Postponing vaccinations?

[Ravensmommy]

I know this is controversial subject and I have seen a few comments on other threads that, I fear, will be coming my way. BUT, I am slightly concerned about vaccinating my 2 month old little girl.
It all started when I read about the Mercury present in flu jabs while I was pregnant, I was already aware that I should only eat 2 tins of tuna per week due to the Mercury levels, so I can't see how injecting me with it would be any better than eating it, and if there is a limit to the safe amount of Mercury in a pregnant woman, I'd rather stay below it, so did not to get this jab. However I did see more pros to the whooping cough vaccine, so I did go for that. Since lo has been born, I have questioned my HV and Midwives about the vaccines that babies need in their first year. They didn't really answer many of my questions, so I took to researching the internet myself.
I obviously came across lots of different opinions and arguments; the most concerning being, the ingredients of some vaccines being Mercury, formaldehyde and aluminium; that they can cause developmental issues and autism. Also the fact that these babies are given all of these vaccines at such a young age, some 2-3 in one go. I kind of feel like no wonder the little mites suffer fevers etc afterwards.

A midwife did tell me that she had the same concerns as me when she had her baby, so she waited until her child was due to attend school before vaccinating her.
I am not against vaccines, they just concern me, so I have made that same decision- to vaccinate her before attending school- and my HV is treating me like a bit of a maniac. Telling me 'everyone' has their children vaccinated at this age. And she thinks it's best I do go ahead.

I have asked her to arrange someone to talk to me and convince me otherwise with facts that I am unaware of; in fact I have asked her, my GP, midwives and not one of them want to give me the time of day to explain why I should have her vaccinated next week. I feel if no one is willing to talk to me regarding this, why should I just have her done because they say so? If there were no concerns, why can they not give me the facts I need to put my mind at ease?
I guess what I'm asking is, has anyone else has the same concerns as me and not vaccinated /postponed until school age?

Have you spoken to the gp? I think the controversial ingredients have been removed from modern vaccines. Are you normally an anxious person?

I have asked my GP for advice and he told me it was something HV should help me with but she's no help. Anything else, she's a gem, really helpful, has been there for me, arranging groups and baby massage, but this seems to be a sore subject for her (and my MIL which is a lot less than helpful.)
Yeah I guess I am quite anxious. my husband is pretty set against having them done next week; I guess it's better to do before school than not having her done at all right?

I just read a lot, and if I find something interesting, I can't stop digging, and there's an awful lot of conflicting arguments flying around.

Tuna was the only thing I could keep down so I had a can a day for 10 weeks in one pregnancy.

No thimersol in current UK baby jabs, IIRC.
All chemicals (even water) are dangerous in certain quantities and exposures, so aluminium adjuvants (to encourage immune system response) in vaccines doesn't scare me.

DH was very ill with HIb so that does scare me.

It's an individual decision, hope you feel happy with yours soon.

Assume you have already read this and not been reassured. You need to decide if the risks of vaccinating outweigh the risks of the illnesses themselves. Whooping cough and hib are disease which in particular carry high risks.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/pages/vaccine-ingredients.aspx

There is no Mercury in the childhood schedule vaccinations.
There are some adjuvants such as the aluminium you refer to, are in some, in minute amounts that assist in the immunisation process. The amount in a vaccination is less than in the tap water we drink everyday.
Delaying in getting babies vaccination increases the risk of them contracting the illnesses, and the risks of complications are higher the smaller the infants, so a bit counterintuitive to delay.
Slightly off thread, it is the responsibility of HCP's to promote Public Health issues, so your MW and HV ( especially the HV's who are PH specialist nurses) should be able to inform you and are not acting in patients best interests to give mixed messages or even their 'personal opinion', if these opinions differ from the current recommendations.

Thank you. I was intending to pick which ones I would like her to have but HV said I can't because some need to be done together? I have had a little look at the ingredients, bot sure if it was on this site, I wasn't sure if these were the only ones used or will I have to find which 'brand' my GP will use?
I don't know. This is all so confusing I would hate anything to happen to her as a result of something I had done (or not done). It seems once I convince myself one way, the argument for the other seems just as valid.

-not off thread at all FadedRed, I was a bit shocked at her reaction to it. Almost felt a bit pushed into it by her, may be why I am overthinking it. Thanks; this is the kind of information I was looking for :) glad I posted now haha

It is normally one injection now. Not sure if available separately privately but even if so that may cause more distress to your dd.

There's a natural parenting group on Facebook called Arnica which has some really great people who are happy to share articles for both sides of the vaccine debate, I highly recommend them for advice

I think it's quite normal to be concerned about vaccines. I don't think your HV should be giving you a hard time. The least s/he should do is point you in the direction of information so you can read it and make an informed decision. Don't feel pressured. Take whatever time you need.

If it's of any interest to you - certain vaccines don't require as many doses if they are given later
Eg Pediacel (5 in 1) can be 3 doses at 2,3,4 months or 2 doses eg 3,5 months. Pediacel insert So you can still vaccinate your DC even if you opt for a slightly different/delayed schedule. It might be worth reading about the diseases and their incidence in the UK (and your specific region - most information is available on the Public health website) to help you with your decision.

Good luck and try not to beat yourself up. Being a parent is hard!

I would definately go to your local arnica group. We were lucky to meet some people who are really informative and some of them even work in the medical industry. And just want to use these meet up as a parent and baby group, with like minded people.

OP, the concerns you have are very old. There's no mercury in the current vaccines given to babies. The so-called study that was supposed to link vaccines to autism and developmental problems was found to be fraudulent and the doctor who did it was struck off the medical register: he even bribed the parents of his children's friends to let him take their blood samples at birthday parties (being stabbed with a needle at a party!) so that he could falsely influence his study results. Millions of babies and young children worldwide have been vaccinated with the vaccines currently given at 2 months and so on. If they really did cause autism and developmental issues, we'd be seeing whole swathes of children being autistic and having developmental problems: we'd have to build about a 1000 more special schools because these kids couldn't go to a normal mainstream school. Clearly, this did not happen and the children are all in normal schools, doing normal sports and passing exams.

There is however still a minority of people who want to spread the word that "vaccines are highly dangerous!" because they have one child or a relation with autism and they can't accept that it's just bad luck - they want to blame a vaccine manufacturer.

What we are instead seeing is that the diseases we thought were gone or no longer exist have returned in huge numbers because of children and older children not being vaccinated. Measles. Polio. Rubella. Diphtheria. All of which can leave a child dead, unable to breathe properly (lung scarring), severely brain damaged (not autism but worse - dependent on nursing, not able to feed or dress themselves, not able to go to school). Those risks are far worse than the possible risk of the vaccines themselves. With diphtheria the sufferer literally chokes to death - there is no cure. Parents of small children in third world countries who had no vaccines queue up for days at clinics run by the Red Cross or medical charities who offer them the vaccines for free, because they have seen the consequences with their own eyes of what happens when vaccination isn't done. You could wait later, but babies are the most likely to pick up these viruses as their immune system is weakest compared to adults and older children. And don't assume every adult you meet who looks well has been vaccinated. Some might not have, and the viruses are the most contagious before spots, fevers or any symptoms appear.

What we are instead seeing is that the diseases we thought were gone or no longer exist have returned in huge numbers because of children and older children not being vaccinated. Measles. Polio. Rubella. Diphtheria

Well actually the only one out of these that is nearly gone is Polio.

I also recommend you do your research, OP. Arnica have a page on facebook and you can look at the Babyjabs clinic information. As far as I know you can get individual vaccinations from there.

Some children are vaccine-damaged and some children can be damaged by the disease, it is a question of making an informed choice as much as possible. I don't envy you. I started looking into all this stuff when my dgd was going to be born and I was so glad it wasn't my decision.

Its not "can be damaged by the disease", it's "Can die because they got sick".
OP, have you looked into doing the vaccinations privately? Then you can pick and choose. Also, you might be able to get another HV to talk about vaccinations, if the team in your area is anything like mine.

dailygrowl, can you provide links to show where we have 'huge numbers' of diphtheria and polio in the UK please? These are both part of the 5-in-1 jab which has a very good uptake.

I also think you may need to read up on the diseases if you think all of the ones you mention can leave lung scarring and kill.

Only you can decide, so don't be pressurised by anyone. Although I can understand the danger, I can never see the point of avoiding them at 2, 3, 4, months but doing them a few years later. What danger do you think there is now that will have passed when they are a little older? There is a danger in everything in life, vaccines included and the danger in vaccines will not reduce to zero by waiting a a year or two.

Mercury was removed from vaccines quite a while ago even though there was no evidence of harm, so frankly I would question where you are getting your information from. Anyone can post any kind of rubbish they want on the Internet, case in point the vaccine/autism claims.

A child has just died in Spain from diphtheria. He was unvaccinated and his parents lay the blame for their decision on poor information. 2015 and a kid dies from diphtheria!

My paediatrician today was trying to find the earliest appointment for DS to get his MMR because of a huge outbreak of rubella (in France where we live) starting in a school which accepted unvaccinated children. Every other month there is an outbreak of measles in developed countries where people should really know better.

Get your child vaccinated ASAP and be grateful these vaccines exist. We do not need to return to the Middle Ages with these diseases.

Booboo evidence of harm, is correct regarding vaccines, but sadly isn't the same as simply stating that they are safe,

A different debate but why does a ds need a vaccine against a disease that is dangerous for pregnant women, oh yes, it's to stop passing the disease on to a pregnant women. Op, depending on your moral stance, this May or may not concern you but rubella vaccine isn't given to your child with the purpose of protecting your child against a dangerous disease.

Yeah sod pregnant women. The only person anyone should ever be interested in is oneself and we must strive to bring up our children with these values.

Personally, I think it makes more sense to ensure that you yourself are immune rather than relying on other people's immunity.

A little four week old baby just died of whooping cough where I live. Very very sad. Parents planned to vax but just hadn't reached 8 weeks yet. It created a massive rush for vaccinations for kids of all ages. DP and I wondered why so many people wait until a baby dies to act.

It is a personal choice, but it's a pretty simple one for me. If everyone gets vaccinated then young babies and those unable to be vaccinated are better protected too. I understand your concerns, but thousands (millions?) of kids get these vaccines every year, the chance of adverse reactions is very small.

My DD's paediatrician had just seen a case of tetanus in an unvaccinated child! The child is, of course, in hospital very gravely ill. I'm telling you it's the bloody dark ages.

Whereabouts are you Booboo?

I see that it has been repeated several times that nowadays no vaccines contain mercury and yet I found this information "Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is added to vials of vaccine that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination and growth of potentially harmful bacteria" in this US site: www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/additives.htm

and for the UK, this information: www.ovg.ox.ac.uk/vaccine-ingredients