am i the only mom who is nervous about vaccinations?

wow deb danvers, great post, thank you!!!!!!!

I think it is really important to do as much research as possible into this subject. Some of the posts on here e.g. saying that the link between MMR and autism being completely unproven depends on which information you have been reading. Also, regarding the doctor in this case being discredited needs more reading. I have attached a link below of an interview with Dr Wakefield, the Dr directly involved in this issue from the UK, being interviewed by Dr Mercola about what happened when he was discredited regarding the Autism and MMR link. He is not anti MMR, just anti the vaccines being done in one go. Please watch the video, read the article about the 'experts' being indicted for fraud just this last week or so and search 'vaccines' on the Dr Mercola website. I am constantly researching these issues and all issues related to health due to my line of work. I am not passing an opinion, but some people on here I feel are stating their opinions as facts and we all just need to read everything that is out there to make an informed decision. I am contuing my reading and research to make the most informed choices I can when it comes to vaccines, medications, etc, etc as sometimes, just sometimes, maybe the advice from the governments/health service/ doctors isn't always correct.... http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/22/cdc-autism-researcher-indicted-for-fraud.aspx http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/10/wakefield-interview.aspx

wow!!i really appreciate all of your help, experience, and insight, also i am glad to see i am not the only one who is questioning vaccinating. funny, normally i will take any risks for myself, (especially of the adventurous kind)or a jab here a shot there... i actually, oddly enough, like having my blood drawn (i was in the hospital for a month+ once, i just got used to it)... but now that i have a baby my life has changed so much... thanks again : )

i would love to hear everyones views... especially those who are against vaccinating, i decided to wait till my daughter was 6 months, which she will be this weekend, and i just am so scared after all the research i have done, i hate the whole 50/50 chance of anything happening, i decided i would get them because my husband, mom and pediatrician all think its important, so 3-1 ... it has to be done. and i do understand i am in a country where people are coming in by the bus loads, and polio is still prevalent here too... (those are the reasons i have given up the anti vaccination fight, should i keep fighting?) edited by julzandrews on 19/05/2011 I know how you feel, after having 3 children I still get nervous! I had my 3rd child here and after he had his first vaccines at 3 months we decided not to give him the rest until we went back home for a holiday. After his vaccine here DS had a high fever for a couple of days which I wasn't too worried about, as I was researching to find out how long the fever should last I came accross so many articles online about the danger of the hepB vaccine! As this is a routine vaccine they give babie here we decided to wait and gave him the rest in the UK. Also my DDs were given their MMRs seperately, and DS who is now 2 hasn't had his yet as I don't think you can have it done seperately here!!!!

i would love to hear everyones views... especially those who are against vaccinating, i decided to wait till my daughter was 6 months, which she will be this weekend, and i just am so scared after all the research i have done, i hate the whole 50/50 chance of anything happening, i decided i would get them because my husband, mom and pediatrician all think its important, so 3-1 ... it has to be done. and i do understand i am in a country where people are coming in by the bus loads, and polio is still prevalent here too... (those are the reasons i have given up the anti vaccination fight, should i keep fighting?) edited by julzandrews on 19/05/2011 well i'm coming from the same side as you. Its not just the vaccine itseld that is the problem, its the sheer number for the number of diseases they give it for as compared to when we recieved ours. I was born in 1975 and we were given shots for DTp, Polio,BCG and measles...nowadays they have tripled the shots since 1990. I do no beleive there were vast epidemics of eveything and anything in the late "80's and since then the allergy and auto immune diseases amongst children have grown dramatically. If you are reluctant about anything, just delay and space out shots so you are not giving so many so close at the same time... I have read a lot of resaerch too and it is available by the heaps on both sides of the argument but nothing changes the fact that each individual parent must decide what is best for their child....i don't like to get into any flaming arguments on this forum as this issue can be very heated but you can mail me offlist at [email protected] and i can let you know what we did....

As an aside, if you have decided to vaccinate, you will get the occasional Dr or nurse telling you to give paracetamol (pamol,calpol,tylenol etc) after the vaccine to prevent a fever but it has actually recently been shown now that if it is given before a fever develops it lowers the effectiveness of the vaccine. It is fine to give it after a fever occurs though. My little man cried at the jabs and had high fevers after his 2 and 4 months vaccinations but the last time he got a shot (flu jab) he smiled at me the whole time and wasn't even mildly off-colour afterwards.

great site, i will repost: http://www.nvic.org/Vaccines-and-Diseases.aspx This is not an unbiased, science based website. Go to 'about us,' find the name of the founder: Barbara Loe Fisher, then Google her. The NVIC is an anti-vaccine organization, so the information they will provide is biased. If you want to read some neutral, scientific information look at government websites like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: [url=http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/index.html'>http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/index.html[/url'> or the National Health Service: [url=http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/vaccinations/Pages/safetyfacts.aspx'>http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/vaccinations/Pages/safetyfacts.aspx[/url'>

DS had an allergic reaction to a vaccination, I think when he was either four or six months old. He went for his nap as normal after the jabs and when he woke up, he was covered in huge red welts that got bigger literally by the second. We took him straight to the doctor where he was given antihistamine drops. He had his first dose and went for his next nap, and by the time he woke up the welts were totally gone. His one-year jabs are due next week and I won't hesitate to get them, even after he had a reaction. It was minor compared to what he could catch without the vaccinations.

Well first of all its not 50:50, there is a very very very small risk of an adverse reaction to a vaccine but certainly its not the case that 50% of kids have a reaction (beyond a fever for a few hours). The autism link has been so thoroughly disproved it is not worth talking about (google it, it turned out that the study was dodgy, all the other "authors" removed their names from it, the magazinee that published retracted the artccle and then the Dr who proposed the link lost medical license for his dodgy practices. http://www.slate.com/id/2255259/ That doesn't mean parents don't worry, you would hate to be that "one in a million" case where something went wrong but my husband and I sat down and decided it was about odds. Vaccines get put on a schedule when the odds of being harmed by not being vaccinated are higher than the odds of any risks involved with the vaccine. If for some reason, you are in a different situation from the rest of the population (say you live in a very rural area, you are going to homeschool your child, she won't go to university, or travel) then you might be right in thinking the risk of vaccinating was higher than the risk of not but for most of us, especially expats, this is simply not the case. The way I look at it is this, there have been cases in car accidents were people can't escape because they are trapped by their seatbelt, if they hadn't worn them they might have survived, but you wouldn't use those cases as a reason not to put a seatbelt on your child because you know that most of the time, seatbelts SAVE lives. A vaccine is a seatbelt for your child against the possible brain damage or death she is at risk from should she catch something as simple as chickenpox or measles. You are not being silly, you are a concerned parent like the rest of us, but unfortunately life is full of "risks" and we can only do what has statistically been shown to give our children the best chance.

The autism scare was so much more than just an unproven theory from a scaremonger. It's recently been proven to be a fraudulent, despicable act by a sharlatan who has done a huge, some would say injurous and sinful, disservice to the children of the world. You can safely disregard any links between MMR and autism now. It has been proven to be uncategorically false. I don't think that autism runs in the family either, and if it does it's there isn's a familial link in every case. You need to do some more research and stop looking at anecdotal evidence. I'm firmly in the camp of 'the chances of something happening to your child if you don't vaccinate are a whole lot stronger than if you do'.

great site, i will repost: http://www.nvic.org/Vaccines-and-Diseases.aspx

Haven't there been infants (who are too young to receive some vaccines) who catch preventable diseases and die because someone's child was not properly immunized? I hear that's on the rise, too. I didn't think there was any proven link between autism and vaccines and that the big study by Dr. Whoever was a farse. Correct me if I'm wrong b/c my son was just diagnosed on the autism spectrum 2 months ago! I have never been nervous about vaccinations and still am not even in my boat. i hear that the autism scare saw fraudulent too, i guess we will never know.. is autism something that has to be triggered, like with like schizophrenia,, which can be triggered by internal or external stress? if that is the case then vaccines can cause it, just as a traumatic birth or even being spooked. if not, then we dont have much to worry about, but there are known side effects of vaccines, like convolutions, heart palpitations and so on (i posted a link with all the side effects )... did you know in the US you cant even take the drug administration to court if something does go wrong with a vaccination? http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0222/Parents-can-t-sue-drug-firms-when-vaccines-cause-harm-Supreme-Court-says its stuff like that that has got me all dizzy with weather or not i am about to do the right thing.. i am happy you are a brave loving mommy! having a child with autism takes special care and love, good for you to be so supportive, i have a step brother who has brain damage, and schizophrenia.. he is soo great! Oh and i wouldn't want to cause other moms to freak out because i am bringing a no vaccinated baby around their children another reason why i gave in... <em>edited by julzandrews on 19/05/2011</em>

The use of the words "[b'>may[/b'> never ever happen" is what makes me a bit shakey may means there is still a chance... but hey i almost died 2x once on a bicycle and the other in a car accident... anything can happen anytime anywhere i guess this time i need to trust the drs. thank you again : ) yes i know the "maybe" is scary, but when you think about what you are protecting your baby from, and that the maybe vs a severe illness, i think vacc. wins. with the complexity of all the philosophy of drs. i guess we should pick up one and just trust him!!!

That would be appreciated amalzd.

Haven't there been infants (who are too young to receive some vaccines) who catch preventable diseases and die because someone's child was not properly immunized? I hear that's on the rise, too. I didn't think there was any proven link between autism and vaccines and that the big study by Dr. Whoever was a farse. Correct me if I'm wrong b/c my son was just diagnosed on the autism spectrum 2 months ago! I have never been nervous about vaccinations and still am not even in my boat. i read the research done about vaccination and it's relation to autism, and i was really scared. it wasn't strongly supported, but the idea that there could be a relation, made me do more researches. but gladly, couple of months later, they proved that these two subjects are irrelative, and that theory failed. that was long time ago, i wish i can find the link.. if i did I'll post it.

thank you amaizedi totally see your point, i was just thinking her immune system would/could fight off most problems if she even got them, and the hepititusB shot and tetnus shots, i was wondering why i should get those, i feel that hepA is the one i should worry about the most and she is to young for that... i know that this is a touchy subject, i am thinking i shouldn't even have posted it... like i said i just needed to ease my mind... The use of the words "[b'>may[/b'> never ever happen" is what makes me a bit shakey may means there is still a chance... but hey i almost died 2x once on a bicycle and the other in a car accident... anything can happen anytime anywhere i guess this time i need to trust the drs. thank you again : )

Haven't there been infants (who are too young to receive some vaccines) who catch preventable diseases and die because someone's child was not properly immunized? I hear that's on the rise, too. I didn't think there was any proven link between autism and vaccines and that the big study by Dr. Whoever was a farse. Correct me if I'm wrong b/c my son was just diagnosed on the autism spectrum 2 months ago! I have never been nervous about vaccinations and still am not even in my boat.

you are afraid of something that may never ever happen to your baby, but if you didn't give her proper vaccines she will be suffer too many illnesses, and you don't want to risk this sure thing!!! ... we are living here 200 different nationality, don't you think some people carry weird diseases that we should protect our babies from?! at least in this only available way. i have 2 babies, never missed a vacc. and they are totally fine --- thanks god---. i think since my babies are going to share other kids the same place at nursery and school, they should be protected.. and believe me wet wipes and detol can't do the job ;)

oh i mean 50 % chance of her being normal (and when i say normal i mean her so far normal personality, behavior, and development rate) after she gets poked. there are just so many side effects other than the autism scare, i have a friend whose daughter got the flue vaccine and right after that she has never been the same, she even lost her motor skills for a couple days. i am not too scared of autism because it doesnt run in the family... my husband says what you said and i honor that, he thinks i am just silly, and said we both were vaccinated and we are all right... but still the time is coming and i wanted to hear others points of views... just to ease my mind... http://www.nvic.org/ i read about the side effects here <em>edited by julzandrews on 19/05/2011</em>

I don't understand what you mean by a 50/50 chance of anything happening. Vaccines are safe and effective. Countries are starting to see outbreaks of diseases that were virtually eradicated because parents are choosing not to vaccinate. <em>edited by Bisha on 19/05/2011</em>

i would love to hear everyones views... especially those who are against vaccinating, i decided to wait till my daughter was 6 months, which she will be this weekend, and i just am so scared after all the research i have done, i hate the whole 50/50 chance of anything happening, i decided i would get them because my husband, mom and pediatrician all think its important, so 3-1 ... it has to be done. and i do understand i am in a country where people are coming in by the bus loads, and polio is still prevalent here too... (those are the reasons i have given up the anti vaccination fight, should i keep fighting?) <em>edited by julzandrews on 19/05/2011</em>