Flu shot for before your December birth??

briemarie18 · September 2015

hi all,
I've been reading lots of articles saying that even mercury-free shots for pregnant women are risky. Are the majority of you choosing to get a flu shot while pregnant or waiting til right after the baby is born?

MrsBwIVF · September 2015

My doctors office basically requires it for almost all their patients. I received mine last week and everything is fine.

nik6499 · September 2015

I've never read a credible article that says a flu shot is dangerous for a pregnant woman.

Mizuiro007 · September 2015

I had two while pregnant with DS without issue. Just got one today for this winter.

Cmagno · September 2015

Just got mine today. Contracting the flu is dangerous when you are pregnant so being protected if possible is extra important.

katy4128 · September 2015

Got mine today at my 28 week appt!

lainey419 · September 2015

Neither.

Holdmomma · September 2015

Flu and TDap before baby is born...especially b/c he's a winter baby. Any immunity (even passive immunity that I pass on to baby) is better than having a baby with the flu or whooping cough. I'm not at all concerned with contaminants.

violetigerlily · September 2015

I got both my flu shot and the Tdap at my appointment last week. It's important to know/remember that we are not just getting shots while pregnant is to protect ourselves (though the flu is often much more severe and can be life threatening to pregnant women and their unborn babies) but to generate and pass antibodies to our babies. Getting the shot after LO is born will not give them that kind of protection as the most important antibodies are passed through the placenta.

Here's a fact sheet about the flu shot in pregnant women: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/pregnant/flushot_pregnant_factsheet.pdf

Please talk to your doctor about this if you have concerns.

Side note: breast feeding can also pass antibodies to their GI tract but these don't get into their bloodstream directly and so they don't offer the same types of protection that your baby will get if you get the vaccination while pregnant.

LauraSmarterSpam · September 2015

I got my flu shot the last week in August just before going to Disneyworld. Besides a bruise on my arm, I didn't have any problems.
I had a flu shot with DS as well.

sarahsnowball · September 2015

I had the tdap last week and I'm having the flu shot this weekend. Both were strongly recommended by my midwife.

mltarrio · September 2015

Flu shots are completely safe during pregnancy. Flu on the other hand is extremely dangerous to newborns. Getting your flu shot is your best chance of protecting little one, whose immune system can't protect him/her. There is another thread on this subject where a lot of good information was posted a few days ago.

ColoradoHiker · September 2015

Flu shots are strongly recommended during pregnancy, talk to your doctor or midwife if you have concerns. I just had mine yesterday!

ammnam14 · September 2015

The local news was talking about why skipping the flut shot this year is a good idea. I thought it was so strange. I will definitely be getting the vaccines I need so my little one is healthy and ready for the world.

spottedginger · September 2015

AudriannaMaria said:
The local news was talking about why skipping the flut shot this year is a good idea. I thought it was so strange. I will definitely be getting the vaccines I need so my little one is healthy and ready for the world.

What? Really?

Mizuiro007 · September 2015

AudriannaMaria said:
The local news was talking about why skipping the flut shot this year is a good idea. I thought it was so strange. I will definitely be getting the vaccines I need so my little one is healthy and ready for the world.

I will just say, my dad worked for the media for almost 40 years and the biggest thing he drilled into us was to never trust the media.

AlejandraN2 · September 2015

I didn't get the flu shot my last pregnancy because I was mostly heavily pregnant when flu season was over and gave birth before it started. It wasn't recommended to me given the timing. I did get the Tdap of course. This time, given our winter babies, my doctor wants me to have both. I plan to. As a sidenote, I had never had the flu shot before I had a kid - and I had never gotten the flu. But my DD got sick a LOT her first year and she was in daycare so i wanted to do everything i could not to expose her to anything more which is why i got it for her after she was born.

mrs14678 · September 2015

Two students in first period were sniffly today, and one took some DayQuil..... I'm definitely getting the flu shot at my next appointment on Friday!!!!

briemarie18 · September 2015

Thanks for the insight everyone. Just worried about any potential links to autism but hopefully the non-mercury shots are not a cause for concern now (as much as they were 20-30 years ago).

chillmama1518 · September 2015

All previous "links" between vaccines and autism have been completely thrown out by the entire medical community!

fmraglio · September 2015

briemarie18 said:
Thanks for the insight everyone. Just worried about any potential links to autism but hopefully the non-mercury shots are not a cause for concern now (as much as they were 20-30 years ago).

Every link of vaccines to autism have been disproven. Even the man who originally started the idea admitted his study was flawed and not done properly. You're safe in that regard.

nik6499 · September 2015

There is NO proven, credible link to autism with any vaccine. And this has been studied to the hilt thanks to the Wakefield study which has been retracted by the entire medical community and upon investigation they found falsification of data rendering the entire study invalid.

The actual amount of mercury used in vaccine is almost 5-10x less than you are exposed to in a can of tuna. And the only vaccine that they tried to correlate to autism was the MMR vaccine, and this was determined to be coincidental due to the fact that we cannot screen for autism till approx 18 months which is around the time the MMR was given. We cannot screen earlier as they speech and language pathways are not developed enough to pose a valid assessment of potential delays. You need to do some valid research as there is absolutely NOTHING that correlates vaccines to autism.

If you want a valid reason to vaccinate do some research on the impact these vaccine preventable diseases have on an unvaccinated population.

gerblah · September 2015

briemarie18 said:
Thanks for the insight everyone. Just worried about any potential links to autism but hopefully the non-mercury shots are not a cause for concern now (as much as they were 20-30 years ago).

Stop. I feel like we were trekking along on a vaccination conversation and it didn't turn ugly, so you felt like bringing up autism.
There is no link.

momotheflyinglemur · September 2015

So happy to see all Autism/Vaccination comments being shut down. I know so many amazing hummingbirds (children on the Austistic spectrum) and they are beautiful people.

Anyways, I haven't gotten a flu shot in several years and I have heard that if you get a shot when it hasn't been regular that you have a higher risk of contracting the flu or other illnesses. I am a very healthy person and I don't get sick often. Obviously, any precation I can take, I would like too. Does anyone know the validity of my statement? I will be talking to my OB next appointment regardless.

nik6499 · September 2015

I have not heard that you are more likely to contact the flu or other illnesses when you get the shot when you haven't had one in several years. I work in a hospital and all of us have to get it every single year, even down to housekeepers. If you do not get a flu shot you wear a mask during the entire flu season. They did this because they have research that shows that when the employees are all vaccinated there is a reduced loss of productivity due to illness/sick days used. So I would assume this means that a vaccinated population gets ill less, than an unvaccinated one. I have only seen these studies summarized I have not read them for myself.

A great way to research the topic is via google scholar, it contains actual articles that might answer that question more thoroughly for you.

grkgdss00 · September 2015

I have never gotten the flu shot, or serious flu for that matter. but reading all of this I will definitely check into it with my OB and ask about flu + TDAP and make sure my hubby gets it too!

chillmama1518 · September 2015

momotheflyinglemur said:
So happy to see all Autism/Vaccination comments being shut down. I know so many amazing hummingbirds (children on the Austistic spectrum) and they are beautiful people.

Anyways, I haven't gotten a flu shot in several years and I have heard that if you get a shot when it hasn't been regular that you have a higher risk of contracting the flu or other illnesses. I am a very healthy person and I don't get sick often. Obviously, any precation I can take, I would like too. Does anyone know the validity of my statement? I will be talking to my OB next appointment regardless.

Getting the flu shot once this year or every year for the last 30 will make no difference...it will equally increase your immunity to the flu and prevent illness. Every flu shot is that year's best scientific guess of the most common strains of flu coming up.
The flu shot is an inactivated virus that CANNOT cause you to get the flu or a cold. Some people experience mild fever or aches and pains for a day or so but all that is is your body's immune system mounting a response and producing antibodies (the whole purpose of a vaccine)

Edited because typing is hard

preggoandglowing · September 2015

Does anyone else get sick after getting the flu shot? I did it three years in a row and each time got a horrible cold right after so haven't gotten it the last two years.

koala1107 · September 2015

Just got my tdap and flu shots today! I'm a firm believer that sore arms and maybe the sniffles for a few days are well worth the protection for baby and I.
@preggoandglowing usually the versions with the weakened flu virus (typically the nasal spray vaccine) are the ones that cause mild symptoms but I highly doubt they'd give a pregnant woman anything but the dead virus shot version. I could definitely be wrong but that's been my experience.

chillmama1518 · September 2015

@koala1107 they definitely don't recommend the nasal vaccine for pregnant women as it is a live attenuated (ie weakened) virus. We gotta suck it up and get the needle.

Good news for those with kiddos already though is the nasal vaccine is BETTER for kids! And way less traumatic than a needle!

violetigerlily · September 2015

preggoandglowing said:

Does anyone else get sick after getting the flu shot? I did it three years in a row and each time got a horrible cold right after so haven't gotten it the last two years.

As long as you're getting the shot (and not the nasal spray) you're getting a completely dead virus, so while your body can generate an immune response against it (which is the point of the shot) and you could get a mild fever and feel sore for a day or two, it can't infect you and cause a cold or anything. It was likely just that the shots were given in cold season and likely to coincide with a cold you would have gotten anyway. Maybe if you get it soon, before cold season really kicks in, you'll avoid that. Either way though, it's worth it to make antbodies to pass to the baby for their protection.

Salemkitty13 · September 2015

I had the flu about 6 weeks ago. It was awful! (I had my shot last year but...) Regardless, I will get my flu shot at my next appointment.

JulieK79 · September 2015

Got mine last week!

Gingermom15 · September 2015

FYI the flu is getting an early start at my hospital. Several patients are on precautions already for it so if this is any indicator to how the flu season will go, get the shot. I was going to wait until mid-October, but definitely getting it next week along with the dTap.

susiaustin · September 2015

My biggest worry is my allergies with the flu shot. I'm allergic to egg whites which is in most suspensions for vaccines. I'm also allergic to latex, so anything that comes from those nifty little bottles is a bit of a no no for me... I'm going to definitely have to talk to doctor because I want LO safe

Gingermom15 · September 2015

susiaustin said:
My biggest worry is my allergies with the flu shot. I'm allergic to egg whites which is in most suspensions for vaccines. I'm also allergic to latex, so anything that comes from those nifty little bottles is a bit of a no no for me... I'm going to definitely have to talk to doctor because I want LO safe

An allergic reaction might be more dangerous than the flu if your allergy is bad enough. That's a dilemma I wouldn't want. Hopefully you and your OB can work something out.

Catherine1021 · September 2015

susiaustin said:

My biggest worry is my allergies with the flu shot. I'm allergic to egg whites which is in most suspensions for vaccines. I'm also allergic to latex, so anything that comes from those nifty little bottles is a bit of a no no for me... I'm going to definitely have to talk to doctor because I want LO safe

A friend of mine told me recently that there is a flu vaccine for people that are allergic to eggs. She got it while pregnant and had no issues with it. Apparently her doctor would only give her the alternate vaccine because she was pregnant. Now he wants her to get the regular one, even though she is still allergic to eggs. I'm not sure about the latex allergy though. .

I asked my OB about the flu vaccine yesterday. They don't have it at their office yet, but she said hopefully it will come in before my next appt in 2 weeks. She asked if I wanted the Tdap now, I said yes, but then we both forgot to get that done before I left yesterday. So I guess I have two shots to look forward to at my next appt.

I had the flu about 10 years ago. Fever, chills, and body aches that were much worse than any of the aches and pains I've had during pregnancy so far. The worst part for me though was the cough. It was painful and sounded awful, and hung around for months after the rest of the symptoms were gone. I've made sure to get the flu shot every year since then. I would do just about anything to avoid going through that again.

nik6499 · September 2015

Yes the recumbent flu vaccine can be given to those with egg allergies, it's best to talk to your provider about this option. It also depends on the severity of the reaction.

Birthinrox · September 2015

Got my flu and tdap last week! I'm so happy that there is a way to protect my twins before they can get vaccinated I'm also nursing my 2 yo, so protecting 4 people for the price of one!

rachel10488 · September 2015

I spoke with my dr about flu and tdap at my last appointment and my concerns because I've never had the flu or pertussis vaccine but have a history of reaction to vaccines so am worried about that happening while pregnant with either of those two.
My doctor gave me all the info on why they do both but she did say that the evidence that the baby receives antibodies in utero isn't super strong right now and seemed unconfident about it.
She also gave me the info and dangers on the flu and pregnancy and said ultimately it's my decision but since it's very rare to have such an adverse reaction to getting the flu (I.e. It's only the strains like h1n1 that have killed pregnant women) than waiting till after the baby may be best for my situation.

I'm not saying that everyone should not do it, I'm just sharing info my dr gave me because not all doctors are pushing it heavily like a life or death situation, like my doctors case.

I will also say that my situation is a little more ideal for this because my job is freelance so I only work a few days a my onth and the remainder I am pretty much just isolated at home.

nik6499 · September 2015

I actually just watched a medical presentation on this this afternoon for primary care providers and they were very clear that contracting the flu is exceptionally dangerous for pregnant women, we actually have the highest morbidity and mortality from flu complications, higher than infants and the elderly. So it is actually very worrisome for providers because just how dangerous the flu can be. High maternal fevers which are associated with all flu strains can cause adverse fetal outcomes. I also did not know that 36000 people died from the flu and flu related complications last year, a little eye opening.

Due to the high risk pregnant women who get the flu are also in the category of people to be treated with antiretrovirals regardless of how long symptoms have been present.

Another interesting tidbit, kids can shed the flu virus a day before symptoms start and longer than 10 days after symptoms (adults shed typically 1-10 days) kids shed significantly longer.

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