Starting childhood immunisations late.

[Talkabtit101]

My daughter is 18 months, hasn't had any vaccinations. Cut a long story short I was a Dhead for listening to other people and google.

Has anybody ever started their kids immunisations late? Was the side effects bad? Can you even start them this late?

I've changed doctors to a better and more hygienic surgery so I'm waiting for the transfer then will book in to start and ask any questions. Just thought I'd ask other MNers first.

It's better to have them late than not at all. My daughter's were delayed by a few weeks because of illness and the doctors said it was fine to be late but not early because they need to be spaced properly.

You just need to make an appoint with the Practice Nurse at your GP surgery to get started. There is a protocol that is issued by the Department of Health for ‘catch-up’ for delayed immunisations, it’s not uncommon and shouldn’t be an issue for your GP practice. The d as owner the better you get on with this, the safer your little one will be.

I don’t understand why the auto-correct makes me look like a half-wit every time I post, even though I check it prior to posting 🤔. Hopefully you understood.

Thank you. Yeah I'm definitely going to book an appointment as soon as the transfer is done. I feel terrible I haven't started them and I refused them in the first place, and I'd rather her have them. As long as I know it's safe, I'm just worried about any side effects she might get being a little older.

My son had all of his bar the first ones after 20 months as he was immune compromised before that and not aloud I don’t remember him having so much as a fever he is 6 now... well done for realising better late then never

Thank you. I'm hoping I can get some good advice from better doctors when we've moved. And then can start ASAP.

Anybody else any experience with this?

Well done for changing your mind. Much better late then never. There's standardised catch up schedules by age for unvaccinated/partially vaccinated children, that your GP can refer to.

Thank you. I'm calling my doctors Monday to get them started.

If it is any consolation my DD had one of hers in adulthood because she had no immunity to whatever one it was (I forget now as it was a while ago). There were no side effects and she just had the usual course of injections.

Oh that's nice to know! I am guessing they're obviously safe as they wouldn't offer them. I did ask my HV a couple questions too.

My daughter was always feverish and irritable for a few hours after her baby vaccinations but had no issues with the ones she had as a toddler. I sometimes get a sore arm after a vaccination so I guess kids can too.

She won’t have everything that she has missed, she won’t need some of them now. Your practice nurse will tell you what she is due.
If you google ‘unknown vaccination status’ there is a flow chart for what different vaccinations you would need at different ages.

Thank you, she's booked in Monday. I'm just worried about her. But hopefully all goes well

Never too late to catch up. Too old for Rotavirus now. There'll be quite a few she needs in a relatively short space of time though, giving up to five vaccines at once. Don't let that put you off.
Practice nurse.

@cptartapp Yes that is a worry, how many she'll need to have, and how safe it is to give so many at once.

My granddaughter was late, had to have several in a row. The nurses skills were amazing. Mom stepped out and I stayed with the little one.
She was fine, sore leg for a few hours, not so keen to toddle about, whimper when she bumped her leg etc. But perfectly fine.
She’s a healthy girl and has had the extra chicken pox series so no long lasting trauma.

It's nice to know others have recieved them later and been ok.

I decided not waiting until the transfer is complete so we've just gone with our original doctors to start them.

She's due them today, just thought I'd post once more to see if anyone else's child started them later, and what the side effects were

Mine had them later. Not the complete course due to prior health conditions. There was a schedule to follow and I didn’t get too many at once so if there had been side effects we’d have known which one was responsible. MMR caused a very high temp and a rash but was over after a few days. Others had no noticeable side effects.

My DD didn’t have most of hers until she was nearly 2, and she was absolutely fine. No side effects at all. Hope all goes well today OP.

You might find fewer side effects as she has a more developed immune system so it's not such a shock to her

Hi everyone, just and update, had them around 2.30. She seems ok at the minute, she was given the 6 in 1 and MenB. They wanted her to have 5 at once, but I was t comfortable with that many being done. So we're back in 4 weeks, the initial cry happened as they put the needle in, but a pop to the shop to get a fruit shoot and she was fine. Seems herself at the minute, she's just had a bottle of milk too, doesn't feel warm as of yet, one of the cotton buds has came away, come off almost straight away.. I didn't notice her clean her thigh though beforehand.. Or does that not really matter?

You don’t need to clean the skin beforehand. It’s not part of the national protocol for covid vaccination either! :)

My son had all his done when he was 9 as tests showed that none of his baby ones had worked - no ill effects at all - in fact as he got a newer meningitis one he didn't need the booster in school.