If a child has strong family history of asd is the mmr a good idea? Really looking for advice rather than a bun fight!

[spiderpig]

I know this is (or can be) a very contoversial topic, and I'm sorry if this isn't an ok place to discuss this but tbh I just don't know where else to ask

I know people (understandably)get upset when healthy children aren't immunised so could I just say that whatever conclusions we come to my child will be immunised be it with the mmr or single jabs, but......

If a child has strong family links of asd (autism, aspergers etc) is is wiser to avoid the mmr and give single jabs? even if they themselves are seemingly nt?

If it's not too personal can I ask what people with older children with asd have done about immunisations for their younger children

I am so so confused about this and struggling to make a decision so any help really would be appreciated

Hi - will only post once since it all gets so involved but both my children (one autistic and one not) have all their MMRs and boosters because I had no concerns at all. My brother is ASD and I might be too - but no DX (yet). But there are lots of people here who can tell you where to get other advice about singles etc. if that's what you decide to do.

Hi there, Jimjams is the resident expert on this one, shes well read, and done loads of research. Im sure she'll be along soon(ish). XX

My ASD ds1 had the MMR at 14 months, so did NT ds2. I could already see subtle signs of ASD in ds1 from the age of around 4 months (am a SLT so know quite a bit about it) and there's a family history on my side (again, no formal dx but I know my brother and dad are mild ASD).

Anyway, I never really gave it a second thought, they both just got the jabs and were fine. I don't feel the MMR contributed in any way to ds1's ASD.

DS1 (5 with ASD), had the MMR, however we did not give him the pre-school booster. DS1 didn't regress and when looking back, he always displayed signs of autism, even as a babe in arms.

However when DS2 came along, we decided that with his sibling history he could be pre-disposed to ASD and we didn't want to risk this being triggered.

We thought long and hard about this and read quite a bit {Richard Halversons book - 'The truth about vaccines' is a very good read, I would highly recommend it), the upshoot of which is that DS2 has not had any vaccines at all since being born and this will continue to be the case for the forseeable future.

Agree about Richard Halvorsen's book. It's excellent.

There are many type of autism. In our family there is a lot of history of autoimmune conditions (there is no autism except ds1- who is profoundly autistic- non-verbal aged 9). Ds1 regressed following a live viral infection. This has been agreed by his paediatrician and is written into his diagnosis letter. We therefore decided not to expose our children to any unecessary live viruses. Therefore to date ds2 and ds3 have not received any live viral vaccinations (or any others come to that but the decision making around that is perhaps not relevant for this thread).

DS3 has many physiological features of autism - and a barking mad immune system. But he's not autistic.

Your decision should be based on your family history, not mine, not anyone else's. The different types of autism are beginning to be understood, as is the immune dysfunction that can accompany it. It's a complicated picture though as there are many routes to autism and it;s not even agreed by the pros whether a child at the most high functioning end of the spectrum even has the same condition as one who is low functioning.

I'd read Halvorsen's book as a start and make a decision from there.

By physiological features of autism I mean things like a dodgy gut.

DS1 (4 1/2, ASD) had his MMR at 14 months, but looking back he also showed signs of ASD from a younger age. Also, since he was little he had lots of immune system issues - slight eczema, gut problems etc, and several lots of antibiotics for various infections. Understandably he has not had a booster, he was diagnosed at 2 yrs 2 months.

DS2 is 2 and has over the past few months had measles and rubella as single vaccines. He is as NT as they come, and I could tell when he was 8 months that I didn't have to be concerned about his development. No gut issues, no immune system issues. He won't be getting the MMR booster either.

We have some ASD traits in the family but no dx other than DS1.

I have 2 boys with ASD and a younger dd who is so far NT. All 3 have had the MMR.

In our case the MMR didn't trigger the ASD as the signs were there long before that. The only time mine have reacted badly to immunisations was when ds1 had the DTP. That was 8yrs ago though and that particular variety has since been discontinued.

I agree though that you should base your decision on your own family medical history. The only other thing that seems to run in ours is asthma and possibly hayfever.

spiderpig
my son who has ASD was triggered by the MMR but we actually have no family history of ASD at all - including his siblings.

I would echo reading the book.
Good luck

And FWIW my perfectly healthy DD hasn't had any vaccines at all and i don't especially give a toss if that upsets other people who have no personal history with the vaccine or the diseases.

Thank you all so much for your replies, I can't tell you how great it is to hear your experiences, and to be able to consider my options without the argueing and judgement that sometimes follows

and to that end, I'm sorry if I offended with my comment about healthy children being immunised and that I would be doing so, I think I had narrowed the arguement down to single jabs vs mmr but I now realise the issue is more complex than that

Thank you for the book reccomendations, I'm off to amazon now to order them

not offended at all spider
good luck

my daughter loves your song...

Just going through the same dilemma myself and went to discuss with the GP this morning, he was surprisingly sympathetic. Although I don't think DS1's likely HFA is due to the MMR, I just won't take any risks with DS2 who so far seems NT, but I don't want to count my chickens as he's only 12 months.
Are single vaccines a viable alternative, as you'd still be giving a measles vaccine (which is the one I understand to be potentially risky but I could be wrong!) Should we just give the mumps and rubella single vaccines and miss out measles? Is there any kind of homeopathic alternative that anyone knows of? It's such a nightmare decision as my sister almost died of measles at DS' age.

Most homeopaths do not suggest remedies as an alternative to vaccination.

Many of the MMR regressive cases appear to have been associated with one brand which has now been withdrawn.

Wakefield believes that it's an 'atypical' exposure to measles that is problematic and he believes that combing it with mumps and rubella might be considered atypical. There have been some cases of regression associated with the single measles jab, but far fewer reports than with the MMR. When I talk about cases and reports- these are direct from parents of course. Officially these things haven't happened.