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Original poster

VACCINATIONS - anyone opted out, but not into homeopathy?

120 replies

squigglepuss · 13/03/2006 21:07

Are there any mums who have decided not to vaccinate their children, but who are not into homeopathy? If so, I would be interested to hear your approach to health.
Also anyone who has opted to give their child a few vaccines but not the whole lot.
Please don't respond with general arguements FOR and AGAINST vaccinations as I'm familiar with both opinions - just interested in the middle ground. Thanks

OP posts:
katyrocks · 13/03/2006 22:10

this is tricky! most people are either for or against! I didn't vaccinate dd because reaction of ds to mmr. At the time (12 years ago) i heard a lecture from an australian researcher who had put forward a very controversial theory for cot death, i.e. shock reaction to vacccination. This made so much sense to me at the time, because the evidence she presented was so strong, that i did not have dd vaccinated. now she is 12 yrs old, and, as you can see from the above thread, I am thinking about having her vaccinated with mmr as she needs protection. It is the age of vaccination that i disagree with, rather than the vaccination itself. don't know if this will help

ruty · 14/03/2006 14:09

squigglepuss its a very inflammatory subject and it seems morally indefensible to many here not to vaccinate at all, so I've become a bit hesitant about talking about it. One mum here has lost a child to pneumococcal meninigits, for which a vaccine has now come out [thought to be around 80% effective, but i've heard different figures too] and another has a vaccine damaged child, so i can see both sides of the argument.

Due to my ds's food allergies and gut problems we haven't vaccinated yet - that's not to say we won't at some point. I have yet to meet a homeopath who i really can put my faith in - i'm open minded, but would really like to see one who is also a medical doctor - that way i think i would have more faith in them. i try to give my ds good nutrition and though we see friends and i make sure we have a social life for him, i'm still a bit nervous about places where there are loads of children in all in one place, although many parents whose children are unvaccinated don't worry about that. Its a tricky one.

dandycandyjellybean · 14/03/2006 16:21

Not sure if I really fit the bill here, we did let ds have early jabs, as I felt that some of the things included were important to have immunity to (a form of meningitus, etc) but we have decided not to have the mmr, at least not when it is recommended at 12/18 months. We might end up doing what my sister did with her dd's, which is to wait until just before he starts school (older, immune systems stronger) and give it then. Am not into homeopathy, although rest of my family is. Not averse to some alternative treatments, though.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2006 16:27

we have decided to delay them. our first daughter may have been damaged by the old, thimerosol-containing jabs.

We can no longer afford to buy privately the one vaccine I'd consider giving DD2: Prevenar, against pneumoccocal meningitis.

I have no idea about homeopathy, but I'd be willing to pursue it if I could be enlightened.

franke · 14/03/2006 16:33

We looked at all the vaccinations and diseases that they are supposed to guard against and just took a view on which illnesses we are confident we could manage if the kids got them. To that end both ours have had polio and tetanus jabs (we are in Germany and can pretty much pick and choose). May look into Prevanar too. We'll keep reviewing the situation as they get older and will certainly continue to vax as and when we think it necessary. We do use homeopathy but aren't evangelical about it and certainly wouldn't rely on it.

ruty · 14/03/2006 16:42

does that mean you can get single tetanus in germany for babies and young children franke? thimersol free ones? May be worth going over there for some of us just to get it privately!

franke · 14/03/2006 19:50

We got Tetanol here (Tetavax in the UK) which I think doesn't contain thimersol. Also they don't do the live polio vaccine here which means several jabs to get full immunity. I'm not sure how it would work to come over from the UK and get individual jabs. The doctor we are with for the kids now is our second - the first refused to have us on her books because we weren't following the party line in terms of the vaccine programme (she claimed there was no controversy surrounding vax at all....)

jabberwocky · 14/03/2006 19:55

We have definitely taken a middle ground approach. Ds didn't have anything at all until 5 months, then we did Hib and polio. He's only had 2 DTaP's to date and we have done 1 Prevnar with another to go. He has also had separate measles, mumps and will get rubella in the fall.

He is 2.7, btw

Flip · 14/03/2006 20:02

I have stopped vacinating my child who is now 2. He had reactions to the first three jabs and ended up in hospital each time only to be told it was unrelated to the immunisations. At three months old I was told my little baby had menengitis. I allowed them to treat him for it and the amount of antibiotics they put into his tiny body crippled his digestion of milk. Whatever he took in came straight out within minutes at the other end. It was frightening to watch and it turned out he didn't have menengitis at all. It was the first of three suspected cases of menengitis. There was quite a period of time between his first jab and second due to the illness and within days of his second jab he'd been rushed into hospital again with suspected menengitis. When I told the doctors that I wouldn't allow them to treat him I was condemmed and threatened with social services. I'm very proud of myself for not giving in to them and that time I did it alone because dh was away. The third time, different doctors and I begged them to read his notes. Only one nurse believed me and she was a trainee.

So he hasn't had any further jabs and I'm torn with what to do regarding the MMR. He's a very sickly child and has spent quite a bit of time in hospital with different things. He quite often has trouble breathing and they don't know why. This is an unusual period of well being for him .

expatinscotland · 14/03/2006 20:19

I wouldn't care if I got tossed off the books for delaying my child's vaccines. They're a bunch of lying tossers there, anyhow.

franke · 14/03/2006 20:27

Believe me expat, I wasn't at all bothered, just concerned that we would be up against a wall of bullying in the German med system. We weren't - our current doctor is lovely, and anyway as long as she gives us what we want for our kids I really couldn't give a toss what she or any other doctor thinks of us.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2006 20:33

Mine tried to bully me, too. The HV started phoning me at home every week, 'Have you made your appointment?' 'Have you learned to mind your own business?'

ruty · 14/03/2006 20:34

sorry you had such a hard time flip. Franke, sorry for asking, but was your child small when they got the tetavax? They won't give small children anything but the five in one here, but i think that is to deny parents a choice.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2006 20:38

i think it has to do w/what's cheapest, ruty.

ruty · 14/03/2006 20:38

yes that too expat.

ruty · 14/03/2006 20:39

yes that too expat.

ruty · 14/03/2006 20:39

yes that too expat.

ruty · 14/03/2006 20:41

oops.

Flip · 14/03/2006 20:45

I get a reminder every month for the MMR vacine and I don't even open them now. Even had HV stop me in the street the other day Sad.

expatinscotland · 14/03/2006 20:52

Blimey, Flip! I'd have jumped the couch on her! That's so insulting b/c it implies a parent isn't intelligent enough to have come to an educated decision about their own child's wellbeing.

franke · 14/03/2006 20:53

Ruty, dd was 2.4 and ds was 18mo - we purposefully waited until they were a bit older (i.e. not babies) before we started. We dithered a lot with dd. We were much clearer about what to do when it came to ds hence he was younger. Also I was concerned he was more exposed than dd had been - he would pick up anything she brought back from nursery and then kindergarten whereas dd obv. hadn't had that risk.

franke · 14/03/2006 20:55

Expat - I felt pretty insulted in that way too - our first doctor wouldn't even grant us a grown up discussion about it. It's an attitude I've come across quite a lot here - very offputting.

franke · 14/03/2006 20:57

Flip - can't you tell them firmly that your're putting it off for the time being? That's what I did when we were in the UK. They didn't bother us after that.

FrannythePeaEater · 14/03/2006 20:57

Ds had his baby vacs but I started later and spread out over several months instead of bang bang bang as they advise.

He has had measles vaccine, not rubella or mumps. I don't subscribe to homeopathy.

ruty · 14/03/2006 20:58

yes i've got used to that too. i know jimjams wants her ds to have a tetanus jab ASAP so that's an interesting option franke. TBH the HV's seem to know very little about vaccines except that everyone should have them.

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