Immunizations for Newborns

K.,
The thing is that your baby doesn't have a "brand new immune system". He doesn't have an immune system in place yet. All of his immunity is passive, meaning it is whatever was passed on by you. That is getting ready to run out and then he will be on his own to contract the diseases and build up a natural immunity to them. That would be far worse then giving him some immunity via a needle. These immunizations are safe. There is nothing in them that causes any developmental problems or other diseases. Think of this as you are taking your child out in public. . . without immunizations he is not only able to contract other diseases, but he will then be a part of passing them on to others that are choosing not to be immunized. So diseases that were once on the verge of total annihalation are now coming back because parents are choosing not to immunize their children and things like polio, measles, mumps, rubella, diptheria, pertussis, tetanus will be on the rise again. Look into the illnesses that you could protect your child against and think about if you would like to have your child be maimed or die from that disease and possibly pass it on to someone else.

I am not trying to be mean to you, but this is something I feel very strongly about.

Kim

I held my daughter off on her immunizations, some of which are just not necessary for a newborn. I had the support of our pediatrician which is very nice. My daughter is now two and we are starting on the immunizations which are most pertinent to her situation. One of our deciding factors was that she is not in a day care situation. Good luck.

I have given my daughter all of her immunizations and she has not had any major illnesses. She is in a day care so I want her to have all the protection she can. One thing I know is my cousin had custody issues and her 2 year old had not had immunizations. The court did not view it well and actually ordered the child to have them. She did lose her child as well. I don't think it is necessarily right or know if there were other factors that went into it.

I did alot of research when I had my daughter and could've probably gone either way. We ended up getting all of her shots because I looked at it as protecting her from preventable illnesses rather than something that would make her sick. She did not have any adverse reactions and hasn't had any major illnesses in six years. One factor you may want to consider in your decision is whether your child will be around other children on a regular basis (daycare, playgroups, etc.) Best of Luck!