prob been done to death, but allergies and mmr

[bunnyhunny]

Ds is a year old now, and is due his mmr soon. I am thinking of delaying it or doing single jabs as he is very atopic - has eczema and food allergies. Also a strong family of history of atopy, and also rheumatoid arthiritis, which I believe are all auto-immune problems.

I am not so concerned about autism as so many journals and other countries say it isnt related, but of course the possible relationship is in the back of my mind. I am very concerned about excessive reaction to the jab though - I know of a couple of kids that have been hospitalised afterwards, and that terrifies me, particularly as anecdotal evidence of regression often follows some reaction.

I am wondering what other people with allergic dcs did about mmr. Did they have reactions? Any regression? Did you opt for single jabs? If you believe they caused autism, what was your family history?

Thanks.
I know I will end up even more confused afterwards, but hey ho.

hi no help im afraid, my ds has multiple food allergies and therefore we have delayed the MMR, he is now 18 months and hope him to have it shortly x ill keep eye on this thread!

Ds2 has multiple food allergies and had his MMR in hospital - he was fine the first time but had an allergic reaction the second time. Still he was fine very quickly. He didn't have the MMR until he was 3½ though (due to slackness on the part of our GP, no other reason!).

so do you all think that your dc's immune system is too immature / unreliable to be able to cope with the jab?

i would do singles. and I would also wait until he is older.
in actual fact I would do measles first, mumps when he is about 8-10 if he hasn't had it, get immunity checked first and I wouldn't bother with rubella

As a practice nurse we advise if your child is particularly atopic to have the vaccine in hospital, easily arranged with your GP. We don't reccomend delaying it or single vaccines as measles and mumps are rife again and the likley hood of catching them is now not a case of if but when.

my dd was allergic to egg as a babe/toddler and had eczema and now has a wheeze whenever she gets a cold.

as she had an egg allergy at the time when she was due to have mmr, we were referred to a paed at the hospital. we had a full and frank discussion about the pros and cons of mmr (at the time it was still contraversial) and i came away feeling that it was really important for dd to have the mmr. we waited until she was 15 months and she had it at that time. She had the booster at the right time too. Both were with no complications whatsoever.

dont think immune system unreliable or anything but we have struggled to get support from docs with ds's prblems etc and have no confidence in what they say. We are with specialist week monday and going speak concerns and get advise then.

'Luckily' for us my ds food allergies were identified before his MMR was due so I've never had to wonder if it was in some way responsible. Anyway, he had the jab and had no reaction at all - certainly no regression, worstening of allergies etc.

I do sometimes wonder if his earlier vaccinations - the ones at 2, 3 and 4 months - are in some way linked to his allergies. Not directly responsible but by stirring up his immune system which then reacted to food proteins he got through my breastmilk. But I can't explain why those particular allergies - as a pose to any of the others he might have got. And he did get a couple of colds and a tummy bugs during his first few months so it could equally well have been these that 'stirred' up his immune system - if this is in any way responsible.

Anyway, have been doing a lot of thinking about what to do re: ds2 - due any day now - and vaccination and am going down the combined route again. I can't see logically, or find any research to support, the theory that single vaccines would be safer from the allergy point of view, so for me the choice would be either vaccinate or not. And as both my dad (partially deaf) and aunt (profoundly deaf) were damaged by a bout of measles as children, not vaccinating has never been an option for me.

Sorry - this is long and waffley but I can see where you are coming from. I think all we can do for our kids is to do what we think is right - based on the evidence available. So good luck with that.

we swear that all ds's problems started after his 2nd jabs, things went wrong 3 days after them. Also got bronchitis after every jab which seems very strange! completely un related i know.

If egg allergic single MMR more advisable than singles as single MMR not cultured in egg anymore but I think measles and mumps are.

Currently in a situation where my GP doesnt' want to give my DD of 14 months a MMR as worried about her egg allergy but the hospital doesn't want to do it either as she has never had an anaphlaytic reaction to anything. I will get her to have the MMR somehow before 18 months.

I've been googling this for weeks as my 15mo DD was due her MMR on Tuesday. She has eczema and is very allergic to egg, but no other foods so far.

Am on a different laptop to the one I used for the research, so can't do links, but there's lots of quite good published studies out there from reputable sources, with good sample sizes.

I concluded that there IS a risk of anaphylaxis, but that the small number of reported cases have been from gelatin, not due to the egg protein. (In my paranoia, I gave my DD a gelatin food challenge at home!)

With regards to autism, evidence suggests that there is possibly a link. It seems though, that autism could be connected to auto-immune deficiencys, and that any number of 'real' attacks on the immune system from bacterial/viral infection could trigger autism in a pre-disposed child.

The figures on autism are clouded by the fact that the age of the MMR co-incides with the age at which many cases of autism become apparent, so many parents incorrectly link the two as being cause and effect.

FWIW, she had the vacc on Tuesday, at our local doctors, with epipen at the ready, and she had no reaction whatsoever.

seems like they have all been ok with the jabs then, no real adverse reactions.
I am still leaning towards singles. I really want to talk to my doctor about it, but I just think he will toe the party line iyswim.