Baby vaccinations

[Thisisthelastone]

I've no idea if I'm BU and a precious first time mum or not....

Ds is now 14 weeks. When he was born I'd heard nothing about his vaccinations or 6 week check so rang doctors and they said they had no appointments until he was 10 weeks. I was a bit 🧐 at this and queried whether he should not have been checked (6 weeks post birth check) and had his vaccinations (nhs website says 8 weeks)by this point. The receptionist told me it was fine. Reluctantly and because ds doesn't seem to have any health issues I said okay. Although I should mention he was quite poorly post birth and we were both in hospital for a week so I'd have liked him checked over quicker in case anything needed picking up.

10 week check up goes fine and he has the first lot of injections.

Today was meant to be his second (he's 14 weeks now so still 2 weeks behind what the nhs website says) and they have rang to say they have had to cancel. Apparently we will get another appt but this could be a couple of weeks. This will then delay his 3rd lot as he needs 4 weeks in between.

Aibu to think this is all a bit crap? I want him to be safe as soon as possible so am a bit annoyed, then again I work in the nhs and am aware how badly we are all funded atm. So maybe I am BU and should accept this is the nhs atm :-(

Does anyone know if there is any harm in delaying his vaccinations like this? If it's more beneficial for him to have them on schedule I'd be tempted to pay and get them done privately.

Tia x

My DS was 3 weeks behind the schedule and caught up eventually. If theres no current outbreak it'll properly be ok.

This is really irritating and the last thing you need to keep being messed around with appointments. However, as far as I know, it's a rough guideline intended to ensure parents stick to the schedule, and that there's adequate gaps in between each one, and that they're all completed by a certain age. I don't think a couple of weeks affects this though.

Our vaccinations were late for DS2. As long as the spacing between them is right it should be fine. It's annoying but it can't be helped sometimes.

Our dr only runs two clinics for vaccines a month. They were apparently fully booked for the one DS2 should have been seen at so had to wait until the end of the month of the next one. Put us 2-3 weeks behind.

He's fine! Happy 15 month old

There's no harm in having them delayed slightly. My DS's vaccines weren't right on schedule. Generally surgeries do them in blocks so if your baby is 8 weeks or whatever outside of the block you have to wait til the next block.

At the surgery we go to they only do the 8 week checks and vaccinations on Tuesday mornings so there's only a couple of hours per week you can get an appointment. Mr DS' 1 year jabs were about a month late because I couldn't get an appointment.

Did you call in advance for the 6/8 week check or were you expecting the GP to contact you? Did you have your 6 week post birth check?

So do you think it's okay he will be a month late then? As in he won't have his 12 weeks until he's 16 and his 16 until he's 20? I think I've got into my head that he's going to catch some awful disease because he hasn't been protected in time🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm sure he'll be fine.

We had first injections at 8 weeks but I'm sure HV said they can have them any time up until 14 weeks.

If you're gut feeling is that something isn't right op, seek professional advice instead of asking internet strangers. I hope you get things sorted soon.

@Bellsofstclements I spoke to midwife the day after I gave birth about the 6 week post birth check (I had a lot of stitches and had caught an infection) and my sons vaccinations . She said not to ring as they'd send me a letter. After a week I hadn't heard anything so I did ring.

I had my 6 week post birth check at the same time as ds (so 10 weeks) and they just weighed me, did my blood pressure (I had low bp all the way through pregnancy and kept fainting).

@firstimemamma I was hoping someone would come on and say I was being a bit silly and that it was fine so I should suck it up 😂 I'm aware the nhs is under increasing demands and I'm lucky to get a free healthcare service so I don't want to be that pain in the ass that complains over nothing. On the other hand my son is very precious to me obviously so I want him to have the best!

Should say when I rang to ask originally they did know about us but they had forgotten to register my son as a baby so he was down as a new adult to the practice (despite having a dob for this year!)

My GP took my name and DOB so they could link baby to me when they set her up as a patient. I'm guessing the receptionist messed up there which is crap!

But then my GP didn't set up the first vaccination appointment, some separate health service did, so when I initially phoned GP to ask (on HV advice at 6 weeks) they couldn't help anyway.

I wouldn’t worry. My sons behind too. It’s not much

It is a bit rubbish. With the experience of having done it before, I booked in the 3 sets of my second baby’s jabs at 4 weeks. I’ve also just booked my toddler’s flu and mmr booster. I haven’t had letters yet for her but by the time I get invited, all the slots this side of Christmas will have gone.

It's annoying but it'll be fine. In Ireland they happen at 2, 4 and 6 months rather than 2, 3 and 4 months, and in a slightly different order.

My friend's DS is 3 months older than my DD, we're in the UK she's in Ireland. DD had finished hers before the DS because he'd had to postpone due to illness.

It is crap and you're justified in being annoyed.

You don't have to feel guilty about feeling annoyed because healthcare is 'free' either. As you know, it's not free, you've paid for it through taxes. It's free at the point of use which is how it should be, but that's a very different thing!