Has anybody decided not to vaccinate their child or to only selectively vaccinate them?

[arabella2]

And if so, how did you come to that decision. Ds has not had any vaccinations as yet, but once he goes to nursery I think it may become more important. Even then though we do not want him to have the whole lot as we think it's too much for the system to absorb, but it is very difficult to know which ones are more important and also better tolerated by the body. We would also go for mercury free vaccinations which my gp told me were available. I want to know, if they are available, why aren't they offered as a matter of routine - expense presumably.
The whole thing is a minefield because it seems to be very difficult to get a balanced viewpoint of the whole issue with the pro people being very pro and the contra people being very against.
Any thoughts appreciated but no lecturing please.

My second child wasn't vaccinated for mmr, he was quite ill at the time. I just didn't want to put anymore risk to him. I have decided to get it done now a year and a half later after weighing up the pros and cons. I think because he will spend time in hospital he will be more exposed to these diseases. Sorry not very informative, just my story!

No lecturing I promise Dd had all jabs but has and will not have her MMR booster as she has allergies (which I believe were consequential to having the 1st MMR although there is no evidence to support this, just a feeling I have).

Ds has had all injections exept MMR and will not have it all. Due to dd having allergies and ds already having eczma we don't feel that it will be in his best interests to have it.

Sorry this won't be much help but for us it's as simple as that.

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DD had separate MMR as it made me feel more comfortable about the whole thing. I still don't know what we will do about boosters, as it seems terrible to put her through three more injections now that she is old enough to remember each time!! I think that only you can decide what is best for you and your child, but I personally feel that it is important to have vaccinations unless there is a medical reason not to have them. HTH. XXX

dd2 is having the 'triples' as mercury-free jabs (end up having one more needle) and dd1 has had her mmr, which dd2 will also have. I weighed up the risks of both by doing lots of reading.

hi arabella2. My dd (2.8) had all her baby jabs but not her MMR. (To be honest if i have another baby i'll be in a quandry even about the first ones now i know more!). We found out all the info about a private clinic close to us doing single jabs before we made a choice but the more we looked for answers, the more confusing it got ,about MMR that is! Anyway, we went ahead with the single jabs and dd has not yet had mumps as they can't get supplies but i'm not worried about it! She also didn't have her Hib Booster as both my nephews were very poorly after it, dd had chicken pox at the time, and once more lack of information to convince me she needed it! So, that's my story, it is complicated and i hope that reading others stories helps and you come to the right decision for you and your son!+

Too difficult for us to get a single measles jab, & I decided that the risk of irrepable brain damage from measles was greater than the suggested autism/bowel disease risk from either MMR or single measles, so that decided that for me.
My Dad has meningitus as a baby, nearly killed him and his twin and DF has little hearing in one ear as a result. DH had HIb pneumonia almost 3 years ago, almost hospitalised with it, so meningitus & HIb were personal issues for me.
But while I tend to choose vax for my own kids, I am very pro-choice. There is another recent thread where JimJams gives some interesting statistics on the likelihood of a child contracting any of the nasties. Search and you may find...

ds2 isn't vaccinated at all (he'll be 2 next month)

ds1 had everything up to and including single measles (not mumps or rubella- but he's had german measles now anyway). He will not be getting anymore.

If you lived in aus or the us you would get mercury free as a matter of course. They don't like them here as they contai aP rather than wP which may be slightly less effective.

Sorry poorly ds2 bfeeding on my lap. I can write more later.

A great book if you are confused is "the vaccine guide" by randall neustaedter. It's good as identifies the risks and benefits you are weighing up for each vaccine (because the risk benefit ratio is different for each vaccine- it doesn't have to be all or nothing).

Dd has had single Measles and Rhubella and awaits single mumps. I read up as much as possible and decided that this was lower risk than the MMR. I will do the same for Ds when he is old enough

Our kids have had no vaccination at all and they have had no problem with the health authroity. I am not worried about them getting the illnesses they should be vaccinated against. So I am not doing this in the hope they don't catch anything because everyone else is immune.
I would really like my kids to have measles actually.
Nursery, childminder and pre-school know about our kids and have had no issue with this either.
For what it's worth my kids are remarkebly healthy. They recently had chicken pox and that went quite well too - DD(2) has had once a bad fever but it went away a few hours later and DS (4) has never had a fever that I can remember.

I like my children to have measles? Oh dear....Poor children.....

It would be nice if someone with a child who has compromised immunity would comment more about herd immunity... Some people have weak immune systems and can't safely have vaccines, and the only way they can hope to avoid any of the nasty diseases is if most of the population is vaccinated. It's not a choice for them, and you can understand why they would urge everyone else to have the jabs.

I know a gal who was vaccinated multiple times for Rubella and it never took, she simply didn't develop antibodies. Made her pregnancies scarey since she simply couldn't be protected from Rubella she had to rely on the fact most of the population is.

Arabella2, my ds (who is 6) has had everything except MMR, so I suppose I'm a selective vaccinator. You're right, it is a minefield (and may I say how lovely and restrained and polite this thread is so far? ) and the only thing you can do is read everything you can get your hands on and decide from there. There have been some excellent mumsnet debates on the subject with good links provided, so maybe you could start there? Good luck deciding.

DS has had everything except MMR (had single job measles and mumps). He has an autistic half-brother and a dodgy bowel so I didn't think it worth the risk when single jabs are an alternative. I'm now worrying about the pre-school boosters though. Is there a way of testing for immunity?

None of my nephews and nieces were vaccinated and both neices caught whooping cough. Extremely nasty for the little one who was only around 9 mths at time and she was ill for a very long time, but both girls survived unharmed.

DD has had everything but the MMR, but has had rubella and measles anyway (both prior to age when she should have had MMR). I don't really feel in a position to comment on herd immunity.

Did anyone else see Jon Snow interview Andrew Wakefield last night? Usually have lot of time for Jon Snow but think he prob managed to reinforce a lot of people's distrust of govt advice with his p**s poor interview.

Ds has had everything except MMR - has had measles and rubella separately. Agree herd immunity is important for rubella - the potential consequences for other babies are horrific. Mumps we'll do when the gvmt lets the vaccine in. No hurry for us.
If doing it again would insist on mercury free vaccinations and still do singles - my dh also has a lot of input into this decision and he prefers single vaccinations. I totally respect others on this board in their decision not to vaccinate - nobody has done this thoughtlessly IMO.

My ds has had all of his vaccinations including the MMR. Never really saw any real reason NOT to vaccinate. The evidence was just too shaky.

I had measles, mumps (on one side) and German measles as a child. I still got my Rubella injection when I was 11 (only the girls got it)and then got the MMR when I was 19 and at Uni!! There was an outbreak of German Measles amongst a few of the guys in the halls of residence.

Each to their own, but I remember having measles and it was HELLLLLLL! I wouldn't wish that on anyone let alone my own child!

I do think that letting children build up their own immunity would be lovely, but at young ages Measles is dangerous! I was 2 when I had it and was fine, but what if I had passed it onto a very young baby where it could prove fatal???

Our DD has had all the jabs and separate measles, mumps and rubella. DS has just finished his course of jabs and will have separate MMR jab when the time comes. Still think it is important to vacinate although VERY hard to make informed decisions.

why would anyone want their children to get measles? like m2t, I too had a bad bout of measles as a child (aged 3 I think) which meant rheumatic-like pains in my knees for ages afterwards. I think a vaccine was available then for measles, but my gp didn't 'believe' in vaccines! bonkers.

My DS has had everything, including the 4th triple, MMR & BCG poor love. I read all I could about the MMR before & chatted to my friend (a HV) who has done both of her ds's. However a big influence for me is that DS is in Day Nursery 4 days a week and I wanted to get him protected as soon as I could within his own little 'herd'.

I was also jabbed against everything as a child, but we travelled a lot so I also got things like smalpox vaccinations.

I also plan to vaccinate no2 when he/she arrives.

Can you test for immunity? If it is possible I would like to be able to find out if ds will need any MMR booster

You can test for immunities, but it means taking blood, and IME, it's much worse to watch them take blood from your child than receive jabs.

Bundle: I think the logic is that wild measles confers better life-long protection, including resistance to more sub-strains & across the placenta to the baby of a woman who had measles herself. Jimjams has commented elsewhere, which may confirm that. And with modern medical treatment some would argue wild measles is very, very rarely a significant illness (I don't agree with that, just summarising the logic as I understand it!)

I don't think the complications with measles are rare enough for parents to be encouraged to let their children get it. with other milder conditions like chickenpox that might be ok. in fact, i think we started a mini-epidemic at dd1's nursery because our gp thought they were flea bites from our cats...

Bundle - in our area the GP's urge you to leave your child with CHicken Pox in Nursery as long as they are well enough as its far less severe if you contract this as a child. Better to get it out of the way when you're a toddler! I think that's the thinking behind it anyway.
What ARE the effects of measles? Anyone? I know that German Measles can be incredibly dangerous to an unborn baby.... and can cause male fertility problems (??)...... I think!

But what can the lasting effects of measles in infancy be?

Not scaremongering, just answering the question; I'm still pro-choice on vax. This gives a summary of supposed risks of the MMR diseases.

Complications of measles:

• ear infection (1 in 20)
• pneumonia / bronchitis (1 in 25)
• convulsions (1 in 200)
• diarrhoea (1 in 6)
• meningitis / encephalitis (1 in 1000)
• conditions affecting blood clotting (1 in 6000)
• late onset subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) (1 in 8000 children under 2 years)
• deaths (1 or 2 deaths in 1000 reported cases in recent years).

Complications of mumps:

• viral meningitis (1 in 20)
• encephalitis (1 in 1000)
• inflammation of testicles (4 in 10 adult males)
• permanent hearing loss (1 in 20 000).

Complications of rubella (German measles):

• encephalitis (1 in 6000)
• birth defects (90% chance baby will have birth defects if mother catches rubella early in pregnancy). Birth defects include blindness, deafness, learning difficulties and heart disease
• conditions affecting blood clotting (1 in 3000).

some info on measles complications here