Vaccinations Should I shouldn't I??????????

[Debs75]

I have a 10 year old son with autism and a 1 year old girl.
She is due her booster and MMR. I want to delay it a bit as I feel 1 year is a bit young. DS had his booster Hib C and MMr on his 1st birthday and he spent the rest of the day asleep. Several months later he lost his speech and by the time he was 3 he was diagnosed with autism.

I don't know if the MMR and other vacs are to blame for the autism, (he had chicken pox at 2 just before he started showing symptoms) but I do like many feel that they may not help.
Also I have a sensitivity to metals which has been linked in The Autism File and they suggest not letting your kids be vacced as they contain metals.

My dd is not being watched in any way to see if she develops autism so I have no professional input. I just feel that I should delay these jabs until I know more or until she is past the most dangerous time (if there is such a time)

Any input from those of you who have been through this would be gratefully received.

Can only tell you my story, is that what you were meaning? My DS2 has his MMR on Tuesday.

My DS1 has Asperger's Syndrome but I always felt there was something different about him. When my DS2 was born I did worry but by 5 or 6m I could tell he was not on the spectrum. It was just so obvious that he loved me and wanted me to know it. DS1 was so different, I remember finding plenty of stuff about mums not bonding with their babies but nothing on babies not bonding with their mums. Though he was happy, busy, a great sleeper and eater, it was like people were just furniture - either in his way or not in his way. This was all before he had his MMR.

Also, I think it definitely genetic in our case. We have always joked that my dad (engineer with model railway hobby!) was borderline but since DS1's DX we have realised that FIL is way more autistic. Because they are all so different, we just hadn't seen it before. So many irritating things about him can be put down to autism, he is really quite paralysed by many things in life and DH has really re-evaluated their relationship in this light. Plus his half-brother is a model railway fan too.

I'm not saying your DS wasn't NT before his MMR but maybe have another look back and around, sometimes you can't see the autism that's right under your nose. Good luck.

I think the scientific evidence is fairly conclusive in the MMR issue now. I wouldn't think twice to be honest but it is a personal matter.

Ben Goldacre's site Bad Science (he's a doctor and Guardian journalist) has some useful information

Hi there,
My DS2 has HFA and had his MMR at 13 months. I don't think there was a connection.

With DD (22 months) I have waited until I feel that her language is really cemented before doing it. She's showing lots of other NT signs, but I just wanted to be sure. She had it last week and seems ok so far.

Its an awful position to be in isn't it.

I had no problems with either child, one ASD, one not and I don't see any connection - but I think you have to decide yourself. I think this is one of these questions that magazines and internet are not the best place for research.

having measles can be devastating for the child causing brain damage and even death.
I am worried abut the mmr but more so about dc getting measles therefore i am having the single jabs. my hv has recently said that if a child has the single jabs they need x2 boosters of the mmr when they are 3 as far as i'm concerned this is utter rubish. the single jabs contain no mercury or something else which i cant spell therefore i consider them safer.
I look at the mmr in this way:
you are presented with a chinese meal, a bowl of pasta and a pizza. my body couldn't deal with all 3 at once, however to have one meal at a time would be more digestable.

Thanks for your posts.

When my sis had her dd (5 years ago) she asked me if I thought she should have the MMR? I answered that it was totally up to her and I didn't blame it entirely for DS's autism. Now I have a DD of my own I am getting more sceptical. Now I know how hard it is to live with autism I want to protect her even more. I know that deafness through measles would be devastating but I deal with autism everyday and don't want to do something which I feel would be damaging.

I suppose I will have to talk to my HV or Doc about seperate jabs and maybe watching her to see if she displays some traits.

It is an awful position to be in SHELLS. I think I may delay it like you did.

Had to laugh at the "people are like furniture" bit - my dd wept buckets when we changed her radiator but wouldn't have batted an eyelid if we'd got her a new brother
Catkinq

Meant to add - re vaccinations - I read most of the research and decided that I did not think that there was any scientific evidence to show a link between MMR and ASD BUT I also did not think that there was any real evidence showing that there was not. As there was so much anecdotal evidence suggesting possible problems we opted for a single jab. dd and ds1 now both look like they have ASD but, as previous posters have said, lokoing back the signs were there from day one. (In fact dh keeps now saying "can't they have MMR now then?" )
Catkinq