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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you decided not to vaccinate your children

593 replies

Mintpepper · 27/06/2017 11:42

Do you regret it? Did they catch any of the diseases that they could have been vaccinated for and what was the outcome?

And anyone who did get their children vaccinated - did they catch any of the diseases anyway? And do you regret vaccinating for any reason?

This isn't intended to start a debate for or against vaccination generally as that's been done many times, I'm more just interested in your personal experiences if you'd be willing to share them. Thank you.

OP posts:
ChildishGambino · 27/06/2017 11:44

DD had them all. There's a reason they're recommended. She cried and I felt awful but it's definitely good for society as a whole. She hasn't had any horrible illnesses.

VladmirsPoutine · 27/06/2017 11:46

I work with a woman who has refused to vaccinate her Dcs. She's otherwise a very competent, intelligent, valuable member of the team. Her personal views on vaccination astound me but there you go.

VladmirsPoutine · 27/06/2017 11:48

Just to add the reasons she won't vaccinate are basically that they'd result in her son acquiring autism. As we all know autism is generally worse than all number of diseases that are vaccinated against.
Like I said, an otherwise clever woman but there you go.

Becca83 · 27/06/2017 11:49

My dd has had everything available to her so far. I feel incredibly grateful that I love in a place where vaccines are widely available. I've researched it and absolutely think that vaccination is the right thing to do for my child and for society as a whole.
She has had no nasty diseases so far!

Original poster
Mintpepper · 27/06/2017 11:55

Hello, thanks for the responses - again not really looking for JUST whether you're for or against, more if you regret your decision for any reason and why

OP posts:
Rainbowqueeen · 27/06/2017 12:01

My only personal experience has been with a family where their new born was a younger sibling and caught whooping cough while taking older siblings to school when she was too young to be vaccinated.

She died.

I have never since that moment regretted my decision to vaccinate my children.

puppetpoppet · 27/06/2017 12:01

I know it's not on the schedule but I wanted to vaccinate dd against chickenpox and didn't get it done in time. The chickenpox itself was ok but the pneumonia that followed was awful.
I try not to waste time regretting parenting errors but I do very much regret this.

SpuriouserAndSpuriouser · 27/06/2017 12:03

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

amousehaseatenmypaddlingpool · 27/06/2017 12:05

We had everything except the chicken pox vaccine. Currently watching DS struggle with a mess of spots and blisters and I can't help him. I wish to god I'd got that vaccination too.

I know it's not life threatening but it's horrible. I can't imagine what people must go through when they've missed a vaccination for something life threatening that their child catches.

NotMyPenguin · 27/06/2017 12:06

Part of the difficulty is that people who choose not to vaccinate their children are attacked for talking about it, so it's hard to get any sort of conversation going about this topic (although it is an interesting one).

I do have friends who have chosen not to vaccinate their children for a number of reasons, some of which I know are not evidence-based (e.g. the autism scare thing) but others of which seem reasonable (weird responses to vaccines in close family members). Only one of them has so far caught any of the diseases they declined the vaccines for -- and a few are now adult. The disease that one unvaccinated child caught was measles, although it is perhaps also worth noting that their correctly vaccinated sibling also caught measles!

I do know of other people who have caught measles and the 'flu despite being vaccinated for them, but I understand that it does still significantly reduce the risk even if it doesn't completely eliminate it.

amousehaseatenmypaddlingpool · 27/06/2017 12:07

And I didn't get the vaccine because all children go through chicken pox so why bother. Faulty logic.

Capattack · 27/06/2017 12:07

Not sure if this would help but I was born right in the midst of the scandal over the autism link to vaccines. So I didn't have any vaccines at all as a child. Although there were other reasons as well.

I didn't get any diseases, but I did get a panicked phone call from my parents when I was about 18, demanding I get all the jabs in case I got pregnant and one of the preventable diseases harmed the child, and it was their fault. So I have all the vaccines now. My parents didn't want me having the jabs until they had confidence in them - took 18 years!

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 27/06/2017 12:07

I vaccinated and I don't regret it. There was a chickenpox outbreak at his kindergarten recently. Guess who did NOT get chickenpox?

Chickenpox is horrible but it's nothing on some of the other stuff about. There have recently been measles outbreaks around here too. It's nice to know my children won't lose their sense of hearing (or worse) through dangerous parenting.

Kids keep dying for no reason. At least one per year makes the headlines. It's so heartbreaking. I don't regret my decision to vaccinate but I'm really sure those parents regret it.

NotMyPenguin · 27/06/2017 12:08

Oh, we haven't had the chicken pox vaccination that I see mentioned above -- is that available on the NHS now?

Interestingly I think that my extended breastfeeding may be passing on my chickenpox immunity to my DD! She has been exposed (closely) several times this year but hasn't caught it. Since everybody else has, I do wonder whether she has acquired some temporary 'passive immunity' from breastfeeding (I caught 'wild' chickenpox as a child, as did basically all of my friends...)

FoofFighter · 27/06/2017 12:08

I remember the pain of mumps, it was agony. I remember the discomfort of measles and German measles. I remember my best friend being off school for almost 6 months after Whooping Cough, and seeing her gasp for breath Sad

I wouldn't want any child of mine to go through that. I vaccinated them all. If I had more, I'd also get the chicken pox one as my baby was very ill at only 3mo with it, and hospitalised.

Rhinosaur · 27/06/2017 12:09

What are your reasons for asking?

NotMyPenguin · 27/06/2017 12:09

Incidentally you do have to have a full set of vaccinations if you want to work in medical care in any capacity, FYI, for obvious reasons.

Other than that there is no requirement as such (e.g. for schooling or anything else).

AlwaysSpellingMyName · 27/06/2017 12:10

I didn't vaccinate against chicken pox. I know it's not routinely vaccinated against in the U.K. but regret not having paid privately for DS1. He caught chicken pox, which led to swelling on the brain and almost died. Never even more thankful for having access to the other vaccines!

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 27/06/2017 12:11

PLEASE BE READY for the following post from an anti-vaxxer:

"I regret it because my kid caught autism that exact day he got the shot. I'm actually a scientist of some sort and I was a huge believer in vaccinations until I saw it with my own eyes. Even all the Drs in the whole world agree DC caught autism that exact day."

It will be about 5 post from now I'm sure...

HearTheThunderRoar · 27/06/2017 12:11

My DD was born in the late 1990s (I.e when the Wakefield paper was released). I nearly cancelled her appointment when she was due to go for her MMR jab, I honestly don't why I still went through with it (might have been my mother's persuasion) but I am so glad I did.

We've had a number of measles outbreaks where I live and I'm eternally grateful I did go through with it, especially as there is a few in her age group unvaccinated but also because Wakefield was full of bullshit. And no she doesn't have autism.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 27/06/2017 12:11

I did vaccinate my own dc but I have two very good friends who didn't do theirs, and were vehement and vocal about it, and made me umm and ahh.

All their dc are aged now 17 to 21, between the two families, and they have all been absolutely fine. As have my vaccinated ones.

Zebrasinpyjamas · 27/06/2017 12:13

Dc1 had a scary (but not life threatening) reactions after one of his vaccinations. An underlying health condition was revealed rather than it being directly caused by the vaccine. I still didn't hesitate to vaccinate dc2 as the diseases they prevent are much worse. I did find the week after the injections scary in case history repeated itself (it didn't).

What is the root of your concern OP?

AngelaTwerkel · 27/06/2017 12:16

Are a few sentences of anecdotes really going to help, OP? Why would you listen to internet randoms instead of your GP?

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 27/06/2017 12:18

notmypenguin the antibodies have been passed on to your baby during pregnancy and this will protect her for a while. In countries that schedule the chickenpox vaccine they do it at 18 months because the protection from pregnancy does wear off and they need a booster.

Telescope101 · 27/06/2017 12:18

Iwasjustabouttosaythat
That is very offensive to insult and dismiss the many parents of children who have suffered injury from vaccines.
www.gov.uk/vaccine-damage-payment
As the above link from the UK goverment shows, vaccine damage does occur.

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