Pre school booster

[Lullaby88]

Anyone got any advice? I got a letter for this appointment. Did ur kids have this? Any side effects or concerns about it? Tips? Iv read some kids react 10 days later and also read mums who refuse to hav the vaccine aswel . Confused!

My son had his a couple of weeks ago. No side effects for him but my eldest was poorly a week later. We told him what was going to happen. There is a good episode of bing that shows what happens. Was in and out in less than five minutes. Brought a treat to give him after for being brave. For me there was no question about him having the jabs. The pros out weigh any cons

Did you give all the Vaccinations when your child was a baby?

My DS will be having his preschool booster when we receive the letter as I believe the protection they provide is important. I'd rather they were mildly ill a week later than have some of the diseases they protect from.

Anti-vaxxers are in the minority. My DD had hers. Screamed after arm number 2. Gave her a chocolate to suck straight away. Big cuddles. No side effects. All forgotten. Protecting them from these diseases is really important - for themselves and society as a whole.

If your kid had all jabs as a baby then they’ve had them before, this is the booster to make sure they are immune

If they haven’t then this is your chance to make sure they don’t get measles etc at school.

Btw re it being a booster I mean still get it, just that you don’t need to worry about side effects so much as they’ve had it before

Get them when you get the letter if possible, I was in the middle of moving around the beginning of Lockdown (including staying elsewhere in the run up) when we got our letter for dd1, then our doctor suspended all vaccinations that weren't 'essential' during the first Lockdown and when we'd moved and got a new doctor we were told that she couldn't have them any more, I think she was too old or something?! Wasn't too impressed!

I bet the Mums who refuse to give it to their kids had it when they were younger though....

It seems like a lot the letter says diptheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio MMR(1B). Is that all one? Or is MMR a seperate injection? Could i suggest she just has one and one a bit later?

It's two separate injections at the same time here, one nurse each arm. Why would you do one and then make her go through it later again for another?

My ds reacted a bit to the whooping cough/diptheria/polio vaccination, but like, that's preferable to him actually getting any of them 🤷‍♀️

I don't know if the NHS would administer the jabs separately, but really can't see why you would want them to. By 3 your child will remember something not fun happening at the doctors and be much more resistant to going in again. Get it over and done with seems fairer on the child. Yes it is not fun, but I felt awful when the kids got chicken pox and that is considered mild so not vaccinated against by the NHS. All the other things in the vaccine are worse then chicken pox if they catch them.

DC2 has hers in 2 weeks. From what I remember of DC2 it was a bit harder because they are bigger and harder to keep still. But also more easily placated with chocolate.

There's no reason not to do it and all the usual reasons to do it.

@DennisTMenace

I don't know if the NHS would administer the jabs separately, but really can't see why you would want them to. By 3 your child will remember something not fun happening at the doctors and be much more resistant to going in again. Get it over and done with seems fairer on the child. Yes it is not fun, but I felt awful when the kids got chicken pox and that is considered mild so not vaccinated against by the NHS. All the other things in the vaccine are worse then chicken pox if they catch them.

Yes you can split vaccines we did with both our little ones only 1 jab every 4 weeks not multiple ones on the same day

@Lullaby88

It seems like a lot the letter says diptheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio MMR(1B). Is that all one? Or is MMR a seperate injection? Could i suggest she just has one and one a bit later?

It's 2 injections:

• A 4 in 1 injection for diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio
• And the 3 in 1 MMR for measles, mumps and rubella

Neither of my kids had a reaction to the preschool boosters

DD has hers a couple of months ago. Totally oblivious to being in the Dr’s surgery and engrossed watching videos on my phone. Said “OW!” And looked at her arm when the first one went in. Pulled away slightly on the second one but barely took her eyes off the screen.
The main tears came outside when I had to prise the phone off her! Thankfully I had some chocolate as extra bribery.

I'd just get them both done at the same time and save you going back later

Practice nurse here.
Queen you are never too old to catch up with preschool boosters.
Your GP was wrong if referring to these specific vaccines.
Speak to the nurse.

I give these immunisations.

It's boosters of things they've had before (assuming they had all their baby jabs) so nothing new for them.

One in each arm as the previous poster outlined. It's over in a flash and there's no benefit to splitting them and coming back another day.

@QueenOfCatan you've been seriously misinformed - there's no reason a child can't have their vaccines when due, there's no such thing as "too old" (except for the baby rotavirus vaccine and some teen vaccines such as HPV). It may be that the clinician needs to amend the vaccines given or the timings but a child should definitely have their immunisations. I would contact the surgery and ask to discuss it with a clinician or the practice manager.

I was hoping I was wrong, we got the letter in the post in Feb/March time just as covid was starting to kick off. Tried to book her in March/April and was told no due to lockdown. Moved in June, new GP in July who said wait until lockdown over. Called in October to book it and was told no appointments until mid November but DD would be 4 by then so won't be of any use. I queried it at the time and was told it had to be between 3 and 4 to be effective and November was too late for that winter anyway. Thought it was weird but accepted that they knew more than me on the matter! I'll call back and speak to them again.

Which injections has she missed?
For most of them you can catch up at any point

@QueenOfCatan who on Earth told you that?! It’s utter bollocks! (Scuse my French).

Firstly child imms were classed as essential work and weren’t halted for longer than a few weeks in first lockdown. Secondly it’s never too late to be immunised and they will definitely still “work”.

Please get back to your (crappy) surgery and insist she has an appointment with the nurse to be vaccinated. Do not let the receptionist fob you off!

I took my three year old for his preschool booster and my 16 week old for her jabs at the same time. I didn’t tell DS what was going to happen until we were in there and he went first. He’s a worrier, thinking time isn’t good. He barely notice, I took sweets but he was happy with colouring sheet and stickers. He spent the rest of the week saying how brave he was because he didn’t cry.
Unfortunately they both had a bit of vaccine fever so I had a rough couple of nights but definitely worth it. Whooping cough is awful as is mumps.

It’s over so quick, literally seconds. Just do it at the same time, saves another trip another day. They don’t remember.

My eldest cried after the second one and told the nurse she was not a very nice lady. Middle cried after the second one but stopped to give the nurse the most evil glare, before flipping her hair and flouncing out of the room! Both were fine after a bit of a cuddle, calpol at the ready but neither needed it.

I can't understand people who would refuse this without good reason.

My brother is disabled following childhood illness he cintracted when he was 5. He would have been vaccinated against this had there been an NHS in mums country, couldn't get a retrospective diagnosis of course but from the symptoms described she's been told it was likely measles or meningitis-there was an outbreak and a few other children she knew ended up more severely disabled. She's been his full time carer for 40 years and would not wish this on anyone.

It’s entirely up to you to make an informed choice about whether to get the vaccines. However, as previous posters have said, it’s a booster so just a kind of top of up of ones they’ve had before.

All of mine have had them. None had any visible side effects. I gave them calpol 30 mins/ hour before vaccines.

Completely your choice but I don’t see the sense in not having the booster when they’ve already had the same initial vaccines?

I read up the pros and cons of each vaccine that comes their way. You are entitled to do that and you are entitled to make an informed choice.

I had MMR at the age of 28, so you can definitely catch up with them. (The doctor's practice were a bit odd about it and I had to push a bit them to do it though. They actually said, "Why do you want it?")