To be this worried about giving DS his mmr jab.

[QueenNefertitty]

Disclaimer- I'm not anti-vax, and DS is up to date with all immunisations.

After EVERY immunisation, DS has had awful fevers of over 39- but this is standard for him with any virus or illness - he just blazes like a furnace. It's caused us no end of worry (admitted to hospital three times this year because his fever was over 40, and he was mottled and had rigors).

He is due his mmr any time now- but because he's had SUCH a run of illnesses recently (mix of bacterial and viral, back to back, for 6 weeks) and is teething quite horrendously, I've decided to delay the mmr for a couple of weeks at least. I'm thinking maybe even until the week before Christmas, so that if he does his usual scary temperature reaction, I can be at home with him (I'm a single parent, work full time, DS in nursery, one day a week with Grandma, no additional childcare from family or friends possible if he's ill).

But there's a bit of me that is also just really really worried about this one. I know that the link with MMR has been rubbished. I know that the study was flawed. I know that there is no proven link between the mmr jab and autism... so why is this one giving me the Heebie Jeebies and got me googling vaccine injury rates...

AIBU to be this worried about something I KNOW is scientifically no more likely to cause injury than any of the other jabs I happily gave him?

[icclemunchy]

I think waiting until he’s well to get it done is sensible, however I wouldn’t wait too long. There has been a case of mumps in the nursery attached to our local children’s centre in the past week and measles seems to be on the rise too

[Crunchymum]

Given your DC's history, can he not be given the jab and monitored - in some form, not sure how it works in practice?... maybe book a GP appt after jabs to check on him?

[LilQueenie]

I would delay seeing as he has had back to back illness. Also do go with your instinct. You could also see about seperate vaccinations rather than the 3 in 1.

[SilverdaleGlen]

I can't offer help but just an understanding. MMR made me anxious too, it's normal to worry and absolutely right to wait until he is well, I held off one (can't remember which) as one of my DDs had a temp, the nurse said it's sensible to ensure they are well when they have it.

For my second daughter it was very anxiety inducing as we had to have it early when she was still a tiny baby because there was a large outbreak in the area due to people choosing not to do it at all. Which meant I had to early vaccinate my vulnerable child because of others selfishness. She then had to have it again as well as the booster as thy can't guarantee it will last when they have it before a year

[Limitedsimba123]

My DD reacted really badly to the first 3 jabs she had, particularly the first one. She had the mmr a few weeks ago and was absolutely fine.

[IceBearRocks]

Kids die from measles ..... They don't die from Autism!!!.
People who don't Vax kids put my serverly disabled child at risk.
When your DS has his Vax give calpol before, then when home give ibruprofen, after 4 hours . More calpol, 6 hurts more ibruprofen.. repeat for 24 hours !
My DS hits fevers of 40.9. he also has Epilepsy so has nearly died quite a few times in his 8 years.
He is Immuno compromised due to his very rare genetic condition..,.DIY you know what I do with my serverly disabled child..... I listen to the fucking paediatrician who has trading for 8 years to be a doctor and worked in the medical profession for the past 30 years!

Again..... Measles kill children....loads of them.....autism doesn't !!!!

[IceBearRocks]

• hours...not hurts

[JonSnowsWife]

If he is unwell at the moment they wont give jt him anyway.

DS was absolutely fine with all his jabs, including the first lot of MMR, then reacted very badly to the second MMR (pre-school booster).

That much so he worried my unshakable no nonsense 'seen it all in 30 years' GP. We ended up in hospital too as his temp shot up and we couldn't get it down for love nor money, I specifically remember having to take him straight to hospital from nursery with breathing difficulties and nurses giving him more Calpol and Nurofen than he technically was allowed to bring his temp down (the lowest they could get it was 39.2) DS is an extremely hyper boy so when he's lethargic during the day you know he's poorly - I had to put him back in his Pram just so we could get anywhere (picking DD up) those couple of weeks as he just slept continuously. Watching his tiny little body struggle, if I knew then what I knew now (Hindsight is a wonderful thing!) I'd have delayed his pre-school booster.

So I completely understand where you're coming from OP.

Anyway. Any jabs/immunisations DS may need now need to be passed through his DSs Doctor because of how he reacted.

If you have a chat with your GP surely they'd be a different way to give it? I remember DD being given two separate jabs for the flu jab once as there was something in the 'normal' one she couldn't have.

[JonSnowsWife]

Thanks for that IceBearRocks but I'll continue taking my Doctors advice on this. Not everyone doesn't vax because they're conspiracy theorists

When your DS has his Vax give calpol before, then when home give ibruprofen, after 4 hours . More calpol, 6 hurts more ibruprofen.. repeat for 24 hours !

This has not been the practice for a good few years now. DS had his PSB 5 years ago and the nurse then told is they no longer advise this as it can mask symptoms! I gave Calpol anyway and it still didnt make a jot of difference to his reaction.

[Shutupanddance1]

My 18 month old had a hard time with the first few vaccines - high temp etc but with the MMR I expected it but nothing happened .

[JonSnowsWife]

Strange isn't it shutupanddance?

DS didnt even grumble at his first MMR. I remember being all prepared and the only thing I remember is buying him an ice lolly on the walk back from the doctors surgery and him chomping away with the biggest smile on his face. Such a contrast to how poorly he was with the second one.

[00alwaysbusymum]

My children have all had the vaccinations but I have often delayed until it's a good time, either because they have too many colds etc, or because I can't get time off work to look after them in case they have a reaction etc
Just trust your instincts x

[Spikeyball]

It's reasonable to delay a few weeks if your child is actively unwell but I wouldn't leave it longer than that. If your child is going to develop autism they will already have it.

[MiniMaxi]

We just went through this and I decided to go ahead. Because of family immunology history we consulted two paediatricians (including one immunologist) who both said do it.

I did however insist on him getting the men b vaccine does separately as that is usually the trigger for super high temps.

Go with your gut OP if you want to delay.

[Rebeccaslicker]

Even if you're very provax, even when you know you are doing the best possible thing, it's still nerve racking when it's YOUR child. I was really worried about DD because her first set of jabs ended up in a&e (nothing too terrible, mostly inexperienced FT parents I think, but she had a horrible swollen thigh and a temperature) and she was miserable after the second and third. so we did MMR at 14 months; she just felt that little bit bigger!

Anyway - she barely even noticed apart from the actual jab. No temp, no grumpiness, no sniffles.

Hope yours is the same 🤞🏻

[Rebeccaslicker]

I also read something on a psychology website that made sense to me - as humans we are programmed to prefer passive harm to active harm. So even if you know the odds of an adverse reaction to the vaccine are tiny and the odds of long term effects from the disease are noticeably higher, you still tend to think not having the jab is safer because you're not actually taking action in giving him something IYSWIM.

[specialsubject]

Gp may advise a delay. Hopefully not too long so he can be protected against these awful diseases asap.

Apparently I had a spectacular fit after my measles jab in the 1960s.I'm fine although I seem to have no tolerance of unscientific idiocy. (Which is not the op) Perhaps a useful side- effect?

[SweetieBaby]

Totally get where you are coming from. My son and my niece and nephew all had febrile convulsions and their temps would shoot up to 39+ easily. We were advised by drs to give calpol before any vaccinations (this was years ago though so advice might have changed now. Check with your gp) and also to give one vaccination at a time - they had mmr, not separate injections but if they were due two different jabs at the same time these were spaced out. It did seem to help although we really had to keep on top of fevers and my nephew did have 1 fit post vaccination. It was scary at the time but we didn't consider not vaccinating. I can't imagine how ill they would have been if they'd caught measles.

[outnumbered4]

To be honest only one of mine has had their mmr on time either because of being unwell or me trying to plan it for when I could be home with them for a few days afterwards.

4 out of my 5 have had it and none have had any side effects at all so it's been unnecessary worry over nothing! Will still do the same with my newborn though

[IceBearRocks]

@JonSnowsWife. No this is not the practice now but if her son usually hits 40 degrees then it's worth taking paracetamol on board.
Most drs would recommend not giving analgesia if a child had a fever as they would like the immune system to fight ...but some children like mine do get a fever which rises too quickly and causes seizures.

[carefreeeee]

He might not be as bad this time - but there would be no harm in leaving it a while (couple of months) if he's had a run of stuff lately. Vaccines work best in a completely healthy body, rather than one that's still recovering from a load of other viruses.

Second speaking to GP. Also can you premedicate with calpol or maybe you are already doing that?

[AnneElliott]

Nothing wrong with delaying it op until you feel he's fully recovered. DS had a delayed MMR as he had an autoimmune condition. In the end he had it at 4 years old and was fine.

[Fruitcorner123]

Talk to your GP. Mine will do phone consulatations if people just need advice. I get why you say christmas but if it reallly might make him ill do you really want him ill over christmas?

[theymademejoin]

I wouldn't do it the week before christmas if you have older kids as if he reacts badly, the reaction would be over christmas and that could make for a very miserable christmas. My ds got what they called mini-measles from it.

Mini my arse, is all I can say. It kicked in about a week (I think) after the vaccine. He was worse than I recall being with actual measles as a child. I think the main difference is the really dangerous side effects that you can get with measles won't happen with the mini-measles.