MMR and pregnancy in near future??

[preggymeaggy]

My DD is about 19 months old, and has not been vaxed for MMR. Unfortunately, I naively trusted her first ped. and we vaxed during her first 6 months of life. Nothing since.

Her new ped. (while totally cool and AP supportive) is also somewhat provax. She is giving me space, but clearly wants me to give DD the MMR shot soon. I feel against it as MM and R are all "no biggies" for childhood, and could be administered much later in her life if necessary. The only reason I am even in question is because me and DH want to be pregnant in the near future...and hopefully there would be more pregnancies to come after that. I know that Rubella can be very serious for a fetus.

What do you think?
Should I get a Rubella vax for myself instead of MMR for my daughter? I am still breastfeeding, so that may not be an option. (I don't know about vaccination during breastfeeding, but I imagine it couldn't be good)

Is it even a common enough risk to worry about? I certainly didn't worry about Rubella during my first pregnancy, and to the best of my knowledge I was never vaxed against it....though I'm actually not positive about that.

Just confused...don't want to give my child any more vaccines...but want to be safe for our future children as well.

Thanks

[JBaxter]

Have you had blood work done to see IF you have immunities? Even if you dont remember having rubella it doenst always mean you werent exposed and got immune. I would start there.

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

First, the Rubella vax has a high rate of reaction in adult women. I think if you check the package insert you'll find all of that info-- the most common reaction, if I remember correctly, is joint pain lasting for days or months.

Second, all forms of the rubella vax do contain aborted fetal tissue. This may not be a concern for you, but many people simply don't know.

If the fetal tissue thing were not a concern for me, I *might* have my DD vaxed with only the R portion of the MMR. I don't know. I'm still very undecided about this one.

Have your considered having your titers checked to see how much immunity you have (did you have MMR as a child?)?

I recently thought my child might have rubella, so I called the peds office. They basically told me it was *impossible* and that it had to be just a viral rash from teething fever. Of course it isn't impossible-- but it is very rare these days. Good luck!

[ZoeyZoo]

Usually a prenatal panel is run while pregnant and one of those is a titer check for rubella immunity. I would start there. Can you get the records from your first pregnancy?

I personally wouldn't do it for myself due to the high reaction rate in adults and if I remember right you can't get pregnant for something like 3 months afterward.

If your daughter gets it it is a live virus so it could shed. Remember that while TTC.

[preggymeaggy]

Thank you for your responses..

The fact that it is a live virus and that the MMR contains oborted fetal tissue DOES bother me. These are some of the reasons why I do NOT want to vax my DD with MMR. I did not know about the high reaction rate in adults or that TTC would have to be held off for a while. Both of these things worry me. I have not had any vax. for about 11 years.

I know that I did not have measles, mumps, or rubella as a child, but I am not certain that I wasn't vaxed against them. Those records would be hard to dig up. However, getting the records from my first pregnancy would be easy. I will start there.

Lets say, for the sake of conversation, that I do not have immunity to Rubella from a vax in the past.

What would you ladies do in my shoes? Honest opinions...how much does the risk of Rubella worry you during a pregnancy?

How many of you went through a pregnancy without immunity, while theoretically being exposed (via your other young children)??

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

I am basically in your situation, though I know I was vaxed with MMR as a child. Who knows if I still have any immunity.

Honestly, we're thinking of TTC again in a year or so, and I suspect I will do nothing for my daughter or myself re: MMR. I personally have a moral problem with the fetal tissue thing (I think there would be more uproar about this is people knew more); that makes it an easier decision than it might be for other vaxes. Here's the conclusion I've come to, even disregarding the fetal tissue:

R vax clearly causes problems for adult women; so it's not worth the risk IMO. The risk of contracting rubella during pregnancy is SO small, and the risk of the baby being harmed is even smaller. If my DD were exposed to Rubella, I would probably be exposed from the same source, anyway-- we're together almost all the time. So why vax my DD? If I were pregnant and she contracted R, I would definitely vacate and leave her with my Dh.

Fifth Disease is similar to rubella in that it has a bad effect on the fetus, but you don't hear people talking about that one much (since... there's no vax). I have a friend who contracted it during the "bad" time of her preg, and her baby was just fine.