How did you decide about vaccinating?

[Sasha at Parenting.com]

Vaccines are a controversial issue, and there's a lot of conflicting information out there. How did you decide to vaccinate -- or not to vaccinate -- your child? What research did you do? How did you come to your conclusion? If you decided to immunize, were you worried as they got their shots, or did you feel comfortable that all would be fine? Did your child have any adverse reactions?

We'd love to hear your stories. You answers may be used in an upcoming piece on vaccines. Thanks!

[aTxFootballMom]

When my first son Daniel was born, I took so many things into mind when vaccinating. In the end, I decided that vaccinations were very important and instead of giving him all of them at once on his check ups, I made "shot only" appointments. Which I scheduled a week after his original monthly check ups. This gave me some peace of mind that his body was not being over loaded. I would only allow the doctor to give him one or two at a time, then we would return a week later for the rest! We continued this with my second son Brien. I would recommend this plan for any and every other mom! Vaccines are important and a must!

[krfounta]

What a perfect topic right now!! I've been wondering about this for awhile...

With my first son (and second), we didn't agree with giving his first shot when he was just born. That was out of the question. He was just born and they wanted to poke him all over!

We went along with vaccines just knowing that everyone we knew had their children vaccinated so it must have been the right thing to do. Then later, we began hearing "not good" things about them. Then I did my own research and learned things that I do not like. Traces of mercury, side-effects (some life changing), and slow causes of some deceases and cancers. No thanks, I do not like those risks.
Right now, I am against all vaccines for my children. On my second child, after his first set of shots, he has had horrible dry, flaky skin ever sense. He is very uncomfortable and I really feel it was those vaccines. I cried after he had them.
If I am not comfortable with the idea and it makes me sad...then why go along with it?

I still need to learn more about choosing not to vaccinate though. I hear it may be a rocky road with doctors. Is this true? This is something I'm stressing about and I need more information on this issue. Thanks!

[Kiki Smith]

Ultimately, we decided to have our son vaccinated. I am concerned about the vaccines, and while I believe he is not at risk for many of the diseases he is being vaccinated for, I understand it's a public health issue. The primary reason he is not at risk for the diseases (such as Polio, for example) is because parents before me had their children vaccinated and the disease has mostly been irradicated. That being said, I do have him on a modified vaccination schedule. We follow the schedule found in Dr. Sear's book, Vaccinations. I originally was concerned about the potential link between Autism and vaccinations. Most vaccines only have trace amounts of Thimerosal now and the link between autism and vaccines containing mercury/thimerosal has never been proven. However, the more research I did, the more I became concerned about the other binding agents found in vaccines: nickel, copper, fetal animal cells, etc. I try to limit the amount of preservatives and junk we ingest in our diet, why would I not try to limit the amount of metals and "junk" my son has to process at any given time? Plus by limiting the amount of vaccinations he receives at one visit (two at most instead of the usual four shots) we are better able to narrow down which vaccination he has a negative reaction to, should one occur. I have to take him to the doctor more frequently than if he were following the CDC prescribed vaccination schedule, but I am willing to do this in order to have him introduced to these foreign agents at a pace I believe allows him to process them more easily and safely. He has never had a strong reaction to the vaccines. He is fussy for a day or two afterwards; thankfully, so far that has been it.

[melzie771]

My decision was long and well thought out. Right after my daughter was born i had read something controversial about vaccines. it made me question whether or not she should receive them. during the next ten months i allowed her to be vaccinated only because i didn't know how to legally keep her from having to receive them. But during that time I did all the research i possibly could consulting the internet her pediatrician and my own instincts. i read all the stories about parents and their children who regressed and fell into the autism spectrum. there were thousands of stories about children who were intelligent an progressing normally and then changed right after their 18 month shots. i decided not to take my daughter in for her 12 month shots or any other shots there after. but it wasn't until my son was born that i learned how to opt out of vaccines legally in my state. During that time i had many discussions with my chiropractor. a well educated man whose opinion on medicine i trust and value and he told me the reasons he did not vaccinate his children. He told me where to find the research, and he supported my choice. I still worry about my children and hope that they do not come down with some of these illnesses as they crop up around us. But i feel like getting sick would be the lesser of 2 evils. I know the choices i made were right for my family.

[jpzsmom]

With my first two children (who are now almost 10 and 14), I vaccinated according to the schedule given by the doctors. My new husband and I had a baby in September 2008. We struggled with what to do about vaccines. So many negative things were in the media about vaccines causing autism and other effects. Our pediatrician knew we wanted to do some research before deciding how to proceed. She recommended The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. This book is great! It gives you so much information about the vaccines themselves and also suggests a few alternative schedules for your baby's shots. We chose to do an alternative schedule so that our baby would not get so many shots at one time. He would get certain shots at check-ups, and others during "shot-only" appointments. The only issue now is that we cannot get the MMR shot separated (Apparently Merck does not make it separately any more). We have read and heard a lot of issues with this particular vaccine, and have chosen, for now, to not give this particular vaccine to our son. Our pediatrician has been wonderful about our decisions for vaccines, and I only hope that, when we move this summer, we will be able to find a pediatrician that is just as responsive to our decisions!

[hdaniels13]

I also had some concerns about vaccinations. But I did lots of research online and talked to my pediatrician. I wanted the FACTS about vaccinations, not unproved theories. Learning the facts led me to decide to vaccinate my son following the recommended schedule. He is a healthy and happy little boy and I have no regrets. There is so much information out there not based on any fact or research and parents are always worried that they are doing the right thing for their children. It's definitely a difficult decision.

[AprilBaby]

I truly believe in choosing a pediatrician that you can fully trust! If I didn't trust my daughter's pediatrician, then all my knowledge is left open to me riffling through all the information out there and of course that can get scary and overwhelming!

My husband & I decided to spend time interviewing several pediatricians when we were pregnant with our daughter. Every pediatrician said the same thing "I vaccinate my kids, so why wouldn't I recommend vaccinating yours!?" Our decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate was SO easy because every pediatrician said the same thing! We ended up choosing someone who clicked with us and understood how we were feeling as parents (SO important) from there we just trust her advice and guidance when it comes to vaccinating! She's the expert =)!

Lisa
RSM, CA
www.NewMommyOasis.com
Experiencing Mommyhood Together!

[sunshineonmyshoulder]

i have to say that this issue is near and dear to my heart because i have worked with children with autism and their families for 14 years. a while ago, a study was published suggesting a link between vaccinations and autism. a lot of controversy was stirred up. certainly i have seen the joys and struggles of the families i have worked with and would not knowingly or willingly expose my own family to a risk of autism if it could be prevented.

then i had my daughter a few months ago. because of my experience i really wrestled with the decision. originally i planned to delay vaccinations and then to space them out. i consulted a lot of sources of information, eventually landing at pubmed and google scholar. i learned the physiological mechanism behind vaccination and the research behind how they were developed and are monitored.

i learned that our immune systems are designed to handle hundreds of pathogens at once. simply, we are designed to eat dirt. i learned that vaccinations work by teaching our own immune system to be smarter. so that put my mind at ease about the number of vaccines at once. i learned that there is more mercury in a can of tuna than in many doses of vaccine, and that none of the vaccines had mercury in it anyway. so that put my mind at ease about mercury. i learned that the causes of autism are likely genetic and that the earlier study suggesting a link was discredited and not replicated and that very large studies have shown no link between autism and vaccination. so that put my mind at ease about causing autism with a vaccine. i learned that vaccines have very real risks and that some children suffer seizures, death, and other things after vaccination. i also learned about the diseases that the vaccinations were for, and talked to people who had had polio, or seen someone with whooping cough, or had had measles or mumps. i decided that i would rather take the chance of those very bad side effects than the chance of those very bad diseases, because statistically the chances were much less. finally, i learned about herd immunity, and how by vaccinating my baby, i am not just protecting her, but others in my community who can't be vaccinated because they are already too sick. it is not just a personal decision for our family. it has implications for everyone we come into contact with.

i am very confident, because of what i learned, in my decision to vaccinate my little girl. she received as many as 9 vaccines at once. she is healthy and thriving. i feel lucky to live in a country where these things are available, so that she can live a long and healthy life.

[lismom2]

Good Day Sasha! First of all, thank you for continuing to bring the vaccine discussion into light. It's a very personal and important topic for parents and I really feel that continuing dialogue is very important to understanding the complexities of this issue.
We do not vaccinate our children. It wasn't an easy decision to come to, and it is one I research every.single.day. Our decision was based on constant researching (via news, medical journals, the CDC pink book, forum boards & disease websites). It started with concerns over our daughters’ fussiness after shots. Then we heard she was supposed to get a vaccination for Chicken Pox. We were baffled...chicken pox?...as in the chicken pox everyone had when we were growing up?...those...weren't too bad. But I began to hear about the 'deadly' chicken pox. Over and over. And then I started to think, well, if chicken pox is now horrible and deadly to ALL infants, what about the other diseases we vaccinate against? By this time we had simply stopped vaccinating, but hadn't really researched too much about them thinking that we would just delay until she was a little bit older and that we would only vaccinate against the things we felt she needed (certainly not the chicken pox).
When I became pregnant with my ds, I began to research again in earnest. This is where I began to question each vaccine. Armed with a detailed list obtained from an online forum, I began to search out each disease (why is there a vax for this disease and not others) and why I felt a vaccine would benefit my child (what was the likelihood of my children contracting this disease), how the vaccine worked (was it meant to stop transmission or merely lessen symptoms) and vaccine ingredients (WHAT was I injecting into my child). Basically, when it came down to it, we aren't at risk for STI's (neither myself nor my partner is positive for Hep B or HPV & feel that education is MUCH more effective than ‘here get this shot so that when you have irresponsible sex & drug use, you’ll be safe’), we maintain a healthy diet (which is key in the death rate of several VPD's), I breastfeed (we've never had an ear infection, extreme diarrhea or respiratory illness), and I trust that in today's medical world, if my child becomes sick with a VPD, it will be handled to the best of medicines ability. Without picking apart each vaccine, of the 11 recommended vaccines for ages 2 and up, we have yet to find a truly viable reason to get a single one at this time.
Another factor is that we live in a state that does not allow for philosophical exemption for attendance in public school. In my state you can only file a medical or religious exemption. We do not qualify for a medical exemption (which is only used for specific vaxes anyway, to my knowledge) and must file a religious exemption every year our children are in public school. This also means that you can not object to a particular vaccine, but only to the PROCESS of vaccination. In short, you have to do all or nothing. This is one of my biggest problems with our vaccination policy in the US. I do not feel that my or my children's personal medical history should be relevant to their school attendance (or anyone else’s for that matter).
I understand why many parents choose to vaccinate their children, and it’s 100% their right to do so. Just as it is 100% my right to choose NOT to do so. There are so many highly biased sources of information on all sides of this issue that it’s hard to sift through what’s out there and come to a clear decision on what’s best for your own child and family.

[krfounta]

melzie771:
Which information did your chiropractor give you? I am very interested in why he chose not to vaccinate his children.

[yolandagordon]

I am a parent to two children on the Autism Spectrum. I am pro-vaccine, but not pro-booster. I feel that once our kids get their first dose, doctors should offer the chance to every parent before they offer a booster to that child to see if the child is immune. I do not think that many parents realize that after that first set of shots your child gets and you have to go back and have to get more shots, those are boosters. Your child can be exempt from getting those boosters if they get a titer and find out if their child is immune and can get the necessary paperwork to probe such. This is my decision for my children. I do not give my children the flu vaccinations and I refuse to give them the H1N1 when you think about giving your child small doses of mercury, formaldehyde, and anti-freeze to prevent a disease that if its meant for them to have or stronger than the vaccine, your child will get it. What further disturbed me is the amount of time used to make the H1N1 vaccine and that children were required to get a booster after having the vaccine.

I believe in vaccines, but I do not believe that we need to give our children boosters when we can make informed choices for our children.

[melzie771]

well my memory is not the greatest but he did give me some specifics that i remember. one of them being that in any documented cases of polio since the 70's it has been an unvaccinated child or one with a compromised immune system who had been in close contact with a baby who had just received vaccinations. there fore the act of getting vaccinations has been spreading this disease to the few people who have had since that era. he had also told me that many people believe the vaccines eradicated many child hood disease when in fact it is due to better hygiene standards. when some of these diseases were rampant indoor plumbing was scarce and frequent hand-washing was unheard of. he also told me that the only time either of his own children were sick was when he had them exposed to chicken pox to get it naturally the way we did as kids. Sorry if any of this offends anyone elses point of view these are the things a trusted dr. had told me and i relate to his point of view. Its not that i don't trust the other dr.'s but rather i don't trust the information they have been given.

[craftyashley]

I know this is a "hot-button" mom issue, but here's how I decided. I listened to my doctor, I looked at these internet campaigns against vaccinations, and you can literally find such contrary opinions that it kind of cancels it all out. I vaccinate my kids. And frankly, I feel really annoyed when the anti-vaccine people judge me (openly much of the time!) I hate to be rude- but it is because I vaccinate my kids that gives you the "option" to vaccinate your children. Things like polio are real. My great grandfather got polio when he was young, and I have seen pictures (I've been doing a bit of family research since that "Who Do You Think You Are" show started) of how crippled and sickly he looked. He was a burden on his family who had to care for him most of his life. Seeing that validated my choice to vaccinate.

[AlexandraKate]

Let me start this off by saying I am Anti-Vaccine. I just had my first child in Oct. 2009 and she had one vaccine right after she was born because they just did it without even consulting/asking me, but none since then. The reason for this is I just really feel that if real people are saying they noticed changes in their children right after vaccinations, then that's what I should listen to, not our secretive and manipulating government. Everyone here should look the word "squalene" and see what they find. Bascially, if you read the ingredients for vaccines and you see "preservatives," squalene is one of those "preservatives" but that's not actually what it is, the government just needs a place to hide the ingredient from you so that's what they call it. Squalene is just one of many things that has been put in vaccines in the last few years that basically deteorates your body over time. Squalene and things like it are being put in baby food/products more and more. I know it sounds like a conspiracy and I was skeptical too, but if you're not a drone and you actually believe that your government could be corrupt (which it absolutely could/is in my opinion), take it into consideration. It sounds outlandish but the government (actually people higher up than them that we don't really know about) are desperately trying to decrease the population and I've read several articles about people in power who are obviously in on things we know nothing of, don't vaccinate their children. Hmm... wonder why.. Anyways, anyone curious should visit www.conspiracytheoryjesseventura.com and watch his videos, a few of them discuss these things in depth and are very compelling for a person who's not afraid to question their government.

[MayasMama88]

This is a very controversial subject, indeed! I would never say that vaccination is right or wrong, merely it is a choice which every parent must be comfortable with, and which potentially carries risks no matter which path you choose. We stopped vaccinating our daughter when she was 4 months old, and feel wonderful about that choice (and she has never been sick!).
Probably the best source of information, which gives you the pros and cons on BOTH SIDES of this issue in a way that is meant to empower, not frighten, is in the book "Vaccination: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide: How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions About the RISKS, BENEFITS, and ALTERNATIVES" by Aviva Jill Romm. I encourage every parent who is stuck on this issue to read this book!!

[ewoods]

Wow, I had no idea that vaccinations were such a big source of controversy. My ex-wife and I didn't even consider not vaccinating our son. It didn't even feel like an option. We didn't want our son to catch someone else's diseases, so we got him his shots, and still do.

As a former member of the military, I've been vaccinated for everything from smallpox to anthrax. I received all of my shots growing up, as did my ex-wife, and both of us are perfectly healthy and rarely get sick. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been sick with something other than a common cold. My son is two-and-a-half and he's the same way. Not including the occasional runny nose, he's only been really sick one time, for two days.

[amandapace]

My husband is in the United States Navy and next year we face a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) move that has a high liklihood of taking us oversees...

...therefore, we have decided to fully vaccinate.

I realize that there is much controversy regarding vaccinations, and honestly, if we were to stay in the United States I may be hesitant about certain vaccinations (Chicken Pox, for example)...but the diseases that are all but no-existent in the U.S. are alive and well in other countries or the countries that surround the place the Navy may station us.

For us, the risk of not vaccinating is scarier than the risk of vaccinating.

[jill456]

I registered just to say how disappointed I was in the April 2011 article regarding vaccinations because it had some false information. One...mercury is still in vaccines to this day, and not just the flu vaccines. You can even find this information on the CDC website...just google "vaccine ingredients". It will have a * next to it saying it's only in trace amounts...but trace amounts of mercury build up...and is there really any safe level.

And vaccines aren't safe. There is still so much research that needs to be done. There was a very interesting study done a few years back that showed how spacing out certain vaccines can reduce the child's chance of having asthma later...

Here is the study:
http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(07)02379-2/abstract

As for my children...my daughter was vaccinated until the age of 18 months. Since then, she has not received any more. She had a bad reaction and I do blame the vaccines for her issues (eczema, food allergies, asthma). My son is 100% vaccine free, and the healthiest kid in his daycare. No allergies, no illness, no ear infections. Never been to the doctor for anything other than well baby check ups and thrush in his mouth as an infant.

I don't regret not vaccinating. I was extremely stressed and nervous at first, but as time goes on, I am confident in my decisions.

[jill456]

Hi amandapace,

I understand your concerns. My husband is also in the Navy and we were faced with that issue several years ago. My daughter did have issues after her vaccinations and it took awhile for me to believe that it was the vaccines, but after doing research, it could only be the vaccines that caused this.

I told my husband to make sure he didn't get orders overseas. We even talked about what would happen if for some reason, he had no choice. Its a hard choice to make, but not one that I regret whatsoever.

My daughter attends public schools and my son is in daycare. Never had a problem with the paperwork. I am using the religious exemption. A one page piece of paper to be signed, notarized...so simple. I look back and laugh at how stressed I was about it.

[jaycoen]

Consult your pediatrician. Someone with years of education, residency, experience, and possibly their own kids will tell you that vaccinations are beneficial. In the end, however much research you do does not make you a doctor. As such, why would you tell him how to do his job properly?

Also, if you do fear complications, make sure your pediatrician knows your child's health background so they can make conscious decisions about vaccinations (allergies, possible reactions, etc).
For those parents that feel like vaccines definitely produced an immediate, subtle effect on their children, most of the time these are merely natural things that would have occurred regardless of shots. Things such as dry skin and other subtle changes are genetic and arise as they grow older, or are exposed to different hormones in their foods.

[Philgen]

We found a friendly homeopathic physician who isn't pushing us to vaccinate our son. I did consider giving him preservative free versions of certain vaccines, HOWEVER I was informed by my child's pediatrician that so called preservative free vaccines aren't 100% preservative free. She said that the manufactures of these preservative free vaccines created them in the same containers that are used for creating preservative filled vaccines therefor there will still be trace amounts of mercury/thimerosol & other preservatives in the preservative free vaccines. If you want more info on vaccine safety I'd go here: http://www.naturalnews.com/vaccines.html also, I would strongly suggest watching this film: http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/home



What a perfect topic right now!! I've been wondering about this for awhile...

With my first son (and second), we didn't agree with giving his first shot when he was just born. That was out of the question. He was just born and they wanted to poke him all over!

We went along with vaccines just knowing that everyone we knew had their children vaccinated so it must have been the right thing to do. Then later, we began hearing "not good" things about them. Then I did my own research and learned things that I do not like. Traces of mercury, side-effects (some life changing), and slow causes of some deceases and cancers. No thanks, I do not like those risks.
Right now, I am against all vaccines for my children. On my second child, after his first set of shots, he has had horrible dry, flaky skin ever sense. He is very uncomfortable and I really feel it was those vaccines. I cried after he had them.
If I am not comfortable with the idea and it makes me sad...then why go along with it?

I still need to learn more about choosing not to vaccinate though. I hear it may be a rocky road with doctors. Is this true? This is something I'm stressing about and I need more information on this issue. Thanks!

[HappyTim]

As a PhD Scientist and brother of a Medical Doctor, the choice to vaccinate is an easy one. I am fortunate to have the educational background that I can read and understand the scientific literature and weigh the pros and cons of various vaccines, and it's not even close: The risks of not vaccinating far outweigh the small risks of vaccinating.

It would literally kill me to lose our child to a preventable disease like Pertussis, or have my child get sick with measles and end up exposing an elderly person. There is no reliable causal link between vaccines and autism; current science suggests autism is a combination of genetics and possibly exposure to pollution. I'm far more concerned by the amount of heavy metals pumped into the water and air by coal burning power plants than the tiny, tiny amounts of chemically inactive mercury used in vaccines.

Are there risks to vaccinating? Of course. Are there risks to driving a car or eating a hamburger from a fast food joint? Of course. Some children have bad reactions to vaccines. All children have bad reactions to life-threatening viral infections.

[complexnetworks]

thanks for sharing