If you decided to postpone baby jabs...

[thehouseofmirth]

how long did you delay them for and what was the rationale for your decision?

My 6 month old DS has suspected Rubella two weeks ago. The surgery could give me a blood form quick enough as it is a legal requirement to have a diagnosis of Measles, Mumps, & Rubella, due the fact they are communicable diseases and the DofH has to be informed. The same as any highly infectious disease.

I have had all three of my children immunised. However I did it at my pace and when I felt they were all well enough to cope with any [potential side effect. Ds is waiting for his 3rd baby jab as he has been poorly for the last month or so. I have cancelled 5 appointments that have been sent.
DD1 did not have her MMR until she was nearly three. This was back when the whole Dr Wakefield disaster first struck the world.
I have researched throughly and as a health professional myself I decided that I did not want one of my children dying or becomeing permanently damaged by a disease that can be prevented so easily.

I have nursed a patient with Lukemia (17 years old) who died because a friend gave him Rubella. He had been jabbed, the friends mum was anti vaccine and didnt see a problem with her children infecting everyone else!!

But you totally have to make up your own mind.

Kayteee you have to star each word you want in bold

Ah I don't want to fight with you, but my eight month old son was admitted to hospital this month with suspected rubella - it turned out it wasn't but he had a fit and you know what, we do have rubella going round because folks aren't immunising anymore.

There are lots are scare stories based on anecdotal evidence but the whole thing about anecdotal evidence is that it's based on a few people's experiences. If you have a bad reaction to something you are more likely to talk about it - imagine if you took a hayfever pill and it knocked you out - you are much more motivated to actually tell folks about that than if you, like millions of others, took the pill, your hayfever was treated and nothing untoward occurred. Do you see what I'm getting at?

The actual evidence on the majority of the vax available today indicates there are very, very few bad reactions (less than you would get for general medications - including over the counter stuff - do you know how many children are admitted to hospital after taking things like Calpol and reacting badly? It's a lot more than react to vaccines either long or short term). The vaccine which did cause some problems was the old whooping cough one and it was withdrawn (if I recall the date correctly) in 1998 and replaced with a new more effective one which didn't cause the headache/risk of fitting (see I do know my stuff on this - I was an anti-vax person for quite a while).

It is a personal decision of course, but it does have long lasting community repercussions and it also creates another problem - unforeseen epidemics which the younger medical doctors don't always recognise. I had four consultants to come out and look at my son - only one of them had ever seen a case of rubella - the rest had only seen textbooks. Not having doctors familiar with conditions can mean kids having painful tests (like the lumbar puncture which he did have) because they had to rule out everything it could possibly have been.

OP: Why did you ask?

I delayed 2-3-4m & preschool jabs a few weeks (or months in case of preschool jabs) because I couldn't see the need to rush.
Delaying 2 month jab until 3 months is good because you can give more Calpol at 3 months than you can at 2.
I delayed MMR 2-3 months to improve likelihood of immunity taking.
I guess vax have risks, but the diseases they prevent scare me a lot more.

lijkk

The reason that you can give more Calpol at 3 months than at 2 months is because babies have immature livers. Before 3 months (ish) they metabolise calpol differently so actually need less.

The amount they get should be equally effective despite being a lower dose.

PS: I know Calpol = Paracetemol I'm just lazy.

Thank for all your replies. When I had DS1 he had all his baby jabs as I was in that new mum fog and did as I was expected. Since then I've tried hard to make sure I am making informed decisions rather than blindly following what everyone else is doing. Just trying to decide what to do with DS2 who is 8 weeks now. Feel he is very little to have his immature immune system overwhelmed and that there is no reason why he needs to have them right now. My understanding that they start immunisation programme very early in order to catch everyone but as I'm not going back to work, DS2 not going into daycare etc. it might be better for him if we wait a bit. But it's very hard to find information and actually get to the stage where I do feel I'm making an informed choice, hence my op.

Kaytee - you shouldn't put a big smile after saying 'there are lots of us who haven't opted for the jabs'.

What keeps our children safe is herd immunity. If there are too many people like you then that immunity is not achieved and epidemics start.
There are some children who are unable to safely have vaccinations themselves and what keeps them safe is the fact that the rest of us vaccinate our kids. If our children are well, healthy and strong then I believe that we have a social responsibility to vaccinate to protect all children.

houseofmirth - I would speak to your GP to start with and see what they say. Although you're not going back to work or DS2 into daycare, DS1 is out and about in the world so that may be a risk factor? I'm pretty sure that no harm will be done by you waiting a few weeks while you look into it and make your decisions.

THOM - however much you research it or ask for info on MN, you are still going to have to go with your gut instinct on it because there is SO MUCH confliction.
GPs and the government sources are desperate to get the herd immunity up and barely acknowledge publicly that vaccine damage can occur, although if you look at this website you can see that it is possible to claim compensation for vaccine damage, so they do know it happens.

Anti-vaccine people have all sorts of reasons for it: some because they know people who have suffered reaction to vaccines; others because they are fearful of the additives in vaccines (mercury, aluminium, egg); others who would rather take their chances with their child not getting the virus than deliberately expose their child to something that has the potential to harm them.

As I said, in the end, you have to go with what you can live with.
IF you choose vaccination and your DC has a reaction, can you live with that?
IF you choose non-vaccination and your DC catches e.g. measles and is hospitalised (or potentially worse), can you live with that?

I am a firm believer in supporting the child's immune system through good diet and minimal exposure to toxins - my DS has had his first round of baby jabs and had a minor reaction to the ones that contained the PCV - so he won't be having that one again, especially as it is given at the same time as the MMR. In fact, he hasn't had his 12m+ vaccines at all yet, despite being 16mo, because we have fallen off the radar and not been sent the appts and I haven't been too bothered about chasing it up, especially after the recent contamination scare with the Men C vaccines. I will get him done with Hib and Men C, NOT PCV and at the mo not MMR either; he can wait a while for that. And then I'll probably get it done in singles.

We live abroad, so DD (now 20m) has had all the usual childhood vacs, including MMR, plus:
BCG - just a couple weeks after birth
series of three Hep B
series of three rabies
yellow fever

DS (now 5) has had all that plus:
Men ACWY
typhoid

Neither had any reaction, not even a mild fever, to any injection, thankfully.

Their 'immature immune systems' can handle an awful lot more than you might suppose.

i delayed dd1's mmr for same reason as showofhands and opted for separate injections where possible from the nhs as it's just for convenience and i could handle a bit of inconvenience i felt.

dd2 was prem and they wanted me to keep to the same schedule with her, i couldn't see the sense in giving a 4lb baby the same amount of vax as an 8lber, so i waited until her weight was up. i'll do the same mmr thing and always opt to separate out vaxes where easily possible.

Exactly Thumbwitch,

and to Alibaba

Huge debate - can I just support what others have said - by not immunising your child you are putting other children at risk.

My DC are both immunised, but I was terrified that they would get measles from an unimmunised child before they were old enough for MMR - it happened to a friend of mine and I think that is disgraceful.

Secondly, if a male post puberty catches mumps from an umimmunised child he faces a high risk of being infertile (I have worked with couples who are going through IVF because of this in increasing numbers).

We have a responsibilty not just for our children, but for those who suffer because of the decisions we make (often without all of the medical facts).

ds2 and ds3 are officially postponed although ds2 is now 7 and ds3 4. I probably will get them single tetanus (not so easy to source) and single measles at some stage. Especially ds2. Plan to see Richard Halvorsen first of all (a GP)- his book is worth reading.

And why? Because their brother is severely autistic and has severe learning disabilities. Long complex story but he regressed after a (natural) infection and there's plenty of evidence that children with autism have dodgy immune systems, so we have done a little fiddling as possible with the other 2 (vvv careful with antibs too). That's a massive oversimplification. But I work in autism research and am up to date with the latest theories and think a softly softly approach with the younger 2 has been the correct choice. Both are developing typically.

DD2 is unvaccinated because DD1 reacted terribly to her baby jabs and has suffered distressing and serious health difficulties ever since.

Always brings a bitter smile to my face when people announce that vaccine damage is "very rare" or happens to "very few". Anyone who says this is talking out of their arse because even the government itself hasn't got a clue how high rates of adverse reaction are as the recording system is woefully inadequate.

ITA Sooty.

If, as an increasing body of evidence suggests, the rise in asthma, allergies, diabetes, ASD and immune dysfunction is linked to over vaccination at a young age then the chances are that every one of us knows a child who has been damaged by vaccines.

Fact is that vaccines are badly tested and that the current schedule has never been tested as a whole.

DS2 and DS3 haven't had any jabs. We come from a very allergic/autoimmune family. DS1 has severe autism- the only autism in the family and there is no broader autism phenotype. He had very severe eczema as a baby- which became infected with the herpes virus and triggered the regression.

DS3 is similar to ds1 in many ways- the same gut problems, some mild eczema - although his started at 2 whereas ds1's started right after the DTP. He is, as I said earlier developing normally.

DS2 and DS3 haven't had any jabs. We come from a very allergic/autoimmune family. DS1 has severe autism- the only autism in the family and there is no broader autism phenotype. He had very severe eczema as a baby- which became infected with the herpes virus and triggered the regression.

DS3 is similar to ds1 in many ways- the same gut problems, some mild eczema - although his started at 2 whereas ds1's started right after the DTP. He is, as I said earlier developing normally.

whoops- although of course that is just anecdotal

There is the Generation Rescue study into vaccinated and unvaccinated populations.

Here, interesting stuff.

I believe Bernadine Healey has recently been saying that it is urgent that a similar study is conducted on a large scale by the government.

Anecdotal but my DD1 had eczema and dairy allergy as a baby, she reacted badly to her vaccines and has suffered health problems (gut problems similar to those of autistic children) and multiple allergies ever since.

DD2 also had eczema as a baby and is allergic to dairy. She has had no jabs, is growing out of her dairy allergy, has no other allergies and is in robust good health. She is ill less often than DD1 and gets better quicker. She is a healthy weight whilst DD1 is underweight and was diagnosed failure to thrive as a baby.

Oh and for the record they have both had whooping cough despite DD1 having all her jabs for it and DD2 having none. Unvaccinated DD2 got better quicker.

Sterility from mumps is incredibly rare.

saintlydamemrsturnip hello!!! think i know who you are, hope you are well. Could you clear up something for me that whomovedmychocolate said? She said that only two people who have been vaccinated against Measles caught wild measles in the UK in the last 5 years. Does that sound right to you? [no offence wmmc]