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Original poster

MMR - Did/Didn't you give it to your baby?

215 replies

cheeseypeas · 27/04/2006 09:14

My DS is about due for his MMR and I'm still really concerned about it and at the moment don't want him to have it (until he's older at least). Things like the autism rates going up so much since it was introduced, allot of regressive autism cases happening about the time of the jab, Tony Blair not giving it to his kid etc that are the causing for concern for me. Also, have read things written by people who believe their babies have been damaged by it and that sticks in my head. I know that the people that started the scare had ulterior motives etc.

Would be really interested to know of other mums reasoning for having it/not having it and any advice if possible. Thanks.

OP posts:
Wembley · 27/04/2006 10:45

But all medication (not just vaccs carry and element of risk) Did your children have DTP when they were tiny? Did you feel the same about that vacc or is it just the MMR? Just curious cheesy hope you don't mind me asking lots of questions :)

foxinsocks · 27/04/2006 10:47

unfortunately cheesey, it's like that with everything medical. They can't 100% guarantee your child won't have a bad reaction to antibiotics, they can't 100% guarantee that a simple procedure like grommits won't go wrong. There are no guarantees in medicine.

As olive said, I had more concern over the jabs they give them when they are teeny tiny.

Personally, I think if they had genuinely, 100% wanted the vaccination programme to work then they would have allowed people to make the choice of either having the MMR or having the singles.

kama · 27/04/2006 10:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Angeliz · 27/04/2006 10:49

I gace my dd1 singles and intend to do the same with dd2.
I did alot of reading on the subject, (although still feel i only know a TINY bit of what vaccines are really all about), and decided we couldn't take any risk.
We felt that exposing her to the diseases for longer by giving single vaccines was an acceptable risk. Also i like to know if she did have a reaction, that someone would be able to tell what she was reacting to. I tried to space out the baby vaccines more too and had a nightmare with that!
DD2 is 14 months and will be having singles too.

Wembley · 27/04/2006 10:49

foxinsocks I completely agree with you

Angeliz · 27/04/2006 10:52

Mind you, that is if Doctors will ever admit to anything being vaccine related. DD1 had hib + Men.c and a week later was very poorly with rash all over and apparently there was no link at all.

Makes me wonder!

spursmum · 27/04/2006 10:53

I gave it to ds who is ASD but I already had an inkling that something was wrong with him before he even had it. Plus my theory was then and still is that I'd rather have an autistic child than a seriously ill one or worse, dead.
I watched some programme ages ago where I'm pretty sure that Wakefield had made the MMR/ Autism claim as he was trying to sell a drug that he claimed cured something or other.
Someone tell me if I was right or I'm thinking of something else.

Socci · 27/04/2006 11:01

My mistrust is born out of the lies we are told. As others have said - the authorities have no problems admitting drugs cause side effects sometimes but vaccines are beyond reproach. They will always say there is no link, as with Angeliz's daughter. The reason they lie is because they know if they told the truth a lot of parents would opt out. It is absolutely wrong to put out misinformation in the way that they do.

BonyM · 27/04/2006 11:01

Both my dds have had the MMR. Neither has suffered any ill effects.

I read everything I could get my hands on about it, both times, and tbh couldn't see that any conclusive link to autism and/or bowels problems had been proven.

Despite MMR not being given in Japan, autism rates have actually risen.

Maybe there is a small risk of some suscebtible children having an adverse reaction to the jab, but I felt that any potential risk was small enough to not concern me.

Original poster
cheeseypeas · 27/04/2006 11:03

Thanks for the info Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads. V. glad to read it.

Hi Wembley, don't mind you asking Q's at all. DS did have the first lot although I was concerned and felt uncomfortable about them. There is a large 97% takeup of this jab and the fact that there has not been the controvosy over it helped allot. I wasn't a very confident, self-assured mum at the start and listened & accepted more that my HV said. I've since realised that health professionals can give bad and or confilcting advice. I said to my HV prior to the jabs that I was concerned and intentionally or not, was made to feel like a massive freak for even questioning the safety of them, saying something along the lines of "Well its not MMR one and everyone has it."

OP posts:
Angeliz · 27/04/2006 11:08

Cheesypeas, i didn't like the fact that they never told any Parents that the baby jabs until 2 years ago contained Mercury!

TBH, i don't beleive a word they say now and do my own research. That's not to say i'm anti vaccine though. Just anti blind trust.

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 27/04/2006 11:08

As Nick Hornby has said "if the MMR is so safe why are the bastards lying to us" or something like that. (and he wasn't saying one way or another whether he thought there was a link or not).

If I'd had more energy at the time I would have persued Brian Deer a bit harder, and tried to get him to answer why he misinterpreted the facts on Dispatches and in The Sunday Times. Would certainly have complained to the editor of the ST. I didn't have the energy so I protested in my own way and stopped buying the ST. It was so transparent and easy to discover that he had twisted everything that I am stunned to this day that he got away with it.

GoneCrackers · 27/04/2006 11:10

I did singles for DD. Will do singles for DS. Have yet to hear a compelling reason why not to have singles.

Why not go for singles? And, of course, get the measels one first.

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 27/04/2006 11:11

I didn't mind them not making it obvious that there was mercury in the baby jabs (after all there;s still lots of added extras now that they don't tell you about). I did object to them saying that the switch to thimerosal free jabs was nothing to do with thimerosal and all to do switching to injected rather than oral polio. People wheeled onto news shows were spinning in the way only this govt knows how. I must admit to choking on my tea when one robot came on to state that thimerosal was perfectly safe. Must have been coincidence that it happened shortly after Hornig's paper. Glad they did it, but far too late.

Socci · 27/04/2006 11:12

Who was it who posted on here that in the US a law was recently established meaning one of the drug companies who produces MMR will not have to pay compensation if vaccine damage is proven?

oliveoil · 27/04/2006 11:13

(I am watching you JJ, and if this thread gets nasty I will hoist you out...)

xx

foxinsocks · 27/04/2006 11:15

it won't get nasty - we're all old and haggard mumsnetters now so we know where we stand Grin

the way to get the trust back would be to let parents have a choice - they (labour) are always bleating on about choice in the NHS

Wembley · 27/04/2006 11:15

For me the problem with the singles is the coverage.

alexsmum · 27/04/2006 11:16

angeliz-absolutely!!! within 48 hours of ds1 having the first jabs he was covered head to toe in eczema.and my gp said it had nothing to do with the vaccine and was just coincidence.
yeah right. it was an enormous relief when the immunologist said'of course it's because of the vaccine'.
we are not stupid but the government insists on treating us as if we were.that makes me angry.

ghosty · 27/04/2006 11:19

DD still hasn't had hers ... and she is 2 and 3 months old Blush.
DS is completely vaxed for everything.
I am still holding fire with DD and DH says I have run out of excuses Sad
DD had a nasty reaction to a Meningitis vaccination at 7 months - long story but it worried me.
In NZ they do them at 15 months and I got hounded by the doctor's surgery ...
at first my excuse was that we were going away for 6 weeks and I didn't want her reacting while we were away.

Then after we got back she had a run of bugs so I wanted to wait until she was totally free of colds and temperatures.

She then decided to be allergic to penicillin. I then decided that I wanted her to be talking before we went ahead.

I then decided to look into single vaccinations

So, of all those points:
a) She has been talking since 18 months and is going great guns with that so that is no longer a reason
b) She has been healthy for months - no bugs or temps at all ... no reason there either
c) Absolutely no chance of getting single vax in NZ - not even privately.

BUT: She has proven to be very sensitive to drugs (Meningitis vax and penicillin allergy) and I just don't want to go there ... once it is given I can't take it away ...

The other thing that worries me is not just the rise in autism but the rise in many autoimmune diseases in the last half century ... I really believe that the jury is still out on that - and it scares me that one day there will be a backlash ...

coppertop · 27/04/2006 11:25

I have no trust in the system for reporting reactions to vaccines. Ds1 stopped breathing twice after having the DTP. It was recorded as "a mild adverse reaction". Shock Angry

How on earth can they judge how safe something is if they don't keep accurate records?

donnie · 27/04/2006 11:28

yikes this topic again! our dd1 had single vaccines because she had v bad eczema at the time and we were advised by a paed to get singles . Also, I thought if you had an egg allergy you had to getthe MMR in hospital under close supervision which is why I am surprised at foxinsock's post, certainly I know of at least 2 children who had their MMR done at hospital.
I too am so angry at the way people are denied the choice here - when pregnant with dd2 ( 11 months) I was told if I needed a rubella jab I'd have to have the full MMR - for God's sake!
It's peace of mind as much as anything else. Dd2 is coming up to that age and we will definitely get single jabs - and have to pay through the bloody nose for them.

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 27/04/2006 11:29

Here's the patent application on Brian Deer's website \link{http://briandeer.com/wakefield/vaccine-patent.htm\here}. How anyone could suggest that the main thrust of this patent is for anything other than treatment for MMR induced autistm or IBD is beyond me. He has a link to Wakefield's reponse.

Brian Deer is a charming man. He has a link to comment receievd after the show- mine isn't there incidentally and I sent it via his website. The last comment is from an Elizabeth Birt. I reporoduce it below:

"THOUGHTFUL HOUSE: 24 October 2005

As a parent of an autistic child with severe inflammatory bowel disease that was diagnosed at the Royal Free in 1999 I wonder what your problem is. My son was also treated by Dr. Krigsman in 2003 when his entire esophagus was full of lesions. He is now being treated by the head of Pediatric Gastroenterology at Childrens Memorial Hospital part of Northwestern University here in Chicago who AGREES with Drs. Wakefield and Krigsman that my son has an autoimmune disease of his entire GI tract likely caused by a viral agent. I have no idea what your problem is but you are not helping these children who are very sick. Perhaps you need to seek some type of psychiatry therapy Mr. Deer.

Elizabeth Birt, Chicago."

And Brian Deers response, on his website for all the world to read:

[Sadly, two months after this suggestion, Elizabeth Birt was killed in a road traffic accident]

I think that says a lot about the man.

Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 27/04/2006 11:30

coppertop you can self report now..... somewhere online, but I should be working- recent MMR thread had a link to it.

Wembley · 27/04/2006 11:32

No you no longer need to have MMR done in hospital if child has an egg allergy although I think that was the advice until very recently.