. We weren't that informed about the seizures, though, and just found out that those family seizures were febrile ones.

From the baby's perspective, it's her paternal aunt and maternal great-uncle that have a history of recurrent febrile seizures. Maybe also her 1st cousins once removed, I need to call my uncle.

I know febrile seizures are usually harmless. But I'm wondering if I should just avoid vaxes altogether, since pretty much all of them can cause a fever. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? If your child started having febrile seizures did you keep vaccinating? Or avoid them based solely on family history?

Also, I was not vaccinated as a child. I know everything says breastfeeding offers the baby more protection, but is that still true since I wasn't vaccinated myself?

[emma1325]

Originally Posted by NCSSM04mom

Currently I'm almost 35 weeks with my first. We've known since we started trying to conceive that we wouldn't get all the vaccinations. But it was only in the last few days that we really sat down to decide exactly which ones.

Using Dr. Sear's book, we came up with a selective list. It doesn't exactly correspond to his lists, but it's what we felt was important. We crossed of Pc and Rotavirus due to a family history of seizures. We weren't that informed about the seizures, though, and just found out that those family seizures were febrile ones.

From the baby's perspective, it's her paternal aunt and maternal great-uncle that have a history of recurrent febrile seizures. Maybe also her 1st cousins once removed, I need to call my uncle.

I know febrile seizures are usually harmless. But I'm wondering if I should just avoid vaxes altogether, since pretty much all of them can cause a fever. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this? If your child started having febrile seizures did you keep vaccinating? Or avoid them based solely on family history?

Also, I was not vaccinated as a child. I know everything says breastfeeding offers the baby more protection, but is that still true since I wasn't vaccinated myself?

Yes, breastfeeding still offers immune benefits even if you have never been vaccinated.

Personally, I wouldn't vaccinate if you feel your child is at increased risk for seizures, for the reason you listed (that they can all cause fevers.) Just my view.

[applejuice]

The reason my family stopped vaxing was for a seizure my favorite Aunt had as a child after a vaccination she received; she was never the same afterwards. My entire family started to look at all vaccinations in a new light because of that incident; I had an uncle die soon after my Aunt's seizure episode...

My youngest sister vaxed her children; her DH wanted to, and she did not think she had a choice...: Her DD2 suffered seizures as a baby and now has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, one autoimmune disease that is connected to vaccines.

[NCSSM04mom]

One of the biggest things I would worry about with NOT vaxing is Pertussis. I wish so much that it came in a formula of its own. I'm extra worried about it since it is the one thing my unvaxed sister and I caught as children, and we both had complications from it. Permanent scarring to our lungs left us with a chronic cough...we sound like life-long smokers...

I know no one can make the decision for me, I'm just so torn. It's at least nice to have somewhere to go where I'm not going to be crucified for even questioning it.

[saintmom]

Hilary had some good posts about how to deal with pertussis.Maybe they're still in the archives?IMHO with our family history the dpat is the big one to avoid,but after what I went through/am still going through I won't touch vax's with a ten foot pole!

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by NCSSM04mom

One of the biggest things I would worry about with NOT vaxing is Pertussis..

I had pertussis at age six and so did my sister. We are fine. Everyone is different.

Which is the reason one vax for all is such a bad idea and terrible public health policy.

[Jenn3514]

Originally Posted by NCSSM04mom

One of the biggest things I would worry about with NOT vaxing is Pertussis.

We stopped vaxing when dd developed a seizure disorder after her vaccinations. Before we decided to stop all of them, her neuro said that she absolutely could not have the pertussis vaccine. It is one of the ones most linked to seizures. Your regular pedi may give you a hard time with that though as the insert says it is safe for people with a family history. And there has been an increase in pertussis, although many of those children were vaccinated, which is why they now recommend another booster at age 8.

ETA: DH's family has a few people with regular seizures in it, to go back to your question about family history.

[Claire and Boys]

AFAIK, immunity from vaccination does not pass though to baby via breastmilk, or at least at a much lower rate than if you got the disease naturally. So I wouldn't worry about the breastfeeding since you've not been vaccinated.