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.