due to have "pre-school booster" tomorrow. WWYD

[backtolingle]

Sorry to land this on you.

DS2 (4.4) had his MMR at age nearly 2. He did not show any obvious or sudden reaction. He already had receptive language delay problems. His language really kicked in at 3.4/3.8.

I have read the testimony of parents on this board. I feel concerned about the MMR

I keep scheduling then postponing the pre-school booster.

I do not want DS2 to get Tetanus or Polio as a result of my fear about the MMR component.

I know that only DH and I can make the decision, but if anyone has any thoughts, I'd be glad to hear them.

ds1 3.5 (speech delay asd?) is due his and he will be having them apart from mmr booster. He is just starting to talk. I will worry about mmr at later date, as I feel spacing them out will be better for him than overloading him all at once, thats even if he does have the booster. He had mmr at 13 months but there were signs before the mmr.

I personally would give it. Your assertion from the outset, if I read you correctly, is that any ASD traits displayed by your DS were related to his comm. delay, and that as he matures in that area, the ASD traits become less significant.

He already had MMR without obvious effect.

There are no guarantees, but we just do our best with the information we have.

DS didn't have the MMR booster. He was fine after the single but I was anxious for similar reasons to you. In hindsight I am unsure whether it was the right decision, as he then got measles the next year. The measles itself was trivial but he then had a nasty 4 or 5 months with lots of tummy bugs which I suspect were probably connected to the measles. Rather than postpone, if you have the money I would get a blood test to see if the first MMR "caught" and/or look into singles.

oops I meant fine after first MMR, not single

We decided to go ahead with DS1's pre-school boosters just before Christmas. I didn't find it an easy decision, but having looked at our family history (I don't think the apple fell that far from the tree for DS1 IYKWIM) I felt that his ASD is more than likely a combination of genetics and possibly the huge amounts of antibiotics he had as newborn. He had his MMR at 16 months I think and although he had a raging for a week there was no regression and on reflection some signs were already there.

I hasten to add I have zero scientific training or evidence to back this up but I felt it was the right one for DS1. I won't say go ahead though as I understand and appreciate why a parent chooses not to vaccinate.

• raging temperature

We went ahead with dd2's at the end of last summer after talking to the GP. I was worried as dd2 was doing so well (just started talking) and i didn't want her to regress. She did not regress but she did have a huge reaction to the injection and ended up in A&E the next day with a temp of 40+. She soon recovered and i guess it was worth it to protect her against MMR (one day of illness is better than getting measles).

i took my ds for the injection as he didnt regress from first injection his speech problems etc were already present and he was making slow progress every day he had it and again was fine and has continued to amke great progress

make

thanks everyone. There's just no right answer is there?

I agree with Riven. Can you postpone it again? Maybe research it further, look at youtube for the pros and cons, rule absolutely nothing out, be open to evaluate all possibilities

ds has had all his vaccines so far with seemingly no untoward effects although my cousin's son had the MMR many years ago now and he was never the same, started suffering fits etc, she even wrote a book about her experiences

"any ASD traits displayed by your DS were related to his comm. delay, and that as he matures in that area, the ASD traits become less significant."

sort of Lou, but I now believe that one of the many kinds of autism is nothing more than severe and lingering receptive language delay/disorder that prevents you from having key experiences during a critical developmental phase, so that by a certain point you are no longer able to just outgrow it.

lingle,
I am in the same position as you and have had this discussion with the paediatrician. Upshot is that DS will not be getting the booster at the moment. (Paed agreed with me). Its a very contentious issue and it all boils down to personal choice.
Can I ask you all a daft question? Why is there a sudden panic over mumps and measles? Our generation had mumps and measles when we were young. Have the strains become worse?

waitingforgodot,
that is the $64,000 question

I did not have any problems with booster but up to you to decide.

Both of mine have had it but spaced out (DD had 1 at 15 mos and 2 at 5 years. DS had ^1 at 2 years). However, I knew that in DD's case it has nothing to do with her issues (no regression, for example, and she's physically amazingly robust, hardly ever ill) so for me it wasn't too hard a decision. I also didn't like the idea of DD having rubella later on (you never know, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of her having kids). I also have a close relative who died of mumps (or meningitis caused by mumps virus, if you will). Single vaccinations aren't available over here. However, it's really got to be your decision. I very much understand why some people choose not to!!

waitingforgodot.

I think the mumps/measles thing is all about meningitus which is a rare side effect (but accounts for a fair proportion of the fatal meningitus episodes IYSWIM)

Just spoke to DH, ie Mr "of course Ds2 does not have autism". I explained about the MMR booster not really being a booster but more a second attempt to get enough children immune to get herd immunity (is that right?)

DH has just surprised me.

DH says that if we can check for immunity then we should do so.

I thought he'd go for the "oh there's no evidence of a link" line. I ran that past him and he said "evidence? well they choose their own canons of evidence don't they?"

So can I just check whether I've got this straight:

• I should call Dr and say I'm due a booster but I've concerns about MMR therefore I'd like to arrange a blood test to see if DS2 has immunity to Measles mumps and rubella already.

What do I do about tetanus shot though? There would have been a tetanus with it.

Thanks for all replies so far.

from NHS website on why two immunisations are necessary.

"Why are two doses of MMR vaccine needed?
To give better protection.

After the first dose, between 5% and 10% of children are not protected against the diseases. After two doses of MMR, less than 1% are left unprotected.

Not all children receive the first dose of MMR. This means that each year the number of children who remain susceptible to measles, mumps and rubella will increase. The second MMR visit is needed to protect those children who did not respond to the first dose, and provides an opportunity to give a first dose to children who didn't receive the vaccine earlier. Children who did respond to the first dose get a boost to their antibodies with a second dose.

For this reason, all countries in the European Union and the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand recommend two doses of MMR."

So I can test DS2 to see whether he already has good immunity to measles mumps and rubella right?

ok wish me luck.

lingle,
I didnt know you could test for immunity. I did read somewhere that the first MMR is meant to last for 12 years??!!

Can you let me know what your GP says? I may consider going down this route in the future

waiting with interest to hear how you get on, lingle. i'm never sure with ds if there was regression or if traits began to appear as a result of difficulties with language development. people who saw him intermittently around this time say that he may have regressed, and i certainly didn't notice any problems with eye contact, etc, until afterwards, but any regression, if there was any, was gradual.

he doesn't have any of the stomach or immune problems that other parents have reported. i tend to feel that in his case, the traits may have developed as his language difficulties became evident, but am not sure why this would be. why would a language disorder 'cause' sensory issues, etc? and if it didn't, why were they not evident before? i get confused trying to work it out.

hv has said she is happy for us to delay booster. i'd be interested to know the cost of checking for immuity anyway. i'll stop rambling now.

OK, Iv'e only read OP as little time. MY DS had singles at 18 mo+ as we were scared of the MMR. He has ASD and I have just given him the MMR as his booster jab (notpresonally, you understand!).

I was scared, but he has been fine Why are you worried about tetanus and polio? They are not part of the MMR vaccine, but are in a separate 5-in-1. My DS did have a mild reaction to the 5-in-1, with a badly swollen arm, but he has since had the MMR and been OK.

Hope that helps.