should I vaccinate my child or not?

[GalaxyDefender2012]

I am currently 17+2 weeks pregant so I have a little while before I decide. But it's something me and my partner have argued about on numerous occasions. To this date I have never had any vaccinations whatsoever. Despite no one believing me throughout my whole life I haven't. I had the vitamin K shot when I was born but that was it. Never anything more. That's just how my mum brought me and my siblings up as her mother had brought her and her siblings up. And I think her mother before that. My partner on the other hand has had most of his childhood vaccinations just like all of his siblings and all the other children in his family. I would have liked to have carried on the no vaccination tradition if you like. But he strongly wants our child to have them all. And seeing as it is both of our choices it's a subject that we've rowed about in the past. Can anyone let me know their views on whether vaccinations should be administered of not?

Yes.

How would you feel OP if you DC died of a preventable illness, one for which there is a vaccine, simply because you wanted to carry on a misguided 'family tradition'? Because this is the worst case scenario if you decide not to vaccinate. Whooping cough, diphtheria, measles, meningitis, influenza - those are all things that can kill a DC.

DC are born with basically no immune system - they have to acquire it from their surroundings - and while things like coughs and colds are temporary inconveniences there are many illnesses out there that can kill. You've survived the Russian roulette of vaccine avoidance, as have other members of your family, but that makes you lucky, nothing more.

Please speak to your GP about this. He or she will be able to discuss the real, medical, factual arguments in favour of vaccination, not the dubious, superstitious quackery that passes as 'science' on many anti-vax internet sites, and not the 'family traditions' that have risked your health your whole life and which you are now considering as a valid reason for risking your unborn DC's.

You are only healthy, thanks to other people who have been vaccinated.
In the days before vaccinations, thousands of people died or were left permanently disabled through disease.
It is incredibly selfish to weaken the herd immunity that you have benefitted from your entire life.

My DD isn't vaccinated because of her medical history and our family history of adverse reactions.

I think refusing all vaccination because your family haven't done it is flimsy. It's a medical decision. I would look at each vaccination, discuss it with my Doctor and partner and try and make a decision that best reflects the needs and wishes of everyone who cares about the health of your child.

What pros are on your list op? I'm genuinely intrigued?

Think about the tiny baby growing inside you, depending on you to keep it safe. Do you want that baby to go blind or deaf from measles? Do you want your child to end up in hospital with tetanus because of a small scratch? Do you want your child to die an agonizing death from diphtheria, whooping cough or rotavirus because some random traveller on the bus happened to cough on them?

When your tiny baby looks up at you I believe you will do whatever is necessary to keep them safe. And not just your baby but those around them too.

If you need any more help please read some forums from kids whose parents didn't vaccinate them. They are living with awful disabilities now and know the blame lies with their parents. At least those people are alive to tell their stories though.

99percent - I was born way too early for MMR an caught mumps when I was about 9. Agree - it was unbelievably painful. I was lucky not to have any lasting side effects though - I know some men aren't as lucky.
Chicken pox at 15 wasn't much fun either. So OP I agree with a PP, if you don't get your DC vaccinated, you might consider it for yourself. Most of these 'childhood' diseases are much worse the older you are, and if you catch everything from your DCs you will still need to be looking after them whilst being ill.

I assume this was just posted to start a bunfight but nonetheless...

IMO not vaccinating your child is neglect, so.

YES YOU SHOULD

There are no pros to not vaccinating. Increased chances of death or serious illness is not a pro.

Oh God mumps was awful (I was also born before the vaccine was introduced). I basically spent two weeks whimpering (proper crying just made the pain worse) in bed in total agony and have been left with tinnitus from it.

Vaccination works. It just does. The vaccination programme has saved countless children from dying of diseases that we can prevent.

I honestly can't understand why you wouldn't vaccinate.

Some people can't vaccinate their children due to health issues so vaccination for children that can be vaccinated is even more important.

You are right to have these conversations/decisions now, because there will be a lot of them - there are vaccinations you can have to protect your baby when it's first born for example.

I only touched on it in my previous post but you should consider how freely people (and therefore diseases) move about now. You can look at yourself as an example (which is silly to do anyway) but you must consider that your child will come into contact with so many more people from much further places than you ever did. You are lucky to live in a place with great herd immunity (no thanks to your neglectful parents). Your child will meet many people who come from places without good herd immunity.

Please note that the success of an infection counts on it becoming contagious before symptoms stop the infected person from moving around and thus spreading it further. Sick people get on flights, catch the train, go to the supermarket etc every day without knowing they are carrying something that will kill unvaccinated people.

Vaccinate your child.

You want to take the risk of your child suffering, or possible dying of this?? Or how do you feel about your unvaxxed child making another immunocompromised child ill? Possibly fatally?

You're stupid to even be considering not vaccinating. If you decide not to vaccinate please don't allow your children in contact with anyone else's child please. Selfish

Sorry op we are not trying to attack you or your families beliefs, just trying to make sure that your baby doesn't suffer due to ignorance and bad science x

My oh's auntie didn't vaccinate her dc, until her little boy died of meningitis. Her children born after him have (thankfully) been vaccinated. She has to live with that knowledge every single day.

"So my point is the worry that my child will have a reaction that could possibly be fatal to a vaccination that I was against in the first place."

Fatal reactions are vanishingly rare. Other side effects are no worse than the complications of the diseases themselves.

Babies still die from whooping cough in U.K.

How would you feel if your DC was damaged by a disease you could have prevented?

What do you mean, not vaccinating is a "tradition"?

Do you belong to a religious faith that is anti vaccination?

Friend was never vaccinated so she had stories about catching everything. She said mumps was especially memorable (painful).

There was an anti-vax MNer whose 3-4 kids got measles. She posted here about tip-toeing quietly around the house, kids too ill to get out of bed, calling out feverishly for water, keeping everything very dark to avoid eye damage -- oh and national newspaper interest in her and their lives because her kids were half of a relatively large local outbreak. I think the journalists were camped on her doorstep for a few days.

My dad nearly died of meningitis when he was small (still deaf in one ear). Adult athletic DH was very ill with pneumonia from HIb (vaccinated baby DS didn't get ill at same time). There's an ugly whooping cough story somewhere in DH's family. My dad talks about how after 15+ yrs of terrible sinus infections every winter, they stopped when he started getting an annual flu jab.

I dunno. You do what you want. I can't see the value in being so ill if you can avoid it with routine vaccinations.

It's a decision for you and your partner to make, however I had mumps when I was 9 ( I was born before the vaccine was available) it was awful and I've been partially deaf ever since.

In the days after vaccinations people were left disabled too? Call me what you like but if I'm honest I don't agree with pumping man made stuff into the body when some of these vaccinations haven't even been around long enough to see what the long term effects are? I know religion probably won't mean much to many of you, but my faith in that we will be all kept safe is actually stronger than my faith in some bozo with a syringe in a lab injecting mice? Not to turn this into a religious debate at all. Either way my child is at risk? If I vaccinate we can't rule out all possibilities that she might not react well at all. And all of that pain will then be because I was told I was 'being selfish'. But if I don't vaccinate, my poor daughter will then be slated for 'being selfish' for my decisions to not have her vaccinated. I do believe in getting the recommended vaccinations for going to other countries. But my mind set on that is that I'm more likely to pick something up there because I've never encountered it before? Whereas here I encounter all sorts everyday especially working with children that are always ill lets face it. But I've never yet actually picked any of these illnesses up myself? I believe the human body is stronger than what we think. We will never ever fully understand it. Thosr ade my reasons and despite my other half understanding these points he's still on the fence about whether we should or shouldnt. The main point im getting at here without sounding like a heartless bitch is that we will do what we think is right for our child and our child only.

In my honest opinion to not vaccinate ( when a vaccine is readily and easily available) is neglectful and selfish.

Please do it.

my faith in that we will be all kept safe is actually stronger than my faith in some bozo with a syringe in a lab injecting mice

Sorry, but you are a selfish, ignorant fool.

Sounds like you're beyond reason and you're choosing to disbelieve facts and statistics.

"I do believe in getting the recommended vaccinations for going to other countries."

This is where things don't stack up. Because this means that you are prepare to vaccinate according to the risks for a country, why exclude UK?