To expect the Doctor to respect my wishes?

[loumum3]

I have not vaccinated my youngest child. I have done this after much research and made an informed decision. The Doctor's surgery has phoned me several times now and written requesting I go in for a discussion about this. I haven't got time for a visit to discuss this, nor do I want to so I said if I had to, I could talk about it on the phone....I have had the Doctor on the phone this afternoon grilling me about my choices, really trying to scare me into having the jabs done and trying to make me feel bad. She cannot see my point of view at all and has been very rude.

Is is really too much to expect a Doctor to respect the decisions I make about my own children ?

Has anyone else experienced this ?

Woman I know has 3 kids
Child one had MMR was fine
Child 2 had MMR and is SN she blames this on the MMR
Child 3 had separate jabs and is SN not sure what she is blaming that on

'You cannot try and take the moral highground because you perceive what you are doing to be better thought out than what we are doing.'

Er......where exactly have I said that my decision is better thought out than yours?? Crikey - you are imagining stuff now. I am responding to some people who are being pretty nasty and rude about people who choose not to vaccinate. I have not insulted anyone who chooses to vaccinate - they are doing what they believe is best which I am too. But it's a shame people cannot respect my choices as I respect theirs and result to name calling. I don't presume to know what is best for other people's children! Neither should any of you...

Why so defensive Pixie? You should be confident enough in your choices not to feel that a faceless person behind a computer is saying that they have made a decision 'better' than yours No way have I said that at any point!

I do not have 'double standards' - I already explained you you my reasoning on why I would not restrict any of my children's diets.

Anyway, I'm hiding this thread now for sure. In 6 years on MN I have never seen such rudeness on a vaccination thread. Particularly the comment to the mother who's baby died following vaccination.

electra I think you've been 'spoken' to incredibly rudely by lobbyists perhaps and have received some rather petty remarks, I may as well hide this thread as well- what's the point- I just hope that NO mum reading this (if anyone's still here) and buying the scaremongering will live to regret the decision to vaccinate their child. Because many many mums really regret that decision as they're at yet another neurology appointment or are arranging their baby's funeral. Do your research, thoroughly.

If 99.9% of children were vaccinated then I would not have my children vaccinated, herd immunity would protect them. The tiny risk posed from a vaccine would be too great for me to risk. This I know would be a very selfish choice on my part and would only work if others did not make such a selfish choice.

Pixie, just one small example but 84% of Hib meningitis cases are in children who have received the vaccine

There are no studies of non-vaccinated against vaccinated children as it would be considered unethical.

Which childhood immune system disorders are you thinking of, sooty7? The diagnosis of some allergies and asthma has improved over the last few decades (my mother was only diagnosed as asthmatic 10 years ago but has suffered "with her chest" all her life). We now know that 1 in 100 people have Coeliac disease but they always did - we just didn't pick it up.

There could be many different causes if the increase is real and it would be very difficult to show it was vaccinations or one in particular.

Sorry if we've moved on (am only on page 5 - sigh!), but a friend of mine, who already had serious medical problems, caught mumps when he was in his early 30's. The doctors put it down to him having contact with children who had not received the MMR. He luckily did not have fertility problems as a result (which is a common result of men getting mumps) but he could very well have done. And he could have done without yet another medical issue to worry about.

Netdoctor states: 'The recent rise in the number of mumps cases among young students is thought to be entirely due to these children having missed being vaccinated earlier in their life.'

So OP YABU to think that your personal choice overrides the safety of society as a whole. I'm not saying you should be forced to immunise your DCs, but you should certainly be prepared to discuss this with the GP.

'I just hope that NO mum reading this (if anyone's still here) and buying the scaremongering will live to regret the decision to vaccinate their child. Because many many mums really regret that decision as they're at yet another neurology appointment or are arranging their baby's funeral.'

Now that's what I call scaremongering!

'Many,many mums' - total unproved bullshit.

and as for 'Catch mumps naturally, as a child, and you're immune for life.' -how marvellous, lets all go do that and as long as our children aren't in the minority left with permanent harm - which is a known and proven possibility from Mumps - they'll be super-immune. Oh good

How about tetanus then - shall we go encourage them to get that?

(Tetanus infection does not protect against future infect btw - just in case that is what anybody was thinking)

Those of you who haven't vaccinated at all - can I ask (again) how are you intending to protect your child and the adult they will become against tetanus infection?

'Because many many mums really regret that decision as they're at yet another neurology appointment or are arranging their baby's funeral. Do your research, thoroughly'

Cleggover, that is one of the worst things I HAVE EVER read . What sort of person tells others that accepting the Government recommended, totally routine vaccinations could end up with a dead child

I am absolutely horrified that someone could be that irresponsible. If you want to risk your child catching disease, that's fine but you should never tell other people that trying to protect their child against disease could end up at 'their baby's funeral'

In relation to mumps I didn't mention death - I said 'permanent harm'

leonie having your leg broken rarely kills you but you try not to let it happen anyway! My sister had mumps and it was awful, she was in hospital and very very ill with it.

Yes the Mumps vaccine wears off, but if there were not unvaccinated people / children catching mumps then those people would still not catch it as they'd have nobody to catch it from!

Having said that, I would not have vaccinated my child on the current schedule at such a young age if he was to stay at home with me and not be in daycare.

I live in the US where babies also receive the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine. There are opinions that more adults get shingles here because of that vaccination. They do not get so much exposure to chicken pox as so few children get it. This casual exposure can apparently 'boost' your immunity. So when there is occasional exposure it's more likely to result in shingles. It's interesting and a difficult decision for a lot people. I agonized over vaccinations for sure.

'let the natural exposures sort it out'

'Natural' exposure to childhood illnesses will result in death or serious harm for some unlucky children. A fully vaccinated population also protects vulnerable adults because the illnesses cease to be current in the population. Failing to vaccinate your children risks their health and everybody elses.

Leonie - do you realise that their is now an entire generation of doctors who haven't seen babies born with defects caused through ruebella? How can that ever be anything other than a good thing?

Any chance of answering the question about tetanus btw? How do you propose to protect your children from that?

Why is it that unvaxed children are always accused of putting the young/elderly/immuno compromised people at risk? What about all the people wandering around who were vaxed as children and their immunity wore off? There were a few posters earlier who found that they were not immune to rubella when they were pregnant and were quick to say that an unvaxed child could have put them at risk but yet they were just as likely to put another pregnant mum at risk because they were not immune either! I wonder how many of you who are criticizing non vaxers have had your own immunity checked recently or are up to date on all your boosters.

Pixie. Do you know how many tetanus cases there are in a year in the uk?