Thoughts on Alternative Vaccination Schedule?

giddygen · February 2011

To all NorCal Moms -

I was just shocked to see AAP's recommended vaccination shots for 2 months old, and I am totally uncomfortable for my baby to take all these shots. I know this topic is very controversial but I'm just wondering what are your thoughts on Alternative Vaccination Schedule. I would like to know if there are moms out there who followed Dr. Sear's vaccination schedule and if you dont mind sharing your experiences. Thanks!

hudsonsmama · February 2011

My MD spreads them out. He doesn't think there is a need to have all shots given at the same time. We go in at 1 month, 2 month, 4 month, 6 months, and than 1 yr, 15 months, 18 months and 2 yrs.

AvaLikeLava · February 2011

There are many on this forum that do an customized vaccination schedule. Many pedis in NorCal are quite open to this, some are not. You will want to discuss this with your doctor and see if you both agree. I think Dr. Sears makes a baseline recommendation, but you should compose a schedule based on your family's needs and behavior. A CDC schedule may be best for you based on that, or a customized alternative schedule. Just discuss it.

With that said, we do an alternative schedule with our boys. They each get all the shots recommended, but instead of getting 3-4 shots per doc visit every other month, we do 1-2 every month. Here's our schedule: https://gnluv.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/pin-cushion/

A word of warning. If you do decide to do an alternative vaccination plan, know exactly which shots your child should be getting at each visit. Ask what is given to your child before anything is administered. Confirm this with your notes. Do NOT assume that the nurse administering the vaccine is well versed in your plan. While yes they should be, since each family does something different, mistakes have been made. At the end of the appointment get a confirmation print-out of your child's updated shots. Keep this for your records in case a mix-up in records also occurs. This happened to us, and I caught it and had proof that an error occurred, and exactly what was accidentally over-written. If anyone other than you takes your child to the docs also be very clear what shots you expect them to be given at that appointment. Do not permit for anything else to be given without discussing it with you.

Celyn · February 2011

What Ava said (although we delay more than she does, doing 1 every 2-3 months)

DandaLion · February 2011

We follow the Dr. Sears schedule with a few adjustments. We only do one shot per visit and will make an extra trip in about 3 weeks later for an additional shot. We have only done multiple shots (2) in one visit if he had already had the shots multiple times. He did have a reaction to hib, so we are holding off on that one until he's older. Our Dr is very on board with our ideas (was excited we had done our research and agrees with our feelings herself we found out). The Dr even suggested a few that we could hold off on since DS isn't in daycare. Im so happy we are taking them slowly and especially since DS had a reaction. Definitely make sure your Dr is on board. I know there are Dr's that aren't and will sometimes pressure you. And ditto Ava on what to do when you go to get the shots.

soon2Bkranz · February 2011

For me its different for each kid.

JLK got sick from her first set of shots...so without really knowing about alternate schedules I started one...Just going in more often and that has worked well for her.

So figured gonna do the same for Jonathan...No good for him. One shot or 25 he was miserable so for him its better to do more less often.

With the next baby I will start delayed and see what happens.

f&s2006 · February 2011

We do the CDC/AAP recommended schedule. I prefer having less visits to the doctor and some trips that have no vaccs so that he has a more positive association with the pedi's office. Also the earlier he is vaccinated, the earlier he is protected from the diseases in question, so that is a bonus in my book. He interacts with a lot of people and other kids so for me that is important.

Also he doesn't have a strong reaction to the shots. If he did I might consider alternatives if it made a difference for him.

And, the whole autism and vaccination link has been determined to be pretty much bogus in my book - the original research data was recently proved to be falsified by the scientist in question - so if that is a strong motivation for why you would like to do the alternative schedule, then please look up the recent news about this.

llamakins · February 2011

My son is 2 1/2. I think we almost completely followed the Dr. Sears alternative schedule so that he would be fully immunized, but broke up vax so he would not receive more than 2 at a time. At this point, he has the same vax as his agemates, and will finish the last HepB in about a week.

Dr.Sears has a schedule like that in his book. It worked very well for us. He has not had any major vax reactions and I would repeat the same schedule for future children. Our son is also not in day care and we did not travel inernationally, but we plan to in the next year, so we made sure to schedule polio, or other vax for diseases still prevalent in other countries. When interviewing pediatricians, we found one who would advise and support us. She thought the AAP schedule was "perfect" but respected our choices as the parent, and did not "judge" when we asked questions or did things differently.

It meant that we went to the pedi's office for a regular appoint or vax-only appt every month for a long time. I was able to do this and it worked well for us. Just keep on top of everything before you go to each appt. I also asked for my doctor's opinion when opting for certain vax first based on what was "going-around". Rotovirus, pertussis and chicken pox were big ones. We delayed MMR until 2 1/2.

GL!

amyfelice · February 2011

I don't think it's necessary to get so many shots at a time. For one thing, Hep B? If you are not a carrier there is absolutely no reason to get hep B. For another, I don't think polio is urgent, sure you can get anything on an airplane but the odds are quite low. The ones I think are quite important at 2m are Dtap (for pertussis), Hib and PCV (for meningitis prevention). I think Rota is kind of optional, but I seriously hate vomit and diarrhea so I projected that onto my daughter and let her be immunized to it.

Seriously there is no harm in waiting on some of them, but some of the others are pretty important to have at the recommended age. I also postponed Hep A, and the MMR. I wanted to postpone VZV but I let my doctor talk me into it and I'm upset that I did because the live vaccines work better if given later (except for Rota which needs to be given before 8 months of age)..

There are so many vaccines now, i think it is becoming less and less controversial to spread them out. Good luck and if your doctor is not able to compromise, you probably need to look elsewhere. In populations where transportation/access to the office is difficult, as where I work, it is more urgent to give all the vaccines when you have the baby in your office.

mrscerruti2be · February 2011

We do a somewhat delayed schedule. Usually 2 per visit. Then we go back two weeks later to do two more. It has worked fine for both kids. I do agree with Ava that you can work out your own schedule with your pedi.

pkw · February 2011

amyfelice:
I don't think it's necessary to get so many shots at a time. For one thing, Hep B? If you are not a carrier there is absolutely no reason to get hep B. For another, I don't think polio is urgent, sure you can get anything on an airplane but the odds are quite low. The ones I think are quite important at 2m are Dtap (for pertussis), Hib and PCV (for meningitis prevention). I think Rota is kind of optional, but I seriously hate vomit and diarrhea so I projected that onto my daughter and let her be immunized to it.
Seriously there is no harm in waiting on some of them, but some of the others are pretty important to have at the recommended age. I also postponed Hep A, and the MMR. I wanted to postpone VZV but I let my doctor talk me into it and I'm upset that I did because the live vaccines work better if given later (except for Rota which needs to be given before 8 months of age)..
There are so many vaccines now, i think it is becoming less and less controversial to spread them out. Good luck and if your doctor is not able to compromise, you probably need to look elsewhere. In populations where transportation/access to the office is difficult, as where I work, it is more urgent to give all the vaccines when you have the baby in your office.

I think everyone needs to do what is right for their family. I CP'ed amy's because I fully agree with her on this. Many of the vaccines you can delay much longer and some are more important.

We have been fully vaxing EJ and mostly on the CDC/AAP's recommended schedule and we have done the Hep B etc because of DH's job and the junk he tracks into our home (DH and I both have gone through above and beyond vaxs too because of the work).

Where we started was by checking out all the mainstream vax schedules and then discussing them each with our pedi and making a couple modifications along the way that we chart out. Maybe this would be a good idea for you too?

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