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Rotavirus Vaccine Side Effects - Baby so unwell! I'm so worried!

11 replies

Liv83 · 12/03/2019 18:37

My DS had his rotavirus vaccine on Thursday (at 8 weeks old). He went for a his postnatal check with the GP first. All good. However I expressed my concerns about him having his vaccinations after as myself, granny and other DS (5 years old) - we live together - were all very unwell with colds and/or throat/chest infections. GP took his temperature and said he should be OK tomorrow go ahead but up to me. No problem if I wanted to delay a week. She reiterated he was fine to have them all.
I took DS in to nurse. She was of the robot variety who had her speech and would not compute if given a different scenario from "here's my baby - vaccinate him".
She was angry that I was questioning whether he should go ahead. I explained that I am not anti-vax but that I didn't want to go ahead if DS's health wasn't 100% at the time.
She was adamant he was a fine and squirted the entire rotavirus vaccine into the his mouth. He swallowed and then regurgitated a load! She then squirted another whole vial into him. He kept this down. However another nurse came in and immediately picked up on the fact that me, and my mum, were very unwell. This opened the should we /shouldn't we discussion. We shouldn't! So DS didn't have any jabs on Thursday.
Then.
Just after the rotavirus vaccine, DS instantly fell asleep and could not be woken up. Nurses tried and he would not stir. We had to stay in the surgery for about an hour with him being watched, until eventually he began to open eyes a little.
A few hours later the agonising griping pains started. Temperature went up.
Screaming pain took over. DS nothing even sleeping properly. Just falling asleep for up to 45 minutes with sheer exhaustion.
Also not feeding properly. He is exclusively BF and is fabulous on it. Now, fitful feeding, agony and then bringing it ALL back.
A & E last night. Doctor said he had been given too much vaccine (2nd dose) and that he was already fighting an illness so suffering more perhaps because of that.
I'm just so worried because he isn't keeping anything down. My milk has everything he needs but his tummy is rejecting it.
My heart is breaking for my beautiful baby who is normally SO happy and contented. Literally never cries (not like first DS!!).
He is so unhappy and in so much pain. Crying all the time and looking so ill.
I don't know what to do!!! I feel so terrible that I allowed him to have the vaccine. If only I'd hung on.
Did anyone else's DC have a really bad reaction to the rotavirus vaccine?? And did their happy baby come back??

OP posts:
Mumzoo · 13/03/2019 11:38

Poor baby. I have no experience of this as we don't vaccinate but wishing your little one a speedy recovery. Unfortunately, even when a reaction is immediate and/or severe and/or acknowledged by doctors, the majority of mumsnet users will still tell you it is a coincidence that your baby is unwell after the vaccine.

TheVeryHungryTortoise · 16/03/2019 18:17

Firstly, I'm so sorry that your baby is unwell!

We didn't have quite so severe a reaction but because it's a live vaccine babies do get a (albeit very mild) dose of rotavirus. My son was unwell for about a week with lots of griping pain, crying lots and diarrhea.

Not trying to minimise your situation at all, in fact our poor Son's symptoms sound truly awful, but I think a lot of babies get some reaction from it due to it being live. I can almost say 100% that your happy little boy will come back, so please don't worry too much (easier said than done, I know!)

For what it's worth my son was hospitalised with severe dehydration after catching norovirus and I've heard rotavirus is a lot worse, so you've done the right thing for your baby by giving him the vaccine. Go back to the GP if you are worried though!

Triangled · 16/03/2019 20:07

For intussusception, look for signs of stomach pain along with severe crying. Early on, these episodes could last just a few minutes and come and go several times in an hour. Babies might pull their legs up to their chest.

Your baby might also vomit several times or have blood in the stool, or could appear weak or very irritable. These signs would usually happen during the first week after the 1st or 2nd dose of rotavirus vaccine, but look for them any time after vaccination.

From this page:
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/rotavirus.html

Please get him checked out, just in case.

Ellapaella · 17/03/2019 08:51

Hey OP. My third child reacted very badly to the rotavirus vaccinator and I can remember being very worried about intersusuption (sorry about spelling). He was very lethargic, wouldn't feed and crying and in pain for many hours. We saw the out of hours Gp who explained its a live vaccine and sometimes has these effects on the digestive system (I was not given any information about this by the nurse at the time of the actual vaccine). It eventually passed after about 8-12 hours and then he was back to his usual self. We didn't get the second rotavirus vaccine because of this.
I have heard quite a few people say the same thing about it.
I hope your little one is ok.

TheVeryHungryTortoise · 18/03/2019 21:36

Hi OP! How is your Son today?

Liv83 · 25/03/2019 03:41

Thank you to everyone for your support in this. Such a worrying time. They are so tiny and fragile. I wish I could have popped him back inside my tummy to protect him and make him better.
It has taken a long time but the worst has now passed. He is only just now able to enjoy a boob feed and not get griping tummy pains straight after. He is also able to get a decent night's sleep now the pain isn't keeping him awake or waking him from his exhausted snoozes.
My health visitor and I are now deciding whether the second dose is suitable for him, given his reaction. Or did he react in such a way purely because he was overdosed. I have four weeks to decide!

OP posts:
Triangled · 25/03/2019 10:06

My child is unvaccinated for medical reasons. She has attended playgroups, all sorts of classes, now at school, been all over the place by bus, train and plane and never once suffered a bout of diarrhea, never mind rotavirus, other than a side-effect of antibiotics. If you think the vaccine caused your tiny baby to suffer two weeks of ill health, would you want to put him through it again in order to theoretically protect him from something that in most cases is a mild tummy bug lasting a few days. NHS website says:

Rotavirus is a highly infectious stomach bug that typically strikes babies and young children, causing an unpleasant bout of diarrhoea, sometimes with vomiting, tummy ache and fever.
Most children recover at home within a few days, but nearly 1 in 5 will need to see their doctor, and 1 in 10 of these end up in hospital as a result of complications such as extreme dehydration.

So, 1 in 5 of children who get rotavirus need to see a doctor, and of those needing to see a doctor 1 in 10 may have complications such as dehydration. That's just 2% of children who catch it...and they have to catch it first.

GeorgieMilo · 30/09/2022 22:14

Hello, I just wanted to ask for some advice and support..On the 26th of Sep my baby had his vaccination the 6 in 1 Dtap Men B and rotavirus vaccine. Today four days later he had twice blood in stools..went to the GP and she dismissed me telling me that I nothing to worry and that I shall be worried only of the amount of blood will be more than the stools..Is that correct? Not to forget to mention that he is not eating as before, bitting by nipples every time and crying for several hours..anyone else with the same experience??

MilkToastHoney · 30/09/2022 22:20

This vaccine is completely unnecessary if breastfeeding.

I hope your baby is ok.

Sadly there is a lot of vaccine damage both short and long term.
Do your research before deciding on giving any more vaccines.
After a huge amount of research, I don’t vaccinate at all.
As pp says, a lot of vaccine injury is dismissed by HCPs.

GeorgieMilo · 01/10/2022 03:31

You're so correct..I regret really letting my baby to have it. They didn't really explained fully what the side effects are, and only when they have administered the vaccine and they finished afterwards they gave me the leaflet to read about the vaccine.(irony). But surely is not normal to have blood in stools of a newborn post vaccination that my gp claims. She didn't request any investigation, not even a stool sample. Is outrageous..

ImaniMumsnet · 01/10/2022 10:15

Hi everyone, just a quick one to say we are closing this thread now as it is from a couple of years ago and OP probably wouldn't want this coming back up.

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