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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be a bit worried and consider splitting the m m r jabs

147 replies

scarednoob · 15/02/2016 19:07

DD is only 5 months but it is playing on my mind already, as a fair few people have said they won't be vaccinating their babies at all and hinted ominously about doing my research.

I had measles quite badly as a little girl; i wouldn't wish it on anyone. So I am certainly not saying she won't be having the jabs. But from the reading I'm doing, the m m r does seen like a lot to give a little body all in one go.

I was wondering what people thought - is there any benefit to spreading them out? Am I being daft/unreasonable to worry? (I know it would mean going privately; that's not an issue.)

Thanks all!

OP posts:
pollylovespie · 15/02/2016 19:15

They give them together as they're more effective that way. Why don't you discuss your concerns with doctor- they'll reassure you. I only know one of my friends who got separate jabs for their DC, everyone else I know got the mmr.

ollieplimsoles · 15/02/2016 19:19

This is an issue really close to my heart at the moment.

I fretted like you wouldn't believe before dd's first vaccines, I kept putting them back and putting them back while I researched. I joined a facebook page full of self proclaimed 'anti vaxxers' and read through everything. I also researched the benefits- so I had both sides.many sleepless nights worrying and crying...

My search and reading left me feeling really pissed off at the anti vaxxers. The way they passive aggressively said 'do your research' (even though they all looked at it from one narrow view).

I went through every bit of info with a fine tooth comb, and found not one piece of credible, believable evidence linking vaccines to anything.

Read through the side effects so you are aware of them. But don't let anyone scare you op, my DD has had all her vaccines and is perfectly fine. She will be having the mmr too.

Sometimesithinkimbonkers · 15/02/2016 19:20

My child Ds6 .... Siblings DS8 & DD4. DS6 has severe autism and life is a challenge ..... He is though very capable and able ..... And not dead! So please give the MMR is take an autistic child over a dead child any day !

ollieplimsoles · 15/02/2016 19:22

And for gods sake go to your doctor, don't hide away like I did.

Babies are subjected to lots of germs and bugs every day, it really is more effective to get them all in one go.

Sorry but the more reading I did the more I realised how stupid it was not to vaccinate a baby. I'll probably get flamed down the line for that but it don't care.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 15/02/2016 19:22

Measles has become more prevalent because of parent's fear of the MMR. As you mentioned, it is a very dangerous illness and not something you would wish to expose your child to.
There was a link made between the MMR jab and autism, which has been disproved many times over. Was that your concern?

ValiantMouse · 15/02/2016 19:23

People who don't vaccinate are the reason these diseases are coming back.

The link between the MMR has no scientific basis and has been disproved.

ollieplimsoles · 15/02/2016 19:25

No link at all between mmr and autism, it was the thymerosol in them that was the culprit, and they removed that years ago.

ghostyslovesheep · 15/02/2016 19:25

I would look at the facts

MMR does NOT cause autism or anything like that

Vaccines carry some risk - as do measles mumps and rubella - the risk from the vaccine is lower than the risk from the illness's

That's the choice - vaccinate and run a small risk or don't vaccinate and take the bigger one

writingonthewall · 15/02/2016 19:26

But from the reading I'm doing, the m m r does seen like a lot to give a little body all in one go.

I'd be fascinated to hear which mainstream peer reviewed journal agrees with the sentence above. It's scientific nonsense. Do remember that Andrew Wakefield was not just misguided, he was being funded by lawyers sueing the govt re MMR and he took blood from friends of his children at their birthday parties without their parents consent.

Someone in whose hands you want to put your children's lives?

No, didn't think so.

PurpleDaisies · 15/02/2016 19:28

It's OK to be worried and it's totally fine to look at the evidence for the vaccine being safe.

I'd recommend looking at the mmr chapter in bad science by Ben Goldacre and talking to your GP. The nhe website and patient.co.uk will have good information too. Unfortunately this is one instance where Google is not your friend-there's a lot of nonsense from people who are convinced that vaccines are basically evil.

specialsubject · 15/02/2016 19:29

why is this still going on? The link was discredited years ago.

yes, vaccines carry a small risk. Nothing in life is 100% safe. We all die and quite a few of us get ill. If you 'do your research' about the odds of death or disability from PREVENTABLE diseases versus the odds of possible vaccine damage, there's an obvious choice.

there are a few children who do have conditions which means they should not be vaccinated as the risk for them IS too high. All the more reason for the rest to be done.

speak to your doctor, not those who think 'research' is 'I read it on an internet site'.

no smallpox BTW. Clever, eh? There'd be no polio if a few religious nuts weren't sabotaging the eradication programme.

ollieplimsoles · 15/02/2016 19:30

Agree don't google, talk to professionals

Myredcardigan · 15/02/2016 19:30

You can no longer get either the single mumps or the single rubella vaccine. So you would be limited to measles, which granted, is the most deadly.
Polly, can I have a link please to the fact that they are combined because they're more effective? I am not anti vax and all my children are vaccinated.
However, even the local immunologist in charge of the health authorities programme told me that they are given together to maximise how many children are immunised and to increase herd immunity. He also told me that major reactions are very rare but they do happen and that he believed the government would do better to be honest about the 1 in 10million, admit it happens and let parents reason that they're more likely to be blown up travelling by plane that summer than have their child react badly to the mmr.

MrsPatrickDempsey · 15/02/2016 19:31

I work as a casual immunization nurse and during my last training update we were told that we only use about a 10th of our immune system. Think about what babies get 'bombarded' with during their primary imms; the mmr is small compared to this. And it is normal to immunologically respond at different times so the reaction isn't all at once.

WhoseBadgerIsThis · 15/02/2016 19:31

Don't worry about it being a lot for a "little body all in one go" - her immune system is dealing with all sorts of things on a daily basis - think of all the germs, pollen, pollutants, dust, etc out there: vaccines really are a drop in the ocean :)

The downside of the split vaccines is that it takes a longer vaccination schedule to give full protection, and that means she's at risk longer. One in ten children are hospitalised due to measles, so it really is a risk you don't want to take.

There is no link between vaccines and autism (Wakefield's research has been shown not to just be wrong, but to be fraudulent), and all the guff about vaccines containing this that and the other poison is just that - guff.

Wardrobespierre · 15/02/2016 19:33

We gave the singles but as recommended by the gp due to a family history. The vast majority of dc will be fine with the combined jab.

TweeterandtheMonkeyman · 15/02/2016 19:34

Who ARE these people who don't vaccinate? Everyone I know went ahead, no questions asked. Life is a lot easier if you just accept that the Powers That Be at least vaguely know what they're doing & have done the scientific research for you.

SquidgeyMidgey · 15/02/2016 19:36

I worried myself silly about it, did loads of reading and decided to go the mmr route. I still had slight worries when we went in to the nurse but she was wonderfully patient and talked to me about it all without pressuring me.

Doublebubblebubble · 15/02/2016 19:40

Autistic children are BORN autistic!!

I dont get the "I dont want to give them all together - its too much for little ones etc" we give 8 week olds the 5in1 +rotavirus vaccine. (3jabs and a syrup) and that's all gravy. X

ollieplimsoles · 15/02/2016 19:40

They do exist tweet I know lots of parents who haven't vaccinated.

Myredcardigan · 15/02/2016 19:43

Well as I said, I'm not anti vax but one of my 4 had singles on the advice of his hospital consultant. He had lots of gut issues as a baby and they even did the single measles at the hospital. It was due to this that I stopped and thought about things for my younger children. Both DC1's consultant and the immunologist confirmed the reality that it is perfectly safe for the overwhelming majority of children. And that of the tiny, tiny minority that it isn't safe for, the vast majority of them will be aware of significant issues before getting to 13mths.

Of course you could reason that your DD may be one of that minuscule minority who badly react despite appearing healthy beforehand but the chances are so very rare that you may as well never take her out in the pushchair as she's statistically far more likely to be killed by a car mounting the kerb.

Our immunologist was right. Openness is vital but do us perspective.

Lightbulbon · 15/02/2016 19:44

If she's 5 months has she not already had the 5 in 1 jabs at 2,3 and 4 months?

Osolea · 15/02/2016 19:51

I can completely understand your worry about giving the MMR, and I made the choice to give my dc the singles. It was a long time ago though, and before the Wakefield research was discredited.

It's not as if you are not going to vaccinate, so if you feel better about singles then have the singles. It's a perfectly valid choice, you just have to get over the annoying people tha seem to think that not going the MMR is the same as not vaccinating at all.

It is worth remembering though that all the other vaccines are given together, and no one seems to worry about that. It's not because they work better that way, it's because it's cheaper to administer, means less jabs, and parents are less likely to miss appointments if there are fewer of them.

OvertiredandConfused · 15/02/2016 19:56

My GP actually recommended I gave mine the vaccines singlely, even though I had to go privately to do it, as my husband reacted quite badly as a child.

I'd never not give them but I'm glad I did it that way. It was 13 years ago btw.

minipie · 15/02/2016 20:00

As a previous poster said, you can't get some bits of the MMR singly these days (even privately). So that makes the decision easy I'd have thought (it did for me).