Can we talk a little about Hib?

13953 Views 29 Replies 21 Participants Last post by nancy926, Mar 2, 2005

dharmama

Discussion Starter · Jan 3, 2005

My dd is 6.5 mo and has not had any vaxes. We are basically delaying until we feel confident in our decision one way or the other. I lean more towards not vaxing...DH, who works in public health (but also had a serious vax reaction as a baby), leans more towards selective/delayed vaxing.

At our 6 mo wbc our doc, who we have a good relationship with, brought up vaxes and asked if we have made a decision. I told him that we are leaning towards not doing any.

He didn't say much (We've had LONG conversations about this...I know he disagrees with not vaxing but he is respectful of our right to decide) except that he'd like me to consider
doing the Hib shot.

He said he has seen two 2 month old twins die from meningitis when he was a young doctor and that it really impacted him and gave him a healthy respect for the disease and the vax. (I didn't bother to ask for specifics...were they breastfed, full term, at home or in daycare, otherwise healthy babies etc.)

Our next apt is not until her one year check. So I told him I would research it further and make an apt between now and then if I wanted to do that vax.

I checked the archives here and there's nothing under Hib. I'm not really a numbers person so the "stats" don't really do it for me. I'm more of a emotional/feelings decision maker. I've read Romm, Cave, and Mendleson's books. I find they all have good info but none of them compel me in either direction.

Any one have any thoughts?

Thanks mamas.

~Erin

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alegna

· #2 · Jan 3, 2005

My thoughts on Hib were twofold- 1. There was no vax for it when we were kids and I don't remember it being a huge epidemic. and 2. The research shows that when you give Hib, THAT kind of meningitis goes down, but a different kind increases, leaving you with the same kinds of numbers.

-Angela

amnesiac

· #3 · Jan 3, 2005

Hib stuf starts about halfway down:
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/Y...-bacterial.htm

dharmama

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 3, 2005

Thanks for the link and personal story. That's the kind of info I find really helpful!!

hcsl

· #5 · Jan 3, 2005

You've read the same books I have, and I was scared enough about Hib to say that that would be the vax I would allow for ds at his 4 month appointment. Unfortunately (said tongue in cheek), the ped's office was out of it and he never got it. At that time I was still a little bit wary of not vaxing (first child, normal mother worries) and family members were giving me all sorts of horror stories about my uncle with polio and my grandmother's cousin who had diptheria, so I caved and said I'd get ds one vax. He was exclusively breast fed and stays home, so I'm not sure why I agreed to that one- maybe because it seemed like the lesser of many evils... At any rate, ds is 18 months now and I'm so glad he didn't get the vax.

Isaac'smama

· #6 · Jan 3, 2005

If I considered this one, I'll wait until a year because then they only need ONE dose to be considered "immune". Plus, I'm b/fing and from what I've read (in one of the books you mentioned), that b/f protects against HIB to a large extent. However with vaxing, I'm still fearful of that window of opportunity issue where kids are more likely to get the disease within a short period of time after they recieve the vax.

Plus, here is a link on b/f and HIB: http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Daily...astfeeding.htm

DesireeH

· #7 · Jan 4, 2005

Personal story with no statistics coming...........

My friend has a 6 month little boy who is staying with her (not hers, the mother sucks). Anyways, he was just hospitalized for a month from meningitis. He had all his recommended vaccines which would mean he had hib at 2 and 4 months and still got meningitis (he is not breastfed either). He ended up with a blood transfusion. Then he is out of the hospital maybe a week and he gets his 6 month vaxes ( :mad ) and now he has a brain infection. I'd say skip it, it doesnt work and then on top of it if you do get it, your body has no immune system left to fight it off.

Gitti

· #8 · Jan 4, 2005

Please read this about Prevnar

...and make a copy for your doctor!

Here is another interesting link.

dharmama

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 4, 2005

Thanks for the link Gitti!

and

Desiree ~ Poor little guy!! (((

)))

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suschi

· #10 · Jan 4, 2005

No vax for hib was around when my first two were born, in fact, I never even heard of hib until a vax for it was offered to my 3rd child born in 1995.

Interesting that 2 month old babes were infected. I wonder if they were vaccinated, making them more susceptible to circulating infections. My first born was fine until her 1st round of shots, then came down with viral meningitis. I believe that vaccines skew the immune system making children catch much more than they would if they weren't vaxed.

My youngest is not vaxed at all, he turned 2 in Sept, and has been the healthiest to date of the 5.

The hand typed hand out for Hib that my dr gave me stated that children in daycare were more at risk for this infection. My baby was not in daycare and was breastfed, so he was not considered high risk, but our dr said they were advising it for all babies. If you haven't already requested the vaccine inserts for each and every vaccine your dr advises, please do so. You will probably find enough info there to make your decision.

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alex-lynne

· #11 · Jan 4, 2005

I felt that THE VACCINE GUIDE by Randall Neustader had a little more Hib info.
One of the side effects is increased risk of Hib meningitis after the shot...yikes that scared me enough to say no.
al

RiceMomma

· #12 · Jan 4, 2005

I may be missing something, but while my vote is not to get this vax, I just wanted to clarify that the Hib and Prevnar are separate vaxes- Hib= Haemophilis influenzae type B and Prevnar= Strep pneumo. (not a big fan of prevnar either.

)

Good luck in your decision, OP.

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dharmama

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 4, 2005

Andrea ~ thanks for the clarification. i was wondering about that.

suschi

· #14 · Jan 10, 2005

Some concerns about Prevnar

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no3/lipsitch.htm

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/94/12/6571

Gitti

· #15 · Jan 11, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiceMomma
I may be missing something, but while my vote is not to get this vax, I just wanted to clarify that the Hib and Prevnar are separate vaxes- Hib= Haemophilis influenzae type B and Prevnar= Strep pneumo. (not a big fan of prevnar either.

)

Good luck in your decision, OP.

Gosh, I am glad someone is keeping us all straight!

Hib and breastfeeding

Hey but wait a minute, this article talks about both Hib and S.pneumonia in one vaccine. Which one is that? Not Prevnar? I am confused!

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/94/12/6571

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amnesiac

· #16 · Jan 11, 2005

No, 2 vaccines. RiceMomma was right. That article does talk about both types of bacteria though.

KatSG

· #17 · Jan 11, 2005

And I posted about it here a lot, maybe they purge the archives.

Your post sounds so much like something I would have written last year. We were big fence sitters, too. I guess you could say we still are, she just hasn't been to the doctor in 5 months so it hasn't come up.

So, believe it or not, I can't remember how old she was when she had Hib. 3 or 4 months, maybe 5. I think we all had it. My dh had pink eye, I had itchy eyes and a runny nose, and dd got bad pink eye and a bad cold. Our NP cultured her eyes, that's how we got the diagnosis. I really think that if it weren't for the fact that she wasn't vaxxed, or if we were with another provider, she likely wouldn't have had the culture and we would have been sent home to give her Tylenol. I'd had these symptoms many times before, especially as a pre-teen, and I think it just goes around a lot without diagnosis.

It took a few weeks for her to get over it but she did. Even then, the NP said he'd like her to get that vax, because he saw a kid with epiglotitis once. I'm convinced providers tell you to get the vax for the disease they saw once that scared them. There's really no reason she should get it now that she's got some natural immunity to it.

DD is 15 mos old now, never vaxxed, still BF a little, and in a home daycare with one other kid. So, she's low risk, but she's also incredibly healthy. Dh gets respiratory infections all the time and I was waiting for her to get one, but she gets a few hours of sniffles and then is fine. It's pretty exciting to see my determination to not vax her pay off. (knock wood)

So, I say don't worry about it. It's not always the horrible disease they make it out to be.

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gilnikche

· #18 · Jan 11, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by KatSG
And I posted about it here a lot, maybe they purge the archives.

Is this the thread you were referring to?

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=150709

RiceMomma

· #19 · Jan 11, 2005

Gitti,

I didn't mean to be anal or anything. I don't want anyone coming here and dismissing information or thinking that the wise mommas on this board don't know what their talking about, or getting confused (although, I am often the confused one!) I just wanted to make sure it was clear what vax we were talking about. Probably doesn't matter, as most people don't know which vax is for what, or what their vaxing against.

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stayathomecristi

· #20 · Jan 11, 2005

Just a thought from another angle: if you allow them to give this vax, will that open the door for others? I think that sometimes providers try to wear us down by getting us to agree to "just one". Then again, many providers will look for any opportunity to vax--er visit, some "epidemic", or a case they just saw.

Don't know why that crossed my mind, but thought I'd share it.

Cristi

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