Tucker goes to the doctor tomorrow for his 15 month well check. I know he will be getting more shots. What do you guys do about the whole shot thing? No more than 1? 2? 3? at a time? There is so much info out there that it is overwhelming to google it. I need answers from real moms that I trust. Help!
Baby Shots= Autism????
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i was super careful about all that. i don’t believe in no shots only because we live in a soceity full of people, not on a deserted island. vaccines are not good for the individual but for the whole it makes sense. but i did spread them out and only got 1 or 2 at one time and opted to not get some all together. the only one linked to autism is the MMR. i tried to get this seperated but couldn’t. they say it will be available seperate by 2010 sometime. it doesn’t CAUSE autism it triggers something in certain children. not all. and you don’t know if your has the trigger or not. i decided to not give it to bear at all, itleast not until it is offered seperate. the whole vaccine thing is sooooooooo controversial that i don’t even really like talking about it. you have to go with your gut, do your research and trust your instinct. if you want to know more about which ones i opted not to give bear, ask me. i am open to talking about it just not making it a huge debate, ya know?
I haven’t really thought about this until recently.
We had flu shots at work and I asked the nurse about that because she was a pediatric nurse. She said that there was a protein or preservative or something that seemed like it was linked to autism, but they can’t link it in tests, and it was also removed several years ago.
I really don’t know what to think about this topic, but one thought did occur to me….I don’t know anyone my age, or older that has autism. Only kids these days. So my thought (just conjecture) is that there is something recently that has brought this up because kids are still getting autism. I got all my shots as a kid, as did most of the people my age, because parents thought it was good thing. So does that mean that something else these days is causing Autism? Maybe it’s because it wasn’t really diagnosed until recently, or because they increased the amount of symptoms that qualify as autism. I’m really not sure.
I do, however, give my kids all the shots their doctor recommends. I haven’t limited the number of shots they get at once, and have given them flu shots since they were both babies. Still on the fence about the H1N1…stay tuned for how that one turns out!
I agree with Elizabeth though, it’s a personal decision that every parent should make on their own. Good luck!!
I am wondering the same thing!! We decided that we are going to space out little guys shots when it is time! Only give him half at a time and my OB is the one who recomended it. The MMR we decided to not do at all till he is older like maybe Pix’s age. I agree with the above ladies that some are okay but they ae giving the same dose to an infant that they would an adult so don’t overload him with more than a shot or two at a time. Go back in a few months for the other ones he may need. I know Autism is way more common in boys than girls so you should be a little concerned! My friend gave me a link to a site that answers a lot of questions about many vaccines out there…
http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/
It is a scary decission to make but you will make the right one for your little guy!
thank you so much girls. I got more out of reading your comments in the last 5 minutes then I have searching the internet for 5 hours! Thank you again so much. Thanks for the website Slireys.
There is no real reason to give shots on a delayed schedule. I challenege anyone who claims that vaccinations cause more harm than good to please furnish some of this “research” they always say they’ve looked into. I implore you to consider the source of your information. Website with mystery author = not a great place to research medical info. I have read the positions of the APA, The AMA, the CDC etc and I trust my kids’ dr to make those decisions. They are the professionals about this, not me! Since I have chosen them, I need to trust them. I can’t understand why ANYONE would expose their child to harm by not vaccinating. Spacing is unnecessary as well. Immunizations trigger an immune response in your child – something that already happens to your child on a daily basis. Each time they touch that door knob omeone else sneezed on their immune response kicks in; just as it would if given a shot. just because it doesn’t “seem” like a good idea giving all those shots at once doesn’t mean that’s true. All research shows vaccines have done more harm than good – this new backlash is pure ignorance.
I totally respect your position Annie but in the insert for the H1N1 vaccine section 8.4 is says that it has not been tested on kids…thats kind of scarey. Doctors are humans and can make mistakes. My mom was given a prescription when prego with my sis that caused my sis to have uterus problems and now can’t stay pregnant. My mom also just had a mild stroke because of another presecription. Drugs have many side effects and it is not always the best choice. Things get taken off the market because they are found to cause more harm than good , but they were still offered as safe for a long time. Each family hasto feel comfortable with their decision. Not just trust their doctor. That doesn’t always pay off.
I also read the insert for the regular flu shot and it hasn’t been tested on children either. I think that’s pretty typical, as they usually don’t do clinical trials for drugs for kids. All drugs have side-effects, and some things we just won’t know if they are safe for a while. It’s kind of a crap-shoot, but you have to take into consideration if the disease is worse than the medication.
One thing to keep in mind is that the flu shots are totally different from regular vaccines. The issue with autism showing up has always been due to scheduled vaccines. I for one am convinced that autism is caused from something environmental that wasn’t around 20 years ago. I do agree with Annie though that you have to consider the source. when my kids were both sick, the internet drove me crazy. There is so much out there that isn’t substantiated, but hard to tell. Brent and I made the decision to stop doing the “research” and trust our doctors as well…but also trust our gut and question to make them think as well. It’s worked many many times, as doctors do take parent’s questions into consideration. If they don’t, get another doctor. (In my humble opinion)
One other thing about numerous vaccines…as long as the vaccines are not “live”, there isn’t too much risk with taking them together….the problems stem from getting several live vaccines at a time and then them counteracting each other….this is SUPER rare since doctors don’t give infants any “live” vaccines these days, and have specific ones that they know are ok to put together.
I spoke with 3 doctors whom I trust implicitly about the H1N1 shot…one who is a good friend who hauled his entire family of 4 kids down to Kaiser to all get the H1N1 vaccine with no qualms at all. Another doctor who has been treating Gavin’s heart condition since he was 3 months old, also called me specifically to say that I should vaccinate my kids, AND my personal physician who doesn’t normally get the flu shot, BUT got the H1N1 because she “is more scared of the virus than the vaccine”. (that is an actual quote).
Bottom line, I vaccinated my boys. I wasn’t sure, and gave myself some time to think about it. The main reason is that my boys are notorious for catching things they shouldn’t. I’m not about to place bets that they won’t get the virus, especially since Gavin got a disease when he was 3 months old (even though his chances were 1 in 250,000), and Parker was born with a severely rare syndrome (even though the chances of that are closer to 1 in a Billion). Needless to say, if I had the opportunity to do something to prevent them getting a debilitation disease or virus and the boys got it and died (as a child did in my city last week, 12 hours after being diagnosed), I’d never be able to forgive myself.
Just my opinion…getting off my soapbox now.
Thanks Mnka…..really great stuff. I go back and forth on it daily. You added some much needed info. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
Great stuff! I like all the comments. I stumbled upon this website while doing some work for my autism classes for grad school. I got to say I think the media has driven mom’s to worry too much. While worrying is apart of every mom’s life some things can get out of control. In the case of shots and autism I would also be very careful where you obtain information. Leading research done at hospitals and university’s does not deem vaccinations as being a cause of autism. The research doesn’t even look promising. Lots of these research studies are available through academic journals that universities provide through their online libraries. I am sure most of you have heard of this. You can also subscribe to them for a fee on your own. Those are great sources. They are the leading and most up to date research on the subject of autism and vaccines. When it comes to the H1N1 vaccination and its effects on children, I am not up to date on enough to make a comment. I would be cautious with googling things and searching .com websites. Remember they are their for COMmercial reasons. Typically (not always) information from .org and .edu is more reliable and based on research. Sure enough if it is autism you are concerned about it is definitely on the rise but is it because we are getting better at diagnosing it or because their are truly more cases? Maybe both. There are many other theories about what causes autism that are gaining more attention and research than vaccines. Also while your pediatricians are probably fantastic many of them to not receive intensive courses on diagnosing autism. They will commonly use the phrase.. we’ll he will grow out of it. Oh so much to say about autism … not sure if I hit your exact topic but I feel like a lot of people are not fully understanding autism (thanks to the media) and its important to get the word out!
Wow! Thanks Lizobiz! That is really fantastic information. I really appreciate and respect it. I agree with you about not googling everything you want to know info about concerning the health of your kids….it creepy all the crazy stuff you read about when finding out what to do when your kid has, even a simple cold. You come out thinking they need to be hospitalized ASAP. It’s just so scary being a new mom and not knowing what to think. I wish I was a scientist or doctor and could do the research my own damn self. Anyway, thanks again!