Flu Shot?

caymarks

What do all you ladies say about getting the flu shot during pregnancy?

oliversmommy32912

I say everyone needs to do what they feel is best for their body and their baby, whether that be fully vaccinating, partially vaccinating, or not vaccinating at all. 

With that being said, we chose to vaccinate. I got the flu shot during my pregnancy (the preservative-free one). I worked at the front desk in the lab and radiology department in a medical clinic during my pregnancy and had contact with roughly 500 patients a day, many of them sick. The flu shot was required for all staff members. I would have probably chosen to get it if it even if it wasn't required because I was exposed to sick people on a daily basis. If I was a SAHM like I am now I may have chosen differently because I do not have as many risk factors.

BLPL101

I got it in Oct (the preservative free one). I had no reservations getting it.

mlrafiki

I got it. The only vaccines I would avoid are the ones that get rushed through the mandatory testing phase, because those are the ones that are later discovered to have adverse side-effects. As far as I have read, however, a standard flu shot is not in this category and is generally safe. As PP said, preservative-free for us pregnant ladies.

QBall27

I got it late this fall, at the advice of several physicians & friends - and after reading a bit about recommendations & risks.  I'm glad I did; it was the right choice for me/my family.  

PansyPants

I agree that everyone needs to do what's best for them so I'll just tell you what I have done as a way of sharing.

 

With DS1 I got it at 6 weeks because I was going to be working a video game convention at 9 weeks and "The Pox" is a common term for the random intense sickness that tends to spring up in everyone after a convention ends. I was pregnant mostly over the summer and didn't get sick a single time.

 

This time I'm a stay at home mom and decided not to get the flu shot and ended up with the flu last week and in L&D being monitored and on Tamiflu. However..... I got the flu a few days after Christmas and after having moved two days after Christmas. I think I was just so over exhausted that my body couldn't fight off anything.

Baby is fine and everything is going along as expected so I don't regret not getting the shot, however; it would have been nice to not get sick over new years and then get my 15 month old (who did have the flu shot) and DH sick. 

GraceInCA

I got mine. Horrible flu this year, and I'm glad I have some immunity against it.

Mrs E in Oregon

Everyone has their own views but I don't get flu shots and won't while pregnant either. I haven't had a flu shot since I was 15 and haven't been nearly as sick from the flu as when I was a child getting the shot. I do not believe in getting this shot because it is going to be a form of the virus that was most popular last year. It has already mutated by the time they start selling it. People say there is a risk with the other stuff in the shot so that's just more incentive to not get it for me.

GraceInCA

Mrs E in Oregon:

Everyone has their own views but I don't get flu shots and won't while pregnant either. I haven't had a flu shot since I was 15 and haven't been nearly as sick from the flu as when I was a child getting the shot. I do not believe in getting this shot because it is going to be a form of the virus that was most popular last year. It has already mutated by the time they start selling it. People say there is a risk with the other stuff in the shot so that's just more incentive to not get it for me.

This is false. Please don't spread incorrect information about the flu vaccine, this seems to be a big problem on The Bump. The vaccine each year is designed after projecting what the most common seasonal flus will be. This year's most common strain turned out to be H3N2, but there are others. This year's vaccine does in fact immunize for most variants of H3N2.  As far as scientists can tell so far, the vaccine is well matched to this year's strains.

At least 18 kids have already died from this flu season. It is one of the worst in recent history.

ATLdesi

I got it in October (preservative-free formulation).  Last week, I came down with the flu (Influenza A).  I was initially irritated that I got the virus despite having been vaccinated.  But I heard that the vaccine helps you experience less severe symptoms if you get the flu.  Upon hearing that and thinking about it, I realized - if that's true, then I'm extremely happy I got the vaccine, because my symptoms were horrible and anything worse than what I experienced, and I would not only have been admitted to the hospital, but probably would have wound up in the ICU.  The flu is really no joke.  I was running a fever over 101F for over 24 hours that Tylenol wouldn't touch, and 8 days later I'm still having respiratory problems.   

pantherRN

The flu and flu vaccine is one of my biggest soap boxes. This flu season especially is so, so bad. Cases keep climbing and there's no peak in sight. I'm an ICU RN and everything in our hospital is totally full and our census is higher than it has ever been, mostly due to flu cases. On Monday alone, we had 30 admissions through the ED just for positive flu cases. This isn't counting the ones who were sent home or the ones that were probable cases but unconfirmed. 

The flu shot works and is also a good way to prevent pneumonia is those who are not eligible for the pneumonia vaccine. There is a lot of good information out there on the flu vaccine and the flu. Check out the CDC's website and PubMed for research articles. 

PhoenixBritt

I decided to get the flu shot this year even though I have not in the past. I am a social worker and I work with foster kids who tend to be sick a lot. To me it was worth it to protect myself and my baby. I am just getting over a horrible cold that lasted 5 days so I cannot imagine getting the flu.

KrisM86

Get it! All of the evidence shows it is safe for pregnant women and every single midwife, doctor, and nurse I've talked to strongly recommends getting it. The flu can be extremely dangerous and even deadly for a pregnant woman and for a newborn baby.

cecilyandgautam

I waited until after I gave birth to get mine - got it in the hospital before going home. But everyone else who was visiting the baby in the first weeks got it ahead of time. Given the timing of everything, I only got mine 3 weeks after the others and generally wasn't out in the public too often during that time anyway. 

I know there are no documented negative side effects for pregnant women on this but personally, I just don't feel satisfied with the amount of research that's been done on vaccines & pregnant women so generally I prefer to keep up with my vaccines before conceiving and then catch up as needed right after birth. If there was a serious outbreak, I would reconsider, but as the others have already pointed out this year's flu vax doesn't protect against the main source of the flu outbreak. 

mandy522

My doc recommended it last season while I was pregnant, and I got it. At the time I didn't really have strong feelings about it, but I definitely do after seeing my baby sick for the first time. DS had a bad cold and was running a 103 degree fever, and it is terrifying to see your tiny baby that sick. And that was just a bad cold - I can't imagine how much worse it would have been if he had the flu or whooping cough and was having trouble breathing. Personally, I think anything I can do to keep my little one healthy, including being vaccinated myself, is totally worth it.