She doesn't have to have the MMR booster does she??

[sparklygothkat]

DD2 is nearly 6 and hasn't had her MMR booster, she was supposed to have it last year, but then we moved and it got forgotten. I recieved a letter yesterday from the GPs saying she hasn't had her MMR booster and I had to phone to book her in. I am unsure about it, because she has lots of allergies and when Dd1 had the booster she had a large reaction to it and I don;t want to put Dd2 through a reaction.
Does she have to have it??

She does if you want her to be fully protected.

She doesn't have to have it but if she failed to get full immunity from the first one this this should help improve it. You could go privaetly and have a blood test to check immunity first, I think most of the private clinics that offer single MMR also offer this.
Strictly speaking only a confirmed anaphylaxis to egg or a component of the vaccine would mean she shouldn;t have it and if the allergy is egg then she could have it under hospital supervision.

I'd give it to her.

She doesn't in the sense that noone can force you. She also doesn't in the sense that she may well be fully protected anyway from the initial one. The booster is a catch all to catch the percentage who will have not developed a sufficient immune response from the first one by 3 or 4 or whenever it is they do the booster. Even more children will have developed a suffcient response by 5/6. You can pay for a private blood test to check. If she does need a booster you could then either do nothing in which case she wouldn't be fully protected, give her the MMR booster or give her the single boosters she needs.

Can I ask if they will numb the area first? She is not good with blood tests and injections, and when they took blood to see if she have a wheat allergy, she screamed and screamed, and it took ages to get blood. But when they took blood for allergy testing recently they numbed it and she was ok.

I don't want her to have a reaction, that is my only concern.

We gave ds the first MMR, but were not really happy with doing so and have decided against the booster (which is, as barbamama says, to catch those it doesn't work properly in first time, so not technically a 'booster' in the same sense as, say, the second and third baby jabs). He will probably start kindergarten after next Easter, and before then we will have a blood test for measles immunity done and if this is not sufficient get him a single measles vaccination. (It's measles I'm really frightened of at this stage - we will have mumps and rubella boosters done pre-puberty). Have checked this with our doctor, who is happy with it.

Yes, but why put her through a blood test and THEN the jab? IMO, if she has been fine at her other imms, she will be fine for this one, correct me if I am wrong?

I think you should let her have it, it will protect her and there is a miniscule chance that she will have a reaction, much less than if she were to catch measles mumps or rubella. They are horrible diseases.

For a blood test do you mean? I think most areas doing a lot of childrens bloods do numb it first but for the injection, no they wouldn't numb it but then its far quicker and easier than a blood test!

Ask for a prescription for a tube of Emla, sparkly.

Tell her it's magic ointment.

Rub it on the injection site about half an hour to 45 minutes before she's due to get it.

she has a mild egg allergy (hives) and I remember having to wait ages afterwards when she had her MMR, will this be the same this time?

It is possible (I believe) to react only to the booster, as a further 'hit' the immune system has to take, possibly also coinciding with incubating other infections etc.

Of course I'm not looking forward to ds having to have blood taken. And on balance he probably would be fine. But only probably. We have considered this long and hard and it seems the most acceptable procedure for our circumstances.

It's usually 10 minutes you have to wait afterwards.

I meant for the injection (numbing) I couldn't put her another blood test, bless her

DD1 only reacted to the booster, but not the first MMR.

Probably. Its reasonable to wait for a while if there is known to be an allergy, chances are she will be fine though. I assume its her pre school booster that shes due? She should also receive a booster for tetanus, diptheria, whooping cough and polio on the same day if so.

yep, the whole lot, I am not sure if Dd1 reacted to the tetanus one or the MMR when she had it, but her arm was hot, swollen and hada huge lump for about a week, which is why I am unsure. I will just bite the bullet and do it..

My guess is that it was probably the tetanus containing vaccination that caused that reaction tbh, it can cause quite nasty local reactions.

Might be worth spacing them, sparkly, if feasible, if she's allergic? Couple of weeks or so between?

will ask, she has a lot of allergies, some of which we still don't know what to. She has ezcema too. Was so when DD1 reacted to the preschool jabs as she is only allergic to Latex. Dd2 is so scared of injections, you should have seen her face when she saw that I had injections given to me for myself to do for my pregnancy

All children around that age are terrified of injections, they can't imagine anything but awful pain! Your pracice nurse should be well used to dealing with this though, if not bring her to me, i'm pretty good at these pre school booster things !!

From the point of view of someone who gives loads of these jabs, it really helps when the child is informed, nicely but firmly of what is going to happen and that the parent who brings them is very level headed and calm, it really helps them to get on with it as it were!!

My son (11) has just had mumps and had to be hospitalized, it wasn't nice, def get the boosters done. He has had all his injections but still managed to get it.

He must be a bit like me as i was found to be not immune to rubella when first pregnant, after giving birth i had the injection...but it never worked until the injection after my 5th pregnancy, it just dosne't take with some people!