PFB worry about DS having the MMR

[MainlyMaynie]

DS has the MMR coming up and I am worried about possible reactions. Not the stuff about autism etc., though I expect the publicity about that has subconsciously made me more concerned about MMR than other vaccines. A friend's baby ended up with a scarily high temperature though and that's the sort of thing that worries me (he's never had a high temp, so I don't know how he'll react). I have looked on the NHS website, but it doesn't explain how common reactions are. Do the majority of children get them?

I know this is PFB paranoia, I'm not considering not letting him have the vaccine, I just want someone to reassure me I am just being paranoid and that it will be fine!

tbh, I can't remember any reaction at all to MMR, or preschool jabs for my 4.

I can vividly recall raised bumps at injection sites, & fevers & extreme grumpiness from the baby jabs, when I was in sleep-deprived hazes & barely remember anything else from those periods. So I conclude the jabs at older ages have just been complete non-events.

Someone's got a bee in their bonnet

Ds3 had a scarily high temp earlier this year that didnt come down and he was hospitalised for a couple of days. It didn't happen around the time of any vaccinations. He'd caught a virus.

It's always going to be scary and absolutely horrible when your children have illnesses. But they DO get them and then they get over them. Your LO will have many opportunities to get scary temps if throughout his childhood, but if he is vaccinated, you can be sure he will be protected from the worst effects.

Leoniedelt, I am only clarifying that I wouldn't consider not vaccinating as I don't want a load of pro and anti vaccine posts, just some practical experiences. As I have posted I have friends who have experienced the negative effects of both vaccinating and not vaccinating. You seem to be reading things that I haven't said and it appears to be making you err on the side of rudeness.

Thanks to everyone else for sharing their experiences, they have helped me feel a bit calmer!

You're welcome, MainlyMaynie Hope you get on fine at the clinic with your DS. :)

There's always one poster on these types of threads who have to spoil it for the majority (and to be picking faults with what other posters say on this topic only shows insecurities about their own decisions regarding vaccinations). Agreed it's not about vaccination vs. anti vaccination debate. It's about the symptoms/reactions and clarity on how bad they can get after the vaccine has been given...nothing more!

Don't feel a need to explain yourself OP, you asked a simple question that is all.

I hope most of the posts were helpful.

Agree with MyDogShitsMoney (p.s. where can i buy one of those?) you don't need to justify your parenting decisions. You believe it's right to get your DS vaccinated (as do many others) and you're asking about adverse reactions. No need to explain, justify or step backwards from that Part of parenting is about having confidence in your decisions, regardless of other people's judgements.

Pleased you've received some reassurance.

Neither of mine reacted to the MMR - oh apart from ds had a big red lump on his leg but thats all. They did both react to the other jags that are now given at the same time though but nothing major just slight temp. I only know it wasnt the MMR because I did the vaccinations separately so MMR on its own and then the other ones at a later date.

It was only a fiver sadly! (I was very skint at the time though so sellotaped it back together and used it to pay for a taxi )

I don't remember any reactions with any of the vaccinations for DS.

YANBU though. There has been so much nonsense about the supposed danger of vaccination that I think it is understandable that you would be worried, but you are making the right decision. So you are paranoid and it will be fine!

My DS was a nightmare after his first 3 lots of jabs (the ones around 3, 4 and 5 months?) so I was dreading his MMR etc as my area do the 12 and 14 month jabs together.

He was fine. I took him a bottle along and as soon as the nurse had finished I gave him some milk and he chilled out entirely, no screaming and no reaction over the following days/weeks. We had been planning on alternating calpol and neurophen for 24 hours but didn't need to.

my ds1 (aged 4, nearly 5) reacted badly to both MMR vaccinations - the one at 13 months and the one at 3 and 4 months. he had very high temperatures afterwards both times but nothing that Calpol didn't soothe. he is currently being investigated for possible asperger syndrome, but this may of course be completely unrelated. I have decided to get separate jabs for ds2 (aged 2) but the mumps one currently is not available. I doubt the MMR caused the signs of AS in ds1, but personally I wouldn't risk it again.

I know the OP asked a simple question and that she is going to get her dc vaccinated with MMR. fine - but that doesn't mean that others cannot express their opinions or share their experiences here.

'People who don't vaccinate their children are relying on everyone else doing so' is absolute nonsense and very ignorant!

No it isn't. If mumps, measles & rubella were as widespread as they were years ago then this thread wouldn't even exist. People would be beating a path to the surgery door.pbfor the MMR.
The reason these diseases are relatively rare now is because of the success of vaccination programmes, this however has lulled some into a false sense of security. Their continued success relies on a high uptake of the vaccine. Current uptake rates are 92% in England. The HPA target is 95%. Below this disease spreads through the community. Each time there is a measles epidemic vaccination uptake increases. conversely when the epidemic subsides so does vaccination uptake.
People make the choices that are best for their children and they are entitled to do so, whether that means MMR, single jabs or no jabs, however when they evaluate the risks of vaccination against the likelihood of contracting the disease they do so in the knowledge that the vast majority of others will have vaccinated their children therefore reducing the prevalence of the diseases in the community. This will of course influence their decision as they perceive the risk to their child contracting MMR to be small and they may then make a different choice than someone who has witnessed first hand the effects of these preventable illnesses.
Individuals are able to take advantage of the 'herd' mentality of others without any cost to themselves. Its fine if only a few adopt this approach but catastrophic in terms of public health if we all did this!

I did copious investigations into vaccinations before having each of my four children vaccinated, and on each occasion after reading the relevant peer reviewed research materials, etc, I came to the conclusion that at a population level, for children like mine, the benefits outweigh the risks by many thousands to one, so it was something I was keen to give them.

That's bollocks Willow. There are as many a varied a reason for not vaccinating as there are non-vaccinators. One popular reason is that some parents don't believe that the vaccinations give any benefit to their child, EVEN if their child lived in a community of high disease incidences!

Yes and non vaccination was a decision taken by my own parents for seemingly valid reasons in the 1980s when prevalence was high. My mother perceived the risk of me developing epilepsy to be greater than the risks of the diseases. I am not disputing that there are many varied reasons people choose not to vaccinate but Britain CURRENTLY has a relatively low incidence of these diseases so of course this is going to influence a decision on whether to let their child have the MMR vaccine, either consciously or subconsciously and it is when people perceive the risks to be low that uptake slides and the diseases spread until uptake rises again and so the cycle continues...

Yes it will influence, but not always the way you presume. Some diseases are more dangerous BECAUSE they are vaccinated against!

Starlight, you are sadly misinformed.

"Some diseases are more dangerous BECAUSE they are vaccinated against!"

Yes, completely, you can see that when you look at the number of children dying in unvaccinated populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.

If vaccination wasn't of benefit to a child then there wouldn't be such emphasis at clinics around the UK. And thank goodness that numpty of a doctor was struck off for his false claims of the MMR and links to autism. Utter tripe. I said this years ago when he was breaking news. So many parents would have been panicked back then.

Hear, hear WillowB.

Starlight, sorry, that comes across as bollocks. Evidence please?