can you/should you have flu jab while pregnant?????????

[Nemo666]

hi all
really confused about this. Have had my card to go and get flu jab, dont usually bother despite astham and bad chest infections but think i should this year. However I am also 7mths pregnant and dont know if you can have it while pregnant?

In the USA women are absolutely advised to get flu vaccinations; it's completely normal and expected and you would be going against medical advice to not get it.

So, I think you should get it if you want, esp. as you sound relatively high risk even without being pregnant.

GP/doctor's might not let you, of course! They might look at the risk balance differently. Why don't you ring them and see if they will.

oops, that should say PREGNANT women are advised to get flu vaccinations.

Think will ask the mw in the morning and see what she says. ALso have gp appointment after mw appointment so will see what they both say..lol

i dont want one.

should I get one anyway - healthy, 3 months pg

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I had one last week. I'm due 18 December. Freaky is correct, in the US pregnant women are advised to get flu vaccines.

I got one privately and made sure it was thiomersal-free.

NO WAY I'd want to risk catching flu and labour, childbirth, breastfeeding and/or looking after the newborn and a toddler.

Expat how much is it for private one?

I wouldn't get one either, Enid, not even when pregnant. But I'm not someone who would otherwise be at high risk; i've never had flu at all and I think it's better if poss. to let the body make its own antibodies.

In contrast, DH had pnemonia a few years ago; where he used to work they offered a flu jab each autumn. He refused to get it, but after the pnuemonia I really would have liked him to get it, to me he had proved himself to be a little too susceptible.

how bad is flu?

I think I have had it in past but it wasnt too bad

£15/jab.

For kids, it's still £15, but they get it in two doses 4 weeks apart. DD had it. I use US guidlines for vaccine, and they recommend flu vaccine for all healthy children under 6, b/c they tend to be at risk for complications requiring hospitalisation.

mmm does your dd have asthma or anything or do you get it to prevent..Adam doesnt have diagnosed asthma but last winter they were toying with the idea.

I think flu jabs are just very endorsed in the USA (expat is American, like me).

ok still dont feel any clearer..lol
Will see what mw and gp have to say aswell

She doesn't have asthma. I just don't agree w/the UK policies on vaccination - I think they don't offer enough (see the pneumoccocal meningitis thread) to save themselves money (like the mercury-containing jabs they used to give) and chose to follow the Centers for Disease Control guidlines for healthy children.

The idea that flu is just like a bad cold is absolute b(*locks! I can't imagine my kid falling that ill when there's something around that could prevent it.

Just my 2p, but it's my reasoning behind having the entire family vaccinated every year.

The last time I had flu, real flu, not just a severe cold, I was a 25-year-old, fit, strong regular outdoor athlete.

I wound up in hospital w/pneumonia in both my lungs.

It was months before I felt like my old self again.

It was BAD, BAD, BAD.

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Nemo - specifically request for a thiomersal free one if you can, but yes, it's okay to have a flu jab when you're pregnant.

I'd have to say the worst about it was the joint pain and the intense chills. I mean, chills so bad they hurt, and the fever would go on and off so when you tried to sleep you'd be freezing and wake up dripping sweat. I don't normally get fevers. I've had 'glandular fever' w/o the fever bit, countless infections w/no fever.

With flu it rose to 103 degree Fahrenheit for days.

Then there was the cough.

A work colleague once put it well: if you see a £20 note lying 10 feet away and are too ill to get out of bed and get it, you have flu.

I've read that you shouldn't have it while pregnant.

I have read that if is not advised unless really your medical condition warrents it. Nemo your past history could do mean they give you the jab.

If you work then you are more exposed. Try and eat really well and look after yourself, make good sleep a mission in life and start eating mandarins

That's a good point, Papillion. I work w/university students and use public transport during rush hours daily, so the risk is even greater than if I were a SAHP.

Hi, just noticed this thread - Nemo, if you do find out could you let me know - I'm nearly 29 weeks and have had a bad chest since June. I've been invited to have a flu jab but assumed they hadn't realised I was pregnant. I'm not happy about having one but also not happy about having a crappy chest infection all winter

Oh and forgot to say, I have asthma and am on inhaled steroids. Normally my asthma doesn't bother me at all but this pregnancy I have really suffered for some reason, never really shifted a flare up after a cold in June.

bump - any news?

my practice nurse advised me not to have a 'flu jab when ttc & pregnant. i'm now breastfeeding & haven't had one so far this year. i have diabetes so am theoretically at risk.