I have been researching up a storm but am curious on parents opinions. I
delayed with my first and considered skipping them, or at least some,
but his father did it without my knowledge or consent so my choice was
taken from me before I had made a decision. Now DH and I have been
discussing what we plan to do with baby #2.[Poll]
Re: Vaccine Poll
This is very well said. Herd immunity is so important, it protects those with weak immune systems that can't get vaccinated.
I made it past my goal I nursed for 1 year and 6 weeks! Im so proud of myself!
I feel the same way. I didn't just blindly go with the the guidelines, but had a good conversation with the pedi about it. We also travel a lot and I don't want to expose my DD to anything from others because they don't vaccinate.
All of this. My nephew has a compromised immune system and cannot receive many vaccinations, so we part of the reason we vax is to keep him safe.
We vaccinate mostly on schedule. My older daughter had severe reactions to her first two series of shots, so since then we have limited the kids to 1-2 shots per visit then have extra visits as needed to keep them up to date. Since cutting the number of shots her reactions have gotten manageable (prior to that it was over a week of a high fever that did not respond to tylenol, now it's only a day or two of fever), so we'll stick with spacing them. But I would never risk leaving her susceptible to these diseases. As badly as she reacts to just the vaccines I know she would become very ill with the actual viruses.
I disagree with this. The research I've done (CDC, WHO) is that roughly the same percentage of children are seriously injured/killed by a given vaccine as are by the disease in any given year. VAERS exists for a reason.
My son was vaccinated on schedule (except for DTaP, which I wanted delayed). By the time he was 15 months old it was becoming obvious that there was something wrong with him, at that point I stopped all vaccines. Not because I thought that vaccines had caused anything, but because if there was something wrong with his brain I didn't want ANYTHING that could potentially further that problem put into his body if I could help it. (At that time we also went organic, whole food, no chemical soaps, lotions, etc all in an effort to reduce the neurotoxins that he was exposed to). So anyway, he isn't fully immunized. And he is Autistic/Apraxic.
My daughters, I've been very cautious with them, also do my best to reduce the neurotoxins that they are exposed to. They are typically developing, but I (with the blessing of their pedi) have decided to give them HIB and Prevnar only at this point. The plan is as they age to re-evaluate, for example, if they haven't had chicken pox naturally by age 10 (and we'll check titers too) they will get the vaccine (this goes for my son too).
If my son wasn't Autistic, I'm sure I would have done the recommended schedule (maybe some delayed but they would have gotten them all). I believe in herd immunity and I don't want my children to get sick/die, but for US neurological impairment is the greater risk at this point. And their pedi and developmental pedi agree with me.
Dr. Sears Vaccine Book is a good resource if you haven't read it. Also check out the CDC and WHO sites, read the vaccine inserts. Educate yourself and make the decision that is best for YOUR family. You are the one that has to live with the decision.
To the PP who asked about who doesn't vaccinate at all-- I know a family who hasn't. They home school, eat organically, and are pretty health conscious people.
My own son has ASD. We vaccinated on schedule and will do so if we have another child.
We delayed but not on a specific schedule - we just didn't want him to have more than one vax per visit. I remember his first visit at 1 month old they wanted to give him FOUR injections and I so wasn't ok with that. I'd much rather make extra trips to the ped.
DS is 6 and in K right now and he's had everything he's "supposed" to have except for varicella - we're still holding off on that one for now but unless he actually gets chicken pox in the next couple of years he'll be getting the vax eventually.
Oh, and we never do the flu shot if that counts.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
Same here, except we still haven't done chicken pox- prob will at 4 years...