Vaccines, you either love them, or hate them.

I personally hate them. But let me just start off this post by saying that whether or not to vaccinate your child is a very personal choice, and whether you do or do not does not make you a bad parent. After loads of research, I have decided we are done. All this after my 7 year old is fully vaxed, my 4 year old is partially vaxed (about half) and my 2 year old...well, she has had 3.

As a new parent I was so afraid of everything. Especially having a child that was supposed to have profound disabilities. I was barely 24 when Jonathan was born, and all I wanted to do was protect him. He was vaccinated against EVERYTHING...if they had a shot, he was getting it. Although there were a few that the doctors wouldn't give him, because of the potential seizure side effect. It took me about 6 months to actually look into that, and then my research began. Fast forward to the birth of Jacob. The kid screamed if you touched him from the get go. So I started to be a bit cautious because I really didn't want to piss him off by giving him shots all the time. He screamed enough already, why add to his misery. And after all his food allergy issues came to light and I started to research all of that, info started popping up on vaccines also. ACK! Too much information for me to process! And then fast forward to Victoria. I she didn't get poked once in the hospital...well, she did get a heel stick to check her bili level for jaundice at the same time they did her PKU testing. She didn't receive the standard vitamin K shot, no eye goop, nothing. I didn't have gonorrhea so why in the hell would I need to put antibiotics in her eyes? And then, no vaccines. By standards they were supposed to get 4 shots at their 2 month well baby visit...barf. That is A LOT! We didn't start Victoria getting anything until after her first birthday. And then I read this article in my Mothering magazine called The Vaccine Debate. Awesome article! Very informative! I highly suggest it! PLEASE READ IT! So anyway, after doing more research and talking with my pediatrician (who by the way is pro-vaccine for the most part but doesn't get the flu vax himself, nor the H1N1, and thinks the chicken pox vaccine is for convenience only) and discovered that I will not be getting fired for choosing not to vaccinate my children anymore, that we have now stopped. For the time being. Victoria got a Hib_vaccine in January and ended up with a swollen leg and she refused to walk for 2 days. That was enough for me.

On to the chicken pox...we are on day 17 of a second exposure. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Ziltch. Talk about piss me off. I feel guilty about knowingly exposing them to this dreaded but virtually harmless virus. Yes I do. But I would much rather them get it now, like I did as a young child. The alternative is getting the vax, that who knows how effective it is, and hoping that they get the boosters as they get older. I have this gut feeling that in the future we are going to have a whole generation of adults that get incredibly sick from the chicken pox because they got vaccinated as children, but forgot about the boosters as adults. Just like the issue with pertussis. Yes, we all got vaccinated as children, but how many of us have gotten the boosters? I know I haven't!

Vaccinating is a hard question. You feel guilty if you do, yet freak out if you don't. And the pressure...oh the pressure. Here, let us tell you the horrible nasty things that can happen to your child if you don't get this vaccine. Ah yes, and in small print they will share with you what can happen if they DO get the vaccine. Listen to your heart. If you want to, then by all means, go ahead. But if you don't, please don't do it. You can always do it later. But after you inject whatever vaccine it is, you can't take it back out. My only request if you do vaccinate is this: go easy on them. It is suggested to get multiple shots at one visit...go for one shot. You don't have to pay a co-pay for a nurse visit! And if they do have a reaction, you will know which one they have reacted to. If you choose to get multiple shots, you will never know what caused the problem.

Autism vs. Vaccines

So, what is your take?

I was just reading my Mothering magazine (www.mothering.com ) and they have a great article in there about the actual cost of a child having autism. And they always have little blurbs about vaccines containing mercury and the autism link. It is a great magazine...you should really check it out...but anyway...

We selectively vaccinate. We don't do it because of the autism fear, we do it because we think it is asking way too much of a 2 month old baby's body to handle the invasion of 5+ innoculations at one time. And I personally believe there is a link with autism and vaccines, along with a genetic predisposition. Put the two together, bad things happen. We started out with Jonathan wanting him to be fully vaccinated. Here I was, a young mom with a newborn that had all sorts of issues, the last thing I wanted was for him to get sick. And the things they tell you if you choose not to vaccinate...JEEZ! They make it seem like you are abusing your child for not sticking them with hundreds of needles! We were told we couldn't do certain vaccines due to a seizure risk...hhhhhmmmm. Talk about frightening! I just got my newborn to stop seizing, you tell me all the risks and harm that can happen to him if I don't vaccinate, and then you tell me "oh wait, we can't give him that one because it has the possible side effect of seizures" Thanks but no thanks. I started doing a bit more research and vaccinating him slowly.

Fast forward to Jacob...my second baby in the NICU. This trip wasn't nearly as bad as our trip with Jonathan, but I knew that I didn't want him poked and poked and poked some more. But once again, I felt a little bullied. And then with Jacobs GI issues and food allergies, and the fact that he had issues with constantly crying (why am I the only one that ever remembers this???) I was done with multiple shots on one visit. One at a time, that was it. I couldn't stand how hysterical he was after leaving the doctors...and he would draw it out, for weeks.

Fast forward some more...we have Victoria...she thankfully didn't go to the NICU. Healthy. We get to take her home. They want to stick her before we leave the hospital...WHAT??? She is 24 hours old and you want to do what? Oh, and the list for vaccines has increased. They now *need* the roto virus. So needless to say, if you or whomever is taking care of your child has fecal material on your or their hands and you don't wash them before sticking them in your infants mouth, they may get sick. But they have a vaccine to take care of that for you, so thankfully we can now skip hand washing after using the toilet. V is almost 9 months old, and she has had 2 vaccines. Actually, 2 shots in a series of 3. I am supposed to bring her in every few weeks to get all of hers done, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

My pediatrician secretly hates vaccines. He would kill me if I outed him, so I won't (your welcome Dr. D!) but he dislikes the flu vaccine (he doesn't get it for himself and doesn't recommend it) and thinks the chicken pox vaccine and the rotovirus vaccines are for convenience only. Just so your kid doesn't get sick and you have to take a week off work. Nice.

So what is your take on this whole thing? I would be interested to hear what parents that have children with autism think of the vaccines. Do you vaccinate? If you do, do you get them all at one time like the AAP suggests?