Spacing out vaccines

kderham

Let me start by saying, I'm NOT anti-vaccine. I work in healthcare. I know their value and I want my child protected so we will be getting them. However, I want to space them out a bit more. Over the next few appointments, he is getting A LOT. As much as I appreciate science, I don't trust it blindly and I know the vaccines are not very clean and I don't want to risk it.

Any parents who have spaced them out successfully? I know there is the Dr. Sears thing but I haven't been able to find his schedule anywhere but if you have it, PLEASE SHARE I really don't want to hear about how following the schedule is the best for immunity - I know the facts behind it all and am 100% confident in my decision but I'm just not sure how to go about it. I don't mind making extra trips to the doctor if needed. Thanks!

coffeeandbooks

2 months: DTaP, Rotavirus
3 months*: Pc, HIB
4 months: DTaP, Rotavirus
5 months*: Pc, HIB
6 months: DTaP, Rotavirus
7 months*: Pc, HIB
9 months: Polio (IPV)
12 months: Mumps, Polio (IPV) (See 3rd UPDATE)
15 months: Pc, HIB
18 months: DTaP, Chickenpox
2 years: Rubella, Polio (IPV) (See 3rd UPDATE)
2 1/2 years*: Hep B, Hep A (start Hep B at birth if any close relatives or caregivers have Hep
3 years: Hep B, Measles (See 3rd UPDATE)
3 1/2 years*: Hep B, Hep A
4 years: DTaP, Polio (IPV)
5 years: MMR
6 years: Chickenpox
12 years: Tdap, HPV
12 years, 2 months*: HPV
13 years: HPV, Meningococcal (once Meningococcal vaccine is approved for age 2, Dr. Sears will move it there and delay Hep B by 6 months)

coffeeandbooks

That's the Dr. Sear's schedule.  I am actually just doing one at a time.  It means going to the doctors every month but it is worth the trouble for me to avoid the higher risk of side effects of getting multiples.

LittleApple

LalaMama81 said:

FYI, the Dr. Sears schedule is out of date b/c you can't separate the MMR any more. 

I think if you want to space them out you need to do do some serious research not just ask on a message board for the schedule in a book. Read the book. Read other books. Read legitimate websites and articles. 

Agreed. Please read some books on the subject. Not everything you read on the internet is true.

leah2b

We spaced out because my daughter did have a neurological response to the vaccines (she developed seizure like activity following the vaccines - not related to fever).  The neurologistt stated that this can happen with some babies in rare circumstances.  My daughter's nervous system was just more "irritated" by the vaccines. 

 

In any event, because my daughter is in daycare full time, we live in nyc area, and I generally believe in vaccines, we continued.  As PP above, we only do 1 at a time, even if we have to go back every month. 

scdancer

I don't follow a specific schedule. I just don't like doing more then 2 at once, unless it's a vaccine that has more then 1 virus in it. We just did the MMR at 13 months and in 3 months will do the chicken pox. The dr. said if we separate the mmr & ckn pox shots (they're typically done at the same appt. at 12 months) then they have to be 3 months apart. Makes no sense, then why give them at the same time? That sold me on separating those. At her 15 month appt. I won't do more then 2. I'm a stay at home mom so I don't mind going multiple times to get shots. But i usually give them about 1-2 months in b/t so it doesn't overload her. Plus she already has low iron and she is in the 23rd% for weight so not sure how much her little self could take.

DawnLilly

We did a Dr. Sears modified with the MMR worked in. I expressed that I wanted a modified schedule at the very first appointment when DS was 3 days old and his pedi was EXTREMELY supportive and wrote them all out for me and put it it his chart. I would not do anything different at this point if I could.

greyt00

We followed the Sears Modified minus Hep B (my DH and I both read the entire book).  My 2.5 year old will receive the MMR vaccine and the 2nd of the Hep A vaccines in about a week.  I don't particularly want to do those together, but it is getting too hard to make all these extra trips to the dr on top of his other issues.  Also, DS1 got the chicken pox vaccine sometime between 15M and 18M, while I was pregnant, because my pedi was concerned about my 2nd child catching it as a baby.  Otherwise I was not particularly interested in that vaccine at all.  A delayed schedule requires research from you and you need to stay on top of it.  It carries extra responsibility especially if you use day care.  Not sure when we will do Hep B for DS2.  I need to refresh my memory on that vaccine.

coffeeandbooks

I think the suggestions to read the book are good ones but could have been recommended in a less condescending way.

kderham

Thanks! I know what all the information is but no one really had a schedule. Although my pedi is willing to let us do a modified schedule, he won't provide us with any recommended way of doing it. I'm not reading Dr. Sears again because I don't buy into most of what is discussed in those books and I get so annoyed I just have to stop. There is no real information about spacing vaccines out because everything I have found is written by extremists who are either anti-vaccine or are convinced that science has already discovered everything of value. Thanks for the helpful info of one a month. I had thought about it but I have never known anyone who really did it.

KatFCo

If you do read the Dr. Sears book, please read other books and research articles as well. This article on his book, put out by the AAP is informative, and the final section discusses why spacing them out may not be the best idea.

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/123/1/e164.full 

leah2b

People get very worked up for some reason when you deviate from the current vaccine schedule.  I can tell you that my 18 month old daughter is up to date on her vaccines (with the exception of Hep A - which we are holding off on), including her flu vaccine, and we did it by spacing it out. Notwithstanding, we had a legitimate medical reason for doing so.

For most babies, it is not a problem.  For my baby, vaccines most definitely were a problem and were causing her to suffer seizures.  Believe me, when your child is shaking uncontrollably for 2 weeks after each vaccine series, you worry.  It happens, though it is rare.  That's why the government instituted the vaccine compensation board.

In any event, the recommendation from our neurologist was to space them out one at a time, approximately 1 to 2 months apart.  Yes, it is more costly in terms of time and copays for doctor's visits, but for us, it was the most responsible course of action.

vamomtobe

I followed the normal vaccination schedule, so I don't have any experience with making adjustments.  No comments from me on whether it's the right course of action, this is, of course, totally your decision.  I would just caution that books and websites might be helpful for getting some general info, but really I'd ask your pediatrician about the best course of action specific to your child.

capulet

kderham said:

Let me start by saying, I'm NOT anti-vaccine. I work in healthcare. I know their value and I want my child protected so we will be getting them. However, I want to space them out a bit more. Over the next few appointments, he is getting A LOT. As much as I appreciate science, I don't trust it blindly and I know the vaccines are not very clean and I don't want to risk it.

What does the bolded mean?  If you think vaccines aren't clean, why would you separate out shots that are usually given together?  Isn't that more exposure to, um, uncleanliness?

I am not adamantly opposed to spacing out vaccines, I just don't get it, except for kids who have a reaction to vaccines or a family history thereof or something like that.  My kids, like most other kids, have minimal reactions to vaccines.  Mine cry for like ten seconds and that is literally it.  I am more worried about them interacting with other kids (which they have on some level ever since toddlerhood, since I take them to the playground, library story times, etc. - I'm a SAHM, they've never been in DC) and catching whatever because they aren't fully protected yet than I am about whatever isn't clean about vaccines, or supposedly overloads their little immune systems, or whatever.  I usually find such statements vague and not backed up by concrete evidence.  Maybe it is somehow, but the people who have this concerns don't usually give specific reasons that would cause me to make the same decision in what appear to be similar circumstances.  Also, if I objected to everything else that someone wrote in his books, I would probably be suspicious of this one thing.  Maybe I'm narrow-minded, but if people annoy me I tend not to listen to them, which is why I occasionally try not to be annoying.

skibunny59

We spaced out vaccines.  Our pedi actually provides an alternate vaccine schedule for parents who are interested in it.   I have to find my schedule to see what we did.  It is similar to Dr. Sears where they get 2 shots every month up until month 7. We didn't do rotavirus at all.  My pedi actually doesn't give that vaccine because there have been so many problems with it.  

Honestly, I don't see the big deal in spacing out vaccines.  I really don't agree with not vaccinating your child at all but OP didn't say that.  She just said she wants to space them out.  What's wrong with that?  I personally don't feel comfortable giving my child 4 shots all at once. 

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