To get baby immunisations done separately, experiences?

[SeparateVaccines21]

Hi there,

I’ve recently had a baby who was born at 33 weeks. This is relevant as everything has been done to corrected age…apart from immunisations and that doesn’t make sense to me.

While I was pregnant I became aware of how many immunisations tiny babies had to get in the very early stages of their lives. I’m not anti-vax at all but I will class myself as vaccine hesitant now. I feel that putting so many different things into a small body at the same time is something I don’t agree with.

I don’t want my child to go without protection so I want to get the immunisations done separately and more spaced out. Obviously this would have to be done privately and this is where I’m struggling. I can’t find any reputable clinics that offer this service.

Has anyone done this in Glasgow and the surrounding areas?

Also, if you got your child’s immunisations done separately, do you feel it made a difference?

TIA

My neighbour got both her dds childhood vax done separately, this was in the dark days of Dr Whatshisname and the autism stuff. It was a lot of faff - there was iirc a two week wait between each dose so it meant she was dragging a newborn (and consequently a newborn and toddler) on a 100 mile round trip every fortnight for months, there's no way I'd have been able to manage that when my dc were tiny. The trauma of the whole day was awful for the dds, I went with her a couple of times and both she and the dd got very upset with the injections.

Plus they were under-protected for much longer than their peers.

OP we wouldn't inflict the trauma of birth upon anything other than a newborn, they are incredibly resilient beasts. Childhood vaccinations are incredibly safe, and very widely used. I for one couldn't justify the prolonged experience of a jab a fortnight for months over a quick (but no doubt unsettling) course as scheduled. Easier on a newborn too, I can't press on you the look on my friends dd face when at 18m old she realised she was going back for yet another one of the single mmr doses.

We were just outside London and still had to make the 50 mile journey even then.

My doctor agreed for me to do them separately.
But then made a comment about dragging the whole thing out and i just decided last minute to just get it al done together.
Am just wondering if your GP may help

DC1 was born prem at 30 weeks, DC2 at 33 weeks.

More with DC1, he had needles, operations, invasions etc. I completely understand why you feel this way but PLEASE just get them done as they are required. As pp said, it's less hassle in the long run. They are tiny, they don't remember. It's more traumatic for you, take someone to hold your hand (or wait in the car for you)

Weirdly it's the same with weaning, you do it at 'actual' (off topic I know but I found that more strange)

Everything is doubly scary with a preemie baby, well done for getting this far, it does get easier!

• not all of the vaccinations are available as single vaccines
• do you really want your dc being jabbed 3x6 times (in addition to the 1 or 2 others each time)

the vaccines are given millions of times all over the world and are pretty safe.
if you have specific concerns ask your gp.

I looked into it briefly as well OP, high level reading only as I guess I had the same thoughts as you and I remember my mum saying she had had our MMR split privately.

I ended up just going ahead because, They don’t seem to offer hem separately anymore - only where the child / family has a history of vaccine reactions (or other such reasons) so there is a perceived specific risk, the vaccine programme has been developed over a long time to be efficient and effective and to allow recovery between each dose whilst still providing early and timely protection.

Spacing them out prolongs it’s for babies. Just think how many shots that would actually be for them, and how often they’d be having to get them. It’s would Be a LOT more stressful for kids.

Babies often have immediate reactions to shots (fever etc) as we adults do also. But it is usually very easily managed and doesn’t last long, and they bounce back quick.
I wouldn’t want to be putting them Through it more Often than necessary however.

I would go with medical advice. But it seems way more risky fir your newborn to have to wait longer to be protected. The only time I am aware that separate doses is recommended is if there has been an allergic reaction or other medical reason

There is no medical need or benefit to having them done separately. Being vaccine hesitant IS being antivax just with more steps and that leads to children dying so please give your head a gentle wobble and get him protected.

Lots of the vaccines aren't available separately which is why you will find it very difficult.

Or do you mean that where there are 3 injections you'd only get one at a time? It would mean many more visits and will delay the time until your child is protected

I had my first child at 33 weeks and he had his first vaccines all together at 6 weeks old (2016) when he weighed 4lb 7oz. At that point we'd only been out of the nicu for a week.
Considering he was so tiny (smallest baby the nurse had ever injected) I wanted him to have all the protection I could get for him.
He cried when it was done and then went to sleep and other than being a little grumpy for a couple of days there were no side effects for him.
I did the same for my 36 weeker at 8 weeks (2020) when he was 6lb, we'd only been out of hospital 4 weeks after major surgery and again he was fine apart from being grumpy and having a temperature for a few days. His temp always spikes with any illness unlike his his older brother who's only spikes when very sick.

I had my 34 week baby vaccinated as normal. I felt being Orem it was even more important that she was protected from serious disease.

32weeker mum here. My daughter has a horrible reaction to her first set at 8 weeks (so, the day of her due date), causing a week in hospital, lumbar punctures, treated for sepsis etc. Cause eventually determined as vaccine reaction. She had her 12 and 16 weeks as normal but we split the 1 year into two injections x two visits (it's more vaccinations than needles as mmr is three, for example). I ummed and ahhed for ages because people told me not to, but it was 100% the right decision for us and her. She did have a small reaction to the MMR and I know if I'd given her all 4, it might have been worse, but even if it wasn't, I'd have been blaming myself.

Do what is right for you. I had no issue with requesting this from the surgery, by the way, they were absolutely great about it.

The efficacy of the vaccines is increased by then being given together.

Adding a chicken pox vaccine to MMR would increase protection for all four conditions but the public outrage would be too high.

I think, kindly, that you might be over thinking this. Right now the prematurity is a massive factor in your parenting outlook, but this will fade as other things come to the forefront as baby grows older.

please get the vaccines as recommended.

With a premmie it's even more important. My DD was born at 33 weeks.

Sorry to be blunt but these vaccines protect against infections the kill young babies with alarming ease. Even more so premature babies.

If it helps most surgeries are massively behind any you probably won't get started at 8 weeks anyway. I had to wait till 11weeks for first appt and everyone in our nct group has had a similar experience would you feel better with a few weeks delay

The primary vaccinations in the UK are accelerated compared to many countries, given at 2, 3 and 4 months rather than 2, 4, and 6 months. I believe that may have arisen partly to achieve better rates of full vaccination but don't actually know.

Having learned the Australian schedule before I moved to the UK, and also having a personal and family history of vaccination reactions, I discussed following 2/4/6 months when my eldest was born, and my GP was happy to work with that. (although I think we actually went with 2, 3.5, 6 in the end as got 2nd doses done before travelling). As it turned out she was fine and when 2nd was born I was comfortable sticking to the 2,3,4 month schedule.

I think the most critical vaccines time-wise are the first set, the current schedules I've just looked up all say they can be given from 6 weeks of age. The subsequent shots have more flexibility as they are there to ensure long-term immunity; but spreading the individual vaccinations out is quite difficult as some can be given together OR with a minimum time interval between so you would enormously delay a child being fully protected.

As for the MMR, I believe it is some years since the individual components were available, and those that can be sourced individually are NOT as effective as the ones in the combined formulation. Finally, these are given to toddlers who have far more awareness of what is going on that a young baby - to fit in the current vaccinations you need to take a toddler twice anyway, I wouldn't want to add any more vaccination visits than absolutely necessary for that age.

OP, I hope you are reassured by what you are reading both here and anywhere else you are researching. Neonatal units routinely give vaccinations at the usual post-birth, not corrected, times to extremely premature babies who aren't yet ready to go home, so there is plenty of experience to know that that is safe to do. Very best wishes and congratulations on your baby!

I requested this and there was no issue from the GP at all. They just wanted to confirm I absolutely was getting DC vaccinated and wasn't trying to avoid them altogether, just space them out.

The nurse was actually v helpful in telling me the side effects and risks of each one and telling me which would be the ones she would give when.

Filled it all out in red book and all fine.

Did it for both DC btw, one in 2017 and one in 2019.

Ultimately we live in a country where thankfully we still have some control over our healthcare, use it OP if you think necessary.

Get it done on the normal schedule. They get more and more stressy about being jabbed as they get older so I'd not have wanted more visits!

@randomsabreuse my child got pretty 'stressy' when she needed 4 lumbar punctures and 32 cannulations after her first set... I'd prefer she had one more round of injections and didn't ever have to go through something like that again.

Isn't there a perfectly logical reason why immunisations should be done at actual rather than corrected age? Which is that the gap after birth is the time for maternal antibody protection to wane. Not for the baby to mature in some way.

@ErrolTheDragon

Isn't there a perfectly logical reason why immunisations should be done at actual rather than corrected age? Which is that the gap after birth is the time for maternal antibody protection to wane. Not for the baby to mature in some way.

This is exactly what our consultant told us

I had a 34 weeker. She was vaccinated according to the standard schedule. All fine.

Separating them out would potentially mean more fevers or days of feeling crap for the baby. Not nice.

Yes - done with all four of my kids. I spoke with my health visitor to get this sorted and she was very helpful and prebooked the time slots. I did my own research and read published medical journal articles for and against and am not going to entertain any debate on this with anyone but wanted to let you know that out of my four kids only one ever had a temp with one vaccine interestingly. The rest of the time you wouldn’t have known they had a vaccination. Also (unless the research and recommendation has changed) you don’t need to pregive the calpol with men b if it’s given as a single vaccine (check though incase info has changed). I think everyone should make an informed choice and if that is to have the vaccines on the NHS schedule then great and if not then it should be respected, so long as it is informed. X

Sorry post wasn’t clear - feeding baby at same time. Read published journal articles on various aspects related to vaccination of babies and NOT pros of single versus combined. I then made up my own mind on what I felt was best. Not easy at all when you are just trying to make the best decision you can with the information that you have. I have never once told anyone they should have single vaccines or space them out. It’s enough pressure being a parent and jus trying to do your best by your child but it would be nice for people to keep their opinions to themselves in return x

@Wotsitsits

I requested this and there was no issue from the GP at all. They just wanted to confirm I absolutely was getting DC vaccinated and wasn't trying to avoid them altogether, just space them out.

The nurse was actually v helpful in telling me the side effects and risks of each one and telling me which would be the ones she would give when.

Filled it all out in red book and all fine.

Did it for both DC btw, one in 2017 and one in 2019.

Ultimately we live in a country where thankfully we still have some control over our healthcare, use it OP if you think necessary.

That's weird and very bloody unlikely because they have not manufactured a single mumps vaccine since 2010 and stopped making single rubella ones in 2012.

@Wotsitsits

I requested this and there was no issue from the GP at all. They just wanted to confirm I absolutely was getting DC vaccinated and wasn't trying to avoid them altogether, just space them out.

The nurse was actually v helpful in telling me the side effects and risks of each one and telling me which would be the ones she would give when.

Filled it all out in red book and all fine.

Did it for both DC btw, one in 2017 and one in 2019.

Ultimately we live in a country where thankfully we still have some control over our healthcare, use it OP if you think necessary.

I haven't heard of people getting the single vaccines on the NHS. I know quite a few people who opted for the single vaccines. But they all had them done privately and it was 15 years ago.