To ask if you decided not to vaccinate your children

[Mintpepper]

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.

It's not just about you and your baby and personal choice. If you don't get that, you are in the WRONG .

No offense but why would your compromised immune system be of anyone's concern when making decisions for their own kids? Surely everyone considers their kid's health more important than some rando. If they couldn't have the vaccine for whatever reason, I highly doubt they'd do it anyway for YOU.

For the same reason you don't drink and drive. Because it is socially responsible not to do something that can kill people.

No offense but why would your compromised immune system be of anyone's concern when making decisions for their own kids?
cos we aren't all utter dickheads who don't care about anyone else?

So if your kid had had a horrific reaction a vaccine/was recommended not to have it, you'd override that for concern over a stranger's poor immune system? Please.

"So if your kid had had a horrific reaction a vaccine/was recommended not to have it, you'd override that for concern over a stranger's poor immune system? Please."

I don't think anyone is suggesting that you should do that.........

Absolutely did not suggest that. The child would, like me, rely on the herd to protect it.

Hyberbolic bullshit. Why bother engaging if you are only going to talk such horseshit?

There are several posts on this thread along the lines of "I know someone who didn't vaccinate their kids and they didn't catch anything and have been fine". Yes, that'll be because all the responsible parents DID vaccinate which decreases the soread of the diseases in the first place 🙄

Well, op. Shit duly stirred. Have your story now?

DC1 all nhs vaccinations, including an extra one that was about to be introduced but they were doing a study on the most effective timing/spacing. Was happy for him to give blood samples to get the extra protection. No chicken pox, as I did not know it existed.

DCs2-4 all NHS vaccinations (including the now routine 'bonus' one DC1 had). Paid privately for chicken pox.

Last yr paid for all four to have Men C privately.

Since flu vaccination was made available in pregnancy (2009?) have paid for all non-eligible DCs to have a flu jab annually. Younger ones now get the nasal one for free.

Will be paying for my son to have HPV at age 12.

Continue to monitor advice on teen meningitis vaccines, and if looks likely they would benefit from having them earlier than pre-uni, will pay for those too.

These diseases are all not to be messed around with (yes including flu and chicken pox).

Besides a mild temperature and a small red area around the injection site dealt with by a bit of paracetamol we have never had any issues with reactions.

DC1 was nearly hospitalised with chicken pox and has bad scarring, likely due to using ibuprofen to bring temp down as the risks were not widely known then.

I can't remember whether I had measles as a child (in the 60s). I do recall, though, that when my children were babies I had a Penelope Leach book. She would be the same age as my mum, I suppose, and had therefore been bringing up her children at the same sort of time. She wrote very persuasively about the benefits of immunisation by describing how measles was not a mild virus. She said that it was usual for any child with measles to be ill in bed for days and days with a high temperature and feeling really unwell, needing proper nursing. Even without complications, who would want that for their child?

Also, because it's so infectious, you would have to be quarantined, as you should be with chickenpox. I remember the horrors of having basically a whole month at home with my two very young children when they got cp one after the other.

at the OP
'This isn't meant to start a debate for or against vaccination....'

As if every single thread started on this subject doesn't become a for or against debate....surely OP you must have known!

My neighbours haven't had their kid vaccinated, because they believe they harm the immune system god carefully designed for us no mention of the diseases he also created and that's why they produce side effects like asthma and eczema.

They have thoroughly ' done their research' and are armed with all manner of hear say, circumstantial evidence, and personal revelation to back up their choice. Measles is actually a very mild infection did you know?

Couple of bell ends...

My baby stopped breathing... First vaccination. Very frightening indeed. We nearly lost him and they could not tell me why it happened. It took me a while to allow for him to have any more , it was a tough decision.
Even now with my one year old (10 years later) I will only allow for her to have vaccinations at a children's hospital with ICU.

I never had the MMR vaccination (and 4 of my 5 siblings didn't either).
3 of us had very mild measles in childhood. I had a bad case of mumps as an adult. Unfortunately I had it on holiday and wasn't able to get to a doctor for 3 days, so not sure if that's why I ended up feeling so poorly. Both sides of my face severely swelled up and breathing was difficult for a day. Fully recovered with no lasting effects.

My husband was not vaccinated. He got mumps when our son was 4 months old. Our son was vaccinated but given his age hadn't had all his immunisations at that point, though luckily he didn't catch it. My husband was very poorly and though he recovered he was left infertile. Whilst having the choice about whether to have more children taken from us was hard, we are thankful that we had our son when we did, and that he didn't catch mumps and risk the complications associated with it.

Partner wasn't vaccinated.
He caught whooping cough and ended up very very ill.
I caught chicken pox while pregnant and then my daughter has visual difficulties and was born with weakness of one side of her body.
All my children are vaccinated.

BarbarianMum

In Chinese the name for what we call whooping cough is "100 days cough" useless fact, ignore if you are not interested in useless facts.

OP

How are you researching? Just curious because medical journals are not very accessible unless you have the medical knowledge to understand them. Nothing to do with intelligence I will add, but to do with education.

sashh, I don't know why, but lots of people now use 'research' to mean what used to be called simply 'finding something out'. It means no more than 'looking up the timetable' (aka 'researching the transport links') or 'reading a blog from someone who seems to be on the same wavelength as me' (aka 'researching the issue').

What it doesn't mean is 'studying an approved academic curriculum to a high level for years and years, passing exams with good grades, acquiring relevant practical experience and applying all of of that to the business of evaluating somebody else's peer reviewed journal article in a subject where I have the qualifications to do that'.

" in a subject where I have the qualifications to do that'

The lovely nature of science is that you are trained to research cross discipline. You do not need to be a medic to understand the contents of medical journals. I regularly get asked to peer review medical papers; I have not studied medicine. Saying that someone has to be a doctor to understand medical journals is just silly - the nature of open access that we see coming out means many researchers are actually making their work more accessible and it should be reaching a wider audience, not necessarily an audience in just their field.

(most) Research scientists are fully aware that to advance their work they need cross-discipline input, this includes medics.

I had a severe reaction to the polio vaccination as a toddler and had a temp spiking over 40 for two weeks. Docs at the time thought I'd die, and prepared my parents for that possibility. I didn't die, but they were then told to never have me vaccinated against anything else. My siblings and I were never vaccinated against anything other than that. I think I caught measles as a child, had pox aged 4, scarlet fever, my sister had mumps...No long lasting effects from any childhood illnesses, though I know not everyone is so lucky. I'm in my mid 40s, living/working/travelling through London and have never picked up anything other than flu.

PetalsonPearls, I know that. There is a massive difference between what you describe and somebody like me (Biology O level Grade B is my highest scientific qualification) saying they are 'researching' a difficult scientific topic. That's my point. Using the word 'research' for 'finding out' or 'dipping a toe in the water and not fully understanding what I'm reading' debases the word 'research'.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Fair play, I may have been reading your post from a different angle. You are definitely correct that there are many different interpretations of what research is, definitely!

Neverhad, glad you made a full recovery. Let's hope you didn't pass on mumps to a non-immune male which could make him sterile.
But as long as you are ok, that's great.

"There is no firm evidence that mumps causes sterility"

PHE