Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To vaccinate newborn or not

714 replies

confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 10:37

I know this is a very sensitive subject, but i’m asking please for FACTS only - I don’t want answers like ‘because the NHS recommends you to vaccinate your baby etc’

Id like to point out i’m not ‘anti vax’ as such, but covid really opened my eyes to researching vaccines etc i’ve done my own research on whether i should be vaccinating my newborn but it’s hard to find unbiased facts.

What I don’t like, is the pressure that is put on us to do as we’re told with our babies. I don’t like the constant reminders, the phone calls and the pressure to vaccinate - it all feels like a box ticking exercise not because the NHS are actually worried about my baby.

Please be kind, I really am confused about this and would love some different perspectives

OP posts:
Thread gallery
27
CagneyAndLazy · 10/01/2024 11:20

"I've done my own research..."

Yes. Yes, of course you have...

What I don’t like, is the pressure that is put on us to do as we’re told with our babies.

But babies are not dolls that we can choose to do whatever we like with, just because we produced them. I read time and again on here things like "trust your 'gut', hun" and "mother's instinct..." but the fact we give birth doesn't suddenly imbue us with vast knowledge of what's best for our child.

Society wants to protect babies from disease and harm, even if some parents don't. Hence the campaigns to encourage people to to do the right thing.

Sa11yCinnamon · 10/01/2024 11:19

It's staggeringly arrogant to think that your own research googling is going to be more accurate than the work of thousands of highly qualified scientists.

Pratchettt · 10/01/2024 11:19

Evilcold · 10/01/2024 11:18

Op, I was severely injured by the Covid vaccine. I said in the next sentence my DC still get all the scheduled vaccines for the childhood diseases that can be extremely harmful or deadly.

Edited
Show quote history

May I ask, respectfully, what happened?

Blarn · 10/01/2024 11:19

A lot of childhood vaccines have been around for decades and millions of people have had them. Smallpoxhas been eradicated worldwide thanks to vaccines and Polio is nearly there. We can protect children against Meningitis now. These are horrible illnesses that can kill or leave lifelong disabilities. You do feel sad when you see you baby crying when the needle goes in! But I always thought about how bad I'd feel if they were in hospital because I hadn't got them vaccinated.

Original poster
confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 11:19

Just to point out that all the people being rude about me doing my own research are being rude for the sake of it.

I have been completely honest by stating my own research was VERY limited. I am not a scientist or doctor so really all I can rely on is the internet - that certainly doesn’t make me stupid.

YES of course i pick out the negative information because that’s just
the way my mind works and EXACTLY why ive
come on here.

Thank you to all the kind posters, your replies are really helpful.

OP posts:
CouCouCachou · 10/01/2024 11:19

I think it’s clear that you really love your baby and her well-being is your first priority.

A lot of antivaxxers capitalise on that by talking about things like maternal instinct, ‘putting things in our children’s bodies’, the rights of parents v the machinery of the state etcetera. It’s deliberately emotive and designed to make you fearful.

But the science is clear - over and over again, independent and peer reviewed studies have shown vaccinations to be a safe and effective way of preventing horrific illness. The best, most nurturing and most loving thing you can do as a mother is give your baby that protection.

CatMadam · 10/01/2024 11:19

Vaccines, including the Covid vaccine, save lives. You do not want your baby to get meningitis, or any of the other diseases they could be protected from if they get the appropriate vaccines. Please vaccinate your child. I am not trying to be nasty, but the vast majority of anti-vax ‘research’ consists of very calculated lies which are designed to frighten and confuse people who do just want the best for their children. I understand why people fall for these sort of lies, but it’s so important to see them for what they are- just that, lies.

Pratchettt · 10/01/2024 11:18

Donmeistersleepmachine · 10/01/2024 11:09

I would suggest looking elsewhere other than Mumsnet if you are truly on the fence and want different opinions other than an echo chamber telling you to do it. I would also suggest not considering them all the same and looking at the individual risk factors, rate of serious illness and death, complications, etc of each vaccine and each disease or illness they deal with.

You do NOT have to give your baby any, you do NOT have to give you child every single one, you do NOT need to succumb to pressure if you have real concerns that are validated with research, you SHOULDNT blindly not give any because it feels like a box ticking excersize. After hours days weeks months and to be honest near on years of reading studies, dissecting them and finding evidence both for and against depending on the individual vaccines (which are not all created equal) the only reasonable thing to do is completely inform yourself of all aspects of them if you are concerned at all. if you choose not to, there are risks, if you choose to, there are risks. You can also look into applying a different vaccine schedule if you don't feel happy about the high number of vaccines given at one point. As will be the case every time a new vaccine is added, there are many more given at once today and before the age of 1/3 then ever in history. I can already see the pitchforks and foaming at the mouth I'm going to receive for saying this but do your research and if you are intelligent you should be able to come to your own conclusion without asking for input from Mumsnet or any other online forum full of people you don't know who have entirely different lives to you and thoughts and ideals. I mean no malice in this but if you really aren't sure either way or don't think you have the ability to research you are better off getting them for your baby and that's coming from somebody who isn't giving them to her own baby at the pace at which the NHS recommends. You would likely always "what if" if anything did happen. The pharmaceutical field is as much a social paradigm as any other scientific field and you are allowed to question things. Who did the study, who was it commissioned by, what agencies profit from it, for both sides of the argument.

Can you please give a comprehensive list of where OP can conduct this research? Because Google is not a safe place to do so and you don’t seem to think the NHS is right, So where can someone find unbiased research into vaccines?

enchantedsquirrelwood · 10/01/2024 11:18

There’s a lady who has commented saying she was severely injured by the covid vaccine and it’s things like that that stick in my mind

yes there were bad side effects from the covid vaccines but they were new - the childhood illness vaccines are well established

Evilcold · 10/01/2024 11:18

confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 11:13

There’s a lady who has commented saying she was severely injured by the covid vaccine and it’s things like that that stick in my mind.

Things like ‘it’s a money making exercise’ it just worries me so much and i don’t know why these negative things stick in my head so much over the positive ones!

Show quote history

Op, I was severely injured by the Covid vaccine. I said in the next sentence my DC still get all the scheduled vaccines for the childhood diseases that can be extremely harmful or deadly.

Paw2024 · 10/01/2024 11:18

confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 10:56

It’s definitely not about wanting to vaccinate my baby at all, because of course i want the very very best for them. Like i said it was more covid opening my eyes a little bit more and wanting to know what it is we are putting in our bodies - I was just curious as to why ‘anti vaxers’ feel so strongly if that makes sense

But if your child gets something like measles and ends up in hospital, you're not going to be worrying about what's in their body are you? You're going to be begging for the drugs/medication to save their life

greensleevez · 10/01/2024 11:18

covid really opened my eyes to researching vaccines etc i’ve done my own research on whether i should be vaccinating my newborn but it’s hard to find unbiased facts.

Blimey! Where to start with this. But the first reply nailed it.

emmetgirl · 10/01/2024 11:17

@Whataretheodds

This.
Thank you for pointing this out 👏👏

Donmeistersleepmachine · 10/01/2024 11:17

Vaccines aside, I'm sorry but having "faith" in science is as good as having faith in a deity. You're blindly trusting something just because you can't spare it your own individual thoughts. Plenty of research that says X Y Z was good for you 80 years ago was pushed by companies looking to make profit with "facts" to back it up. The same thing happens today. Science as a field should show facts from fiction, as per scientific method of proving or disproving something. But scientific research as a field can be as flawed as any other industry that involves money and bias.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 10/01/2024 11:16

sondot · 10/01/2024 10:51

I don’t like the constant reminders, the phone calls and the pressure to vaccinate - it all feels like a box ticking exercise not because the NHS are actually worried about my baby.

Well it is a box ticking exercise. The more boxes they tick the more lives can be saved.

Well, it is a box ticking exercise, because at population level, vaccination is by far the best solution and it is good for the economy for people to not be ill. The NHS doesn't care about individuals.

Vaccination is cheap, dealing with the illnesses is expensive. And as a parent, having to take time off to look after sick children is stressful and can create problems with employers, quite apart from the possible long term effects on your children. So avoiding your children having illnesses is a good idea from a selfish perspective as well!

Yes there are some very small risks. There is a vaccine damage act for a reason. But the chances of something going really badly wrong are very small indeed - the childhood vaccinations are established vaccines, and are very safe.

If you look at illnesses like polio or meningitis, it really is a no-brainer to have the vaccinations.

I hope this helps OP.

Lovemusic82 · 10/01/2024 11:15

Fidgety31 · 10/01/2024 10:48

None of my three kids ever had a vaccine . Two are now adults and one is a teenager . Never had any health issues . They are able to get the vaccines as adults if they choose to do so .
It’s a personal choice and you will get strong opinions either way .
I chose not to vaccinate as my first was born in the midst of the MMR controversy- which unless you had a baby at that time - it’s hard to explain how difficult it was .

I was not vaccinated as a child, I did survive but also had to go through having measles, whooping cough and rubella 😬.

My dd had a bad reaction to the MMR, I didn’t want her to have it but my gp and health visited pestered me weekly until I took her in. I’m not anti vax but I do think it should be a choice and we shouldn’t be forced into it. Saying that without vaccination measles would be pretty wide spread and would take a lot of lives, you only have to walk around a grave yard and see how many kids it took before the vaccine.

Latewinter · 10/01/2024 11:15

00100001 · 10/01/2024 11:10

You're fine because you're standing in a the middle of a group of 1,000,000 vaccinated people and the virus has to get through them to get to you and your kids...

But if that virus did get to you...you'd be fucked.

Your children could end up blind or dead or permanently disabled...and that's your choice.

You're that penguin in the middle of the huddle, nice and cosy and warm going "what storm? What dead penguins that got caught out? I'm okay, I'm toasty and warm"

And considering you come from a family of doctors... But don't know anything about the false autism and MMR claims leads me to believe you're talking utter fucking bullshit.

Show quote history

Well no chances are she wouldn't be fucked. With many of this diseases chances are they'd get sick and then recover. With a risk of worse happening. Don't sensationalise. OP absolutely should vaccinate but the language used around this is often unhelpful and silly.

00100001 · 10/01/2024 11:15

confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 11:13

There’s a lady who has commented saying she was severely injured by the covid vaccine and it’s things like that that stick in my mind.

Things like ‘it’s a money making exercise’ it just worries me so much and i don’t know why these negative things stick in my head so much over the positive ones!

Show quote history

So you'd better stop doing anything that might cause injury....

Driving, walking, exercise, using sharp tools....

Original poster
confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 11:15

00100001 · 10/01/2024 11:12

Does someone being killed in a car crash stop you driving most days? Does the person who choked on some food and died stop you eating? Did you cutting your finger on a knife stop you using knives?

No.

If course it fucking didn't.

Show quote history

No it absolutely doesn’t - there’s no need to be rude because im actually really grateful for your reply and it does help.

OP posts:
Iwasafool · 10/01/2024 11:14

Fidgety31 · 10/01/2024 10:48

None of my three kids ever had a vaccine . Two are now adults and one is a teenager . Never had any health issues . They are able to get the vaccines as adults if they choose to do so .
It’s a personal choice and you will get strong opinions either way .
I chose not to vaccinate as my first was born in the midst of the MMR controversy- which unless you had a baby at that time - it’s hard to explain how difficult it was .

Your children benefitted from herd immunity because other parents did the sensible thing. Aren't they lucky.

PSEnny · 10/01/2024 11:14

I’m assuming that you had all available childhood vaccinations?
Give these to your child. The facts are that vaccines save lives. Do not risk a dead, blind or brain damaged child by not vaccinating them.

00100001 · 10/01/2024 11:14

Orphlids · 10/01/2024 11:11

When you say you’ve done your “own research”, I assume that means you have hired a vast laboratory, and have employed a huge team of highly intelligent and educated scientists over successive generations, who have studied in great depth the development of various vaccines and their results? Or have you just read some articles online?

I have met a few people who have decided, not through necessity, not to have their kids vaccinated. They have all been thickos.

No she's down a quick Google and everything she's found points to vaccination and she doesn't like it.

She'll be waiting a long time to find some actual research and peer reviewed evidence that not vaccinating your child is safer than giving them immunisation...

Original poster
confusedaboutclothes · 10/01/2024 11:13

Lammveg · 10/01/2024 11:10

Hi OP. I have a daughter who is 11 months and I was always adamant I'd get her vaccinated, but before every vaccination I always get a bit nervous. I think it's natural when you have a young child, but ultimately I trust the scientists and the research and that vaccine roll outs have been very effective in preventing death and disability from a number of diseases.

What is it about the covid vaccine that gave you doubts?

There’s a lady who has commented saying she was severely injured by the covid vaccine and it’s things like that that stick in my mind.

Things like ‘it’s a money making exercise’ it just worries me so much and i don’t know why these negative things stick in my head so much over the positive ones!

OP posts:
Hulamooly · 10/01/2024 11:13

I know instinctively it can feel totally wrong taking your tiny baby to have a needle stuck in them. I do get the worry, but you do need to think logically about this. There is a reason the nhs gives tiny babies vaccinations, it isn’t box ticking it’s literally to save lives. Imagine if your baby got measles and became seriously unwell, but you could have stopped it all with the vaccine. How awful would that be.

Swipe left for the next trending thread