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Vaccinations - And Plant Based Diet Family...
Hello! This is more of a "holistic parenting" question but i couldnt find a forum on here that it would fit into...
My first question is does anyone no vaccinate your children and how hard was it to find a doctor who would work with you on this? I live in NJ so i would have to file a religious exemption wavier. Im really nervous about talking to our doctor about this decision my family has made and that i will be "screamed at" and that he will "fire" us as his patients (my two children and I all see the same family doctor) Does this happen often?
Also...
I was wondering - did anyone elect to feed their child Soy based formula/Milk upon turning one? I was unable to breastfeed and my 6 month old is currently on Similac. We want to start moving our family over to a more plant based diet and was thinking of switching her to a soy based formula and feed her soy milk instead of cow milk upon turning age one. I would love to hear stories/ thoughts!? Thanks!
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Re: Vaccinations - And Plant Based Diet Family...
I live in Canada, so the vaccinations here are a little different. When my son was born I researched as much as I could and read everything I could get my hands on. We only get him vaccinated with the "milestone" vaccines, and refuse the flu shot (and anything similar).
As far as a plant based diet, our family has been veggie for years. Our son hasn't ever had meat, and he is thriving, growing and developing ahead of the norm. Be warned that you will likely recieve a bit of "outrage" from family and friends about this. If you ever put your children in daycare, it takes a little extra work to find one that works with you. My son was formula fed for the most part after being horribly unsuccessful bf-ing and he had Similac Lactose Free (it was ALL he would take) and then once he got to a year he had goats milk. It wasn't my first choice, but it's better then the cow's milk alternative. He had almond milk after that, but easily gave up his bottles all on his own so he was only using a sippy at meal times and we would just put the almond milk in it. I have friends that fed soy milk, but again, not in bottles for regular feedings, just in sippy's with meals or snacks. Hope that helps a little!
I'm a lifelong vegetarian and had cut dairy out before DD came along. Since we had her on Similac before switching to milk I went ahead and kept her on organic or grassfed cows milk until she was 2 at which point I switched her mainly to almond milk.
The suggestion of goats milk is a good one as it is more similar to human milk, but definitely harder to find and more expensive (unless you're friends with goat keepers). I kept DD on whole milk because from what I could find babies up to 2 years of age really need the cholesterol whole milk offers for brain development.
I didn't use soy because of the concerns with estrogen that it raised for me as well as it not containing the cholesterol she needed. I felt the cows milk was a safer alternative than soy at the time. I will probably do the same with this LO.
ETA: I'm not much help on the vaccinations because after my own research and because of DH's occupation and exposure to many pathogens with his patients I decided to do a pretty mainstream approach, although I did have a few of the combo vac's spread out.
I am not sure how to go about not vaccinating in your state! In my state, it's not that hard. There is just one form to sign, and I don't think it has to be religious.
Regarding soy milk, my two cents: Soy has high levels of phytoestrogens (natural estrogens) and is often given to help menopausal women who are low in estrogen. Nutritionists will often times also recommend avoiding soy if you have any concerns about elevating estrogen levels in your body. Basically, to me it is a hormone-heavy option, and one I am personally not comfortable giving to a small child even though I know it's a common supplement for dairy and formula. Soy is also a common allergen.
I have a dairy allergy and stick to rice, almond, and coconut milk because I naturally have high estrogen (had trouble conceiving because of it), and also tend to have mild allergy to it. I have had better luck with those options. I had a family member thrive on almond milk as a child too.
As a FTM, I don't have a whole lot to offer from a personal experience standpoint, however I used to work as a pediatric RN at a pretty mainstream medical practice. I can say that if you choose to go with a regular pediatrician for your child's main healthcare provider, it will be difficult to find one who will work with you on this without a referral from a friend or midwife that knows of more accepting ones to an alternative vaccine schedule. From what I understand, natruropaths can be excellent care providers for babies and children and are much more willing to work with you on discussing each vaccine, doing no vaccines or anything in between. It will likely make for more of an open discussion rather than feeling ashamed or wrong like a lot of pediatricians can make you feel for questioning or not wanting to vaccinate.
Also, I can tell you that most pediatricians would never recommend switching directly to soy formula from breastmilk; a naturopath may be able to offer more insight into what would be best for wanting to avoid dairy. A lot of the PP's on here have some great advice too!
I agree with the finding a naturopath. For all of your family really - especially if you're vegan. They are wonderful at working with alternative diets and helping you make sure you're not suffering from any nutritional deficiencies (yes, it can happen especially after having a baby I discovered) or food sensitivities.
After DD turned one I started seeing a naturopath myself and now she mainly sees him too. I do like having the pediatrician though just because they are so available and always have someone on call. I find that when I call the nurse line they are great about giving me options to try at home before bringing DD in, while also giving me the signs to watch for if I should bring her in. Often times I talk to the pediatrician's nurse and then take DD to our naturopath the next day if I feel she needs it.
Our pediatrician has been pretty wonderful about my more alternative approach. She didn't blink an eye at the vegetarianism, cloth diapering, vaccine questions/delays, supplements etc. that I have explained to her. I really appreciate that. I'd suggest asking around and looking for an open-minded pediatrician too. Depending on your area you may be able to find a pediatric naturopath as well. That would be ideal.
What are your reasons for not vaccinating?
As far as that is concerned - we are planning to do a delayed vax schedule, so we'll have to find a pedi that agrees with it. I would recommend asking other friends with similar parenting styles, your OB/MW, and any other health care provider you trust if they know of a non-vax friendly pediatrician.
In my area, many pedis don't work with non-vaccinated children because of the risks involved (ie - your kid gets sick because s/he's not vaccinated, now any babies that use that office that haven't gotten vaccinated yet are at risk if they share the waiting room with you, or your kid gets sick with a disease that you don't see very often because of the vaccinations and your doctor isn't really prepared to treat him/her). So you'll have to probably be pretty diligent. They do exist obviously but are probably harder to find.
With milk, I would just be careful with soy - lots of young children are allergic to it. I don't know what the recommendation would be, but definitely do a lot of research and ask your doctor. I'm sure there are other alternatives. I personally am lactose intolerant, so I drink only almond milk - but I have only been doing that since I got pregnant. I have been able to get my calcium, vitamin d, etc without drinking milk at all. It's not the only source.
First Child born
5/5/14 and 6/5/14
11/14
Chemical Pregnancy
9/5/15
Second after severe bleeding for 18 weeks due to subchorionic hematoma
Expecting Number 3 due 10/31/2020
I've also heard some "iffy" things about estrogen levels in soy. Luckily my son adapted to the almond milk really well.
It may be because I live in Canada, but I had no problems finding goats milk. It was still cheaper then formula (but I'm not sure compared to cows milk because I don't actually buy any) and in my grocery store, the brand we bought had different levels of fat, and the one we purchased for our son had a higher fat content then whole milk (3.85%? I wish I could remember!). If you have bigger chain grocery stores near you that have an organic aisle, I would check there.
As far as needing the cholesterol in whole milk for brain development, that is all completely a myth. Your child can develop at the same rate as a child drinking cows milk (whole or not) without drinking anything from an animal. Before deciding to raise our son as a veggie (I was a veggie for years, but my husband was not, so we were left with the decision on what we should do with our new baby!) we did a lot of reasearch. I went to my family MD and a nutritionist (more then one, as I found the ones funded by the government to be full of poo) and I read books and university studies online (both Canadian studies, American studies and a few from the UK) before both my husband and I ultimately made the decision. We were planning on raising our family as vegetarians, but once our son started to show intolerance to dairy, we began dabbling into veganism more and more. While now he's able to consume dairy products, and was able to build up the lactose enzyme by 18 months old, we choose to not consume those products. 2 books I would highly recommend, just for some good reading, is "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safron Foer and "The Veganist" by Kathy Freston. "Eating Animals" especially spoke to me in volumes, because the author went on his journey after having a son of his own. The book is incredibly well reasearched, from ALL sides of the food industry.
Since we've made the decision to raise our family as veggies, we've recieved so much skepticism from family and friends. I can't tell you how many people become "protein geniuses" when they learn we don't consume meat products. We just learned to smile and nod, and let the fact that our son is developing into a smart, happy and healthy little boy speak for itself.
I would call around and just ask on the phone if the doctor accepts non-vax patients. I got lucky, when we were looking for a new doctor, I found one on the first try. I was shocked, I thought I'd have to call like 50. With our first pedi, just asking about delaying or anything we got treated like dirt. So it can definitely be hard to find a nice doctor. I'd definitely suggest a naturopath, especially since you are considering an "alternative" diet. They would probably have a lot of insight for you.
I don't really have suggestions about the milk. We love raw cow's milk here (which is legal in our state). Well, ok, dh hates it, but the rest of us like it. It's too thick for him. Someday I want to have my own farm with mini-goats for milking, that would be ideal to me. We aren't super soy fans, so I avoid giving it to my kids. I suppose if you found a good source of soy that was guaranteed to be non-gmo, then that would be good. But soooo much soy in our country is gmo. Almond milk is great too. It's actually easy to make (you can google for recipes). I prefer almond and rice milk mixed together, as opposed to one without the other.
I was a vegetarian for almost 10 years. I hate how people treat veggie's. You just have to learn to let stupid comments slide, otherwise you'll spend your entire life trying fruitlessly to educate people about something they don't really care about.
No advice on the vaccination stuff
I was going to mention the estrogen issues with soy but a couple of ladies already did. I'd probably go with almond milk.
Hemp milk is the most nutritious milk alternative. It is highest in protein and fat. Here is a comparison I once did while researching the best alternative for my dairy and soy allergic son. Every nutritionist I talked to said that if you are going to use rice or almond milk, you need to make sure to add a tablespoon of oil per 8 ounces to add more fat.
I am soy intolerant and have done a lot of research on soy. Here is some info I found about it. It's not just the estrogen you need to worry about, but the effects on your baby's digestive system.
I would never trust a pediatrician who actually allowed unvaccinated patients. Good luck to you with that. And good luck to your children. '
It would be much more beneficial to them if you actually tried to protect them from deadly, preventable diseases. Especially since there is ZERO proof that anything other than the CDC recommended vaccine schedule makes any difference.
I'm in NJ and the pedis I interviewed don't accept non-vaccinated (by choice) children, which I was relieved to hear because I wouldn't want my infant exposed to older children in the waiting room who were non-vaccinated (unless, of course, they were imuno-compromised and COULDN'T be vaccinated for whatever reason- but I expect such cases are rare, and as such, my baby wound't have frequent exposure).
Not vaccinating your kids at all is scary. For your kids as well as others who will be exposed to them- one of the reasons we're seeing diseases like whooping cough on the rise is because our herd immunity is decreasing. Also, you will have a very hard time enrolling them in school. If you want to do an alternate schedule or something, I can say a lot of people highly recommend this practice: https://www.wholechildcenter.org/index.html
One final note- I had whooping cough as a teenager (I was allergic to the vaccine and could not complete it). It was dangerous and very NOT FUN. No, I didn't die, but I really wish I could have had the vaccine as a baby. My entire family also had to go on a very nasty medicine with terrible side effects. I had fits of coughing/being unable to breathe so severe I almost blacked out and honestly thought I WAS dying. I missed weeks of school. All could have been avoided if only I could have had a simple shot as a baby. Yes, I lived, but it's probably the sickest I've been in my life and I know it scared my mother to death.
I don't think the OP was looking for advice on whether or not to vaccinate her children, it sounds like she's already decided.
As far as vaccines go, not a single vaccine out there is 100% effective. You can get the pertussis vaccine as a baby and still get whooping cough. My sister and I got the chicken pox vaccine as babies and we both still got it, and not mildly.
Just something to keep in mind. It's not like children that aren't vaccinated are walking around infecting everybody. Most children that aren't vaccinated actually tend to be healthier then those that are.