Vaccinations

MrsLee22

What did yall do/are planning to do as far as vaccinations go? My nurses brought it up to me last night since that babies are two months old today (um, ohmygoodness when did THAT happen?) and I dunno, I'm just kind of hesitant about it. I looked it up and the AAP and the CDC both reccomend vaccinating based on actual age and not adjusted. If that's the case then they're due for their first round but they're not even full term adjusted yet! I'm worried about them not tolerating the shots well, and ending up back on the vents for something lousy like that. I definitely want them done before they leave the NICU, but we have AT LEAST another 6 weeks there.

Aghhhhh I dunno! Help!

katie4253

I have no idea what to do either.  H and I are very pro-vaccine in general.  I'm going to defer to the neonatologists on this one.  I thought there were weight requirements for most vaccines too.  I'd be interested to know what shots your doctors think your kiddos can have at their weights. 

SushiNoMore

My son was vaccinated at 2 months based on his adjusted age, which meant he was still only 34 weeks gestational age or so.  

The advantage of having the shots in the NICU is that they can spread them out.  Give one shot one day, the next on day 2, etc.  That was nice.

He tolerated them well (better than he tolerated is 4 month shots yesterday).  I don't remember how big he was, but I'm sure it was less than 5 lbs.

I'd recommend getting them in the NICU, personally. 

schenkertobe

I was also very hesitant to vaccinate based on my LOs actual age, but my pedi recommended it. I only allowed two shots at once though, so that meant splitting his two month shots into two visits. You could ask them to space the shots out a bit?

JosiePosy

We vaccinated based on actual age. No regrets at all.

hnyloven

We vax based on his actual age. I don't know how close you are to coming home but you could ask them to wait a little bit closer to your discharge and spread them out so that your LOs systems aren't overloaded. 

sucrets4

DD was a lot bigger than yours and had hers based on her actual age, but if I were you, I'd want to vaccinate as much as possible while they are still in the NICU.  This way if they have any reactions, they have 24/7 care with nurses and doctors and equipment.  Being put back on the vent in the NICU is better than being in distress at home.

What do the doctors suggest? 

ETA:  Congrats on 2 months!!  :-) 

njdcgirl

Our hospital didn't do them for my son until he was close to discharge (maybe 38 weeks or so - he ended up having a setback and staying about 6 weeks longer though...) 

So, we're two months behind on vaccines (i.e. he got his 2 months shots at 4 months, 4 month shots at 6 months, etc.)  I think we've caught up on some of them now, I think.

Kate621

We chose to follow the recommended schedule. Jack wasn't full term when he got his first round. He was almost 3 months old though because the Neos wanted to wait until he was 2000 grams. He did great. No bradys or apneas. I know it is a hard decision. I felt like it was worth the risk since their immune systems are so fragile. The diseases being vaccinated against would be so much more serious for our little ones.

SurpriseMama

I had a really hard time with this too. My son just got his 2 month vacc at 9 weeks actual, 39 weeks g.a. I was very hesitant, but my ped talked me down. She said that, at this point, we would be doing him a disservice by not vacc'ing against all the terrible things that he could get. He was a little feverish and very, very sleepy for that afternoon and the day after. But now, a week later, he is fine And I admit I feel much, much better about taking him out in public now, knowing that there are at least a few things that he can't catch!

urbanflowerpot

Odd that you should bring this up. My LO just got his 2 month immunization this afternoon - his due date is this coming Sunday, 29 May. So still negative in AA. He's not feeling well tonight - everything they said would happen is - slight fever, upset, not hungry. It's awful. He cried his first tears one per eye at the same time and that was it.

Natalie_may

SushiNoMore:

My son was vaccinated at 2 months based on his adjusted age, which meant he was still only 34 weeks gestational age or so.  

The advantage of having the shots in the NICU is that they can spread them out.  Give one shot one day, the next on day 2, etc.  That was nice.

He tolerated them well (better than he tolerated is 4 month shots yesterday).  I don't remember how big he was, but I'm sure it was less than 5 lbs.

I'd recommend getting them in the NICU, personally. 

This, almost exactly.  We gave H all of his together since he was coming home (3 weeks before due date) but spaced them out for L since he was still fighting the osteo infection.

I also felt much more confident giving them in the NICU where they were under constant watch by the nurses and Drs. 

damabo80

Our drs haven't asked us about this yet. I'd like to do them before she heads home, but would want to space them out (in case she has a reaction to one of them...then they are not scrambling trying to find out which one of the 5 could have caused the issue). The NICU is a pretty damn sterile enviroment, so while I'm not a normal "space them out and delay a bit" person, in this case, I can afford to be.

kaylaaimee

we did actual age- I really debated but all her drs felt it best. the 2month vacs DID set her back from cannula to rated cpap for about 4 days, and she ran a fever and was sick. It was just too much work for her all at once. If it were me, I'd ask if they could wait a week until the babies had adjusted to being off the vent a little longer b/c they just came off so recently.

That said, she did better w/her 4mo shots, we were still in the NICU then and we delayed them until she was a little stronger b/c she was sick when it came time for them and after the first experience I knew I didn't want to add shots on top of that, and we did her 6mo shots Monday. I was really nervous but she just ran a little fever for about 12 hours and was a crankypants.

Initially we were going to delay vaccinate for a full term birth but I talked to all our neonatals and nurses and they felt with her immune system being so weak, she needed the shots. And my main neo delay vaccinated her own kids so I felt she wasn't just pro vaccinations but really took Scarlette's entire issues into consideration. 

good luck, i think its one od the harder decisions (sorry, baby on my chest means one handed typos!)

CLAYLIOVER

I vaccinated the girls on a adjusted schedule. It worked out best for us. Good luck with your decision.

Baby Ts Mommy

My son was vaccinated based on his actual age. (He was 8 weeks early.) He did fine and had no reactions. IMO, your little preemie's have such a weekened immune system that if they were to catch something that they could be vaccinated for, it would be much worse!

jteneback

We have a pedi who is a preemie mom and works with lots of preemies.  We decided to vaccinate a little behind schedule but to be caught up at one year.  Hannah is 3 months actual and she has had half her 2-month shots and is getting the rest in two weeks.  I will say I was nervous before she got them, though.

st.augbride

We did it on schedule for actual age. I was very eager for ds to get added protection!