Re: No vaccinations at all???

I have given my son most vaccines..however, he is on a delayed schedule. The only vaccination I decided against was Hep B. And when I said no...my pediatrician was absoluetly fine with it. He didn't try to make an argument on why he should get it. Now we LOVE our ped..and I trust him completely. So, the fact that he was completely fine with DS NOT getting it made me even happier that i decided against it.

BUT...when he is older I will give him that vaccine...just not a few hours after he was born.

Re: No vaccinations at all???

Re: No vaccinations at all???

I'm an infrequent poster here but I'm pretty passionate about vaccines.

I have seen first hand death and permanent damage to children from vaccine preventable illness. I've seen kids die from the flu, see kids cough their lungs out for weeks on end from pertussis, and seen a few cases of strep pneumo meningitis in unvaccinated children. In that time frame I've seen one case of what I would call significant vaccine reaction.

Both my kids have gotten and will continue to get all shots on schedule. I think if its a marker of anything look at what pediatricians do for their own kids. I'm not talking about "celebrity doctors" like Dr. Oz or naturo-chiro-pseudo doctors, but real MD/DO doctor pediatricians.

As far Dr. Sears. That man has done SUCH a disservice to pediatrics. Here is a guy who has done no SCIENTIFIC research on vaccines but proports himself as an expert.

See this link below:
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/10/13/vaccine_book_sears/index.html

Just my 2 cents.

Re: No vaccinations at all???

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by wingsofsong

Posted by dita

I follow my PED's advice - she went to med school, I didn't. No amount of internet research will lead to that.

I couldn't agree more. We go to our ped because we trust her to know what's best (medically speaking) for our son. If we didn't trust her 100% we would absolutely find another doctor. Neither I nor my husband have ANY training whatsoever in all things medical and she went through years upon years of schooling and training and learning. She answers any questions we have honestly and fully. We follow her advice.

EXACTLY what she said!

To add, I think it's always prudent to do your research and educate yourself, no doubt about it. But it's true that no amount of research is going to make you a fully qualified doctor so at some point you need to put your trust in the medical personnel who takes care of you and your child and accept that they have your best interest in mind.

Yes drug companies want to make money but what company in America doesn't??? Money makes the world go 'round. The company who makes your carseat wants you to believe that you NEED the $400 carseat to be safe, the bottle companies want you to believe that their bottle is the best and will be healthiest for your baby to use, food companies want you to believe that what they are serving up is the healthiest and best choice out there but at the end of the day you need to make an informed decision and put your trust somewhere and in someone and in some product.

I don't believe doctors are out to get anyone or purposely over medicate and over vaccinate our kids. Are their bad doctors who don't have your best interest in mind? Sure! But it's your job as a parent to find a doctor who you feel is qualified and who you trust. You cannot go through life thinking you know better than the professionals that are around you, it's naive to think you somehow could know more than a doctor with 12+ years of education and training and experience on top of that. Do your homework by all means but be careful where the information is coming from too. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's true. And depending on who you talk to the information could be skewed as well. I have two cousins who are chiropractors which I'm sorry, is the FURTHEST thing from being a doctor (they didn't go to med school) and if you ask them about anything relating to the medical field the jump all over you and insist that every doctor and medical professional is out to get you. Of course, they NEVER take their kids to the doctor, didn't vaccinate them, and think that a good back cracking will cure all. In short, be leery of whose opinion you're getting.

As with most things, we know more now than we did years ago. There are more vaccines because we have found ways to treat and prevent even more illnesses and diseases nowadays. So does it make sense that kids today get more vaccines than 60 years ago?...........of course. At the end of the day while there are risks associated with vaccines you have to weigh that against the benefits and the benefits FAR outweigh any risk IMO. There are SO many foreigners coming into this country with no real medical care or vaccines and these kids will be around my child and I want to make sure that MY child is protected as BEST as possible against everything and anything that is brought into this country. I would rather risk a possible side effect than have my child be dead because she contracted some disease that was easily preventable through vaccination.

At 35 years old and being fully vaccinated (in the 70's when they knew less than they know now about A LOT of things medically speaking) I am a completely healthy adult who NEVER had any issues being vaccinated and who has never had any real sickness short of a cold or virus. Long story short, I want my DD to have the same protection as me. I think it would be negligent of DH and I as parents to stand there fully immunized and not give my DD that same protection.

I really cannot understand all of the vaccination backlash. Many of these vaccinations have been around FOREVER and because of them we don't see kids coming down with polio, measles, mumps, and more and it's because as a nation we've protected ourselves against these things. Why would anyone want to lose that protection and open yourself up to illnesses that are a BIG deal if you contract them, getting polio is not like catching a cold.

Anyway, in the end, I simply will never, ever agree with not vaccinating your child.

Re: No vaccinations at all???

Re: No vaccinations at all???

I have given DS and DD their vaccinations on my Pediatricians schedule because I trust him. Unfortunately you can research til you are blue in the face and every time you will get information that supports both vaccinating and not vaccinating. Just because a book is published or an article is written or a study is done that does not mean its contents and outcome are true and accurate. Are the drug companies out to make $$$$? Of course, but so are the publishers and authors and broadcasters. If you read a book about it (for or against)are the authors credentials creditable? Does he/she have the background to be considered an expert? Look at what just happened with the Dr who claimed the mmr caused autism....he was a money hungry jerk who had no proof to support the accusations he was making. If you went to a lecture (for or against)I could guarantee somewhere there was the exact same lecture going on representing the opposing view.

For me the cold hard fact is that before vaccines many people died of the illnesses we vaccinate against. My uncle survived polio and has lived a great life, but a life without the use of both arms. I don't want to risk my children contracting these illnesses so I vaccinate them just as I was vaccinated. Do what you are comfortable with. It is your choice to make.

Re: No vaccinations at all???

I was originally torn about whether to delay or break up the vaccinations but after speaking to my ped, several points changed my mind and I am giving DS his shots completely on schedule....

1. They give these shots at the earliest age possible to protect our children at their most vulnerable age, when contracting any one of these diseases would be potentially life threatening. By breaking them up, I would have been allowing an extra week or month to go by where my child could pick something up. Why not protect them as soon as my doctor deems safe?

2. It's winter. Not only does my ped's office see hundreds of children with the flu this time of year, but they have also seen many cases of rotavirus lately. Spacing out the shots increases the amount of times I have to bring DS to the office. It is much more dangerous for my DS to be exposed to the flu than to receive his shots which will only protect him.

3. My ped gave her own baby twins all of their shots, completely on schedule, without a moment of hesitation or second thought.

In doing research (from books, not the internet), I learned that herd immunity only works 75-80% of the time since people have stopped vaccinating their children, leaving everyones kids at risk for deadly diseases that were unheard of for our generation and our parents. It is terrifying to me that we could see a resurgence of preventable diseases in our childrens lifetimes due to this.

As far as the 1950's, there were less vaccinations, and there were also people who drove their newborns home from the hospital on their laps, without carseats. We also used typewriters and smoked cigarettes. I don't think comparisons to other eras are valid since medicine has made significant advances.

Re: No vaccinations at all???

Re: No vaccinations at all???

I'm a pediatric intensivist (ICU doctor). My wife posts here a lot as her sounding board and I'll pop in and read a post from time to time.