No vaccination, no visiting newborn

[WMPAGL]

Hi all,

I'm new here so learning the ropes.

I will soon have a newborn baby and am becoming increasingly concerned about the apparent number of people who have not been vaccinated and are choosing not to vaccinate their children.

I'm not looking for a fight about whether you should or shouldn't vaccinate - I know that everyone acts out of love and in what they think is the best interests of their child - but please take it as read that I am firmly in the vaccination camp.

What I am interested to know is whether other people have actively asked whether their visitors are up to date on vaccines before allowing them to come and meet their newborn (before the baby has been able to have all his or her own vaccinations)? If so, which ones in particular have you stipulated?

On the one hand it feels a bit dramatic to interrogate people and 'make a fuss' but on the other, I would never forgive myself if I put my child at unnecessary risk just because I might have to have a few awkward conversations with people.

I'm planning on having a good word with my doctor about this but am interested to know what other people have thought and done in this situation.

Thanks so much for your input.

I didn't have that rule, our family are vaccinated as were visitors, ds caught whooping cough at four weeks (before whooping cough vaccine was given to expectant mothers) either from school run, baby clinic or shopping.

Passthecherrycoke - yes, I know what you mean, it blows my mind too.

But the fact that there have been several outbreaks of measles in the very recent past, rates of it are up 300% worldwide according to WHO and I believe there were around 900 laboratory confirmed cases in the UK in 2018 and that this seems to be climbing does give me pause. And that's not mentioning any other preventable infectious diseases.

So although hopefully very unlikely that an unvaccinated adult is walking around with measles, yes I do think it is worth taking a second to think about.

"No one born before 1968 then"

Not really. Those born before 1970 are not included in the MMR catch up programme because we pretty much all had the diseases.

But thinking about it isn’t effective is it? Do you actually have anti vaccine friends to ban or are you expecting everyone to find out what vaccines they have and haven’t had? That’s what blows my mind. It’s a bizarre idea

fleshmarketclose - I'm sorry to hear that, that must have been difficult.

Having experience of this, can I ask whether you would (or realistically could) do anything differently were you to have another newborn or would you say it's just one of those things you have to cross your fingers about?

Hope all is better now!

Seriously? There was no MMR before the 1980s. I am in my 50s and had measles as a DC but not mumps. Girls had the rubella vaccine as teens. The MMR vaccine is around 80% effective and the immunity can wear off. I had whatever few childhood vaccinations were available as a child, I remember the polio on a sugar cube, but BCG wasn’t offered in my area.

That will be the case for most adults over 50. You are being completely OTT. You will never be able to go to the shops, the doctors, a restaurant, a baby group, anything public.

Passthecherrycoke - no, as you'll see, I'm feeling out opinions on the subject.

The main point is that I have no idea in several cases what my friends' opinions on this are and while certainly not asking for a full medical record before admitting them to the house(!) have suddenly been made aware that I shouldn't just assume their attitudes are the same as mine. Essentially I'm wondering whether it is worth opening a can of worms by stating a conversation with them about it to find out their general take on it so that I can then make a decision.

If I end up taking the view that there's little danger in allowing unvaccinated people access anyway then I expect I wouldn't even bother having the conversation and risk upsetting people I care about (even if we take a wildly different view of the issues). If it is a significantly increased risk to allow unvaccinated people access then there's more to think about.

Sorry if you think that's nuts but we're all different and I'm feeling my way from ground zero here.

Thanks for your thoughts anyway.

I’m 61, healthy fit rarely ill.
I sincerely doubt my vaccinations are “up to date” I doubt many of my generation have looked into updating their jabs.
My son 38 for work reasons needed to know if he had a single or double dose MMR...his records were no where to be found (even though he lived in the same village for all his jabs).
Although a nice concept I don’t see this working with grandparents/great grandparents/aunts and uncles.

Well many people won't have had the MMR because it didn't exist when I was a child in the 70s.

What I'm saying is that many older people may be a risk as well as young children.

You need to canvas opinions to see whether it’s reasonable to ask every potential visitor whether they’ve been vaccinated and ask them not to come or not? Did you know that vaccines aren’t 100% effective?

An unvaccinated person is far far far more likely to have strep or salmonella or listeria or toxoplasmosis than measles. Given the prevalence of the former compared to the latter.

Yeah you're gonna have to make sure your parents never visit.

Passthecherrycoke - you seem to consider my even asking the question about what others have done to be utterly stupid and deserving of ridicule. To which I can only say - thanks for your opinion, I have heard it and added it to the pile! I make no apologies for asking a question, even if I end up coming to a conclusion that to you or others seemed obvious from the get-go.

Thanks to people pointing out the very different vaccination procedures that were in place for older people - I hadn't really considered that properly but it is of course a very good point.

Titchy - thanks for this. As I understand it we don't offer vaccinations for those here as the risk isn't considered high enough, but I must admit I have only heard of them being a potentially serious problem in utero. That may well be wrong. I believe other countries offer vaccinations for things like listeria.

Sorry if you think my question is so ridiculous but sometimes I find it's helpful to discuss things and get opinions on issues I'm mulling over without much experience behind me. I wouldn't have thought that's unreasonable, but hey-ho.

Asking is going to be seriously awkward IMO.

But surely you understand basic social convention? That’s the bit I’m surprised at.

Vaccines have their place, and I certainly am a strong advocate for the chicken pox one (which I believe is now included) are the additional meningitis strains.
I’d personally restrict anyone known to be antibiotic resistant.

Passthecherrycoke - as I'm sure you see, social convention in this case was being weighed against the potential health implications for a newborn.

Thanks, I have fully grasped your opinion.

No one born before 1968 then, and not many of those born before 1980.

Measles was given in a catchup campaign in schools. I was born in 62 and queued up for measles vaccine at school but turned out my sister and i were contraindicated and werent allowed to have it.
We went on to have measles probably 70/71.

You probably already know this but just in case
One thing to be really careful about your baby coming into contact with is anyone with a cold sore.

The herpes virus can be extremely dangerous to babies

Hecateh - yes, I think I had heard this one back in the reaches of time but thank you for reminding me!

It's such a difficult one as this is all new to me. I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by treating them like a leper but LO has to come first.

Op try not to worry you will come across people unvaccinated. I don't think I told anyone my dd is unvaccinated and she attended baby groups, nursery and is now at school. My dd can't be vaccinated before anyone starts moaning at me.
Most people I know stay away from babies when they are feeling unwell.

Give the OP a break. She’s a jittery expectant mom, as we all were at one point. She asked on here bc she knows people don’t usually ask in real life and she was wondering about potential risks. People ask way more ridiculous questions on MN and don’t get given shit about it.

ScottishMummy12 - thanks for this, it's really reassuring.

As far as I know I'm only going to have to think about this really for a few months until LO is vaccinated so hats off to you for going about your business having to rely on others for the immunity!

TaxiGood - thanks! No doubt one of many things I'll look back on and laugh...