Need Info on Vaccines/immunizations

First and foremost, discuss your concerns with your child's pediatrician. We have two children and I did not alter my first son's immunization schedule,and, frankly, 2-3 years ago children received less shots per visit than they do now. With my second son, I have augmented his immunization schedule and my pediatrician has been supportive.....as long as our youngest son is receiving his shots, she's not picky about how they are administered. The worst is Prevnar. For some reason whenever my son receives this one he really screams.

After our 4 month visit I made the decision for him to receive no more than 2-3 vaccines per visit.

Good luck to you.....you will likely receive lots of input on this topic!

PS-regarding the Rotavirus vaccine...it is oral and if you or anyone you know has ever had the virus, it is extremely unpleasant to say the least. Our eldest son had it in 2004 and our entire house got it...vomiting and diarrhea for days!

I haven't had experience with the Pediarix, but we have spaced out vaccines for our 9 month old. Our pediatrician said that the main reason for so many vaccinations at once is convenience, so we worked with her to decide which ones should come first and what can wait a bit. We have had each well baby visit split into at least two visits so far and spaced them a few weeks apart. SHe gets 2 shots (which could be 2-4 vaccines in our case) at each visit. We also declined the rota and Hep B shots. I have found that asking our ped for advice on how to space them our worked well, but I have jeard that many moms have had bad experiences with their medical team not being responsive to this. Good luck!

There are alot of books out about vaccinations. The one that I have found to have the most information is Dr. Sears "The Vaccine Book." I read ALOT about them and found that his was the most evenly presented- it is neither pro or con vaccination. However, he does offer an alternative vaccination schedule. We have chosen to have our son get one vaccine a month and we started at 4 months old. I wanted them spread out.

Hello,
You are right to be concerned. Giving your 8-week old baby 8 vaccines in one visit is excessive, at best. I'm not against vaccines, but I believe that babies get too many of them at too young an age. Even though your pediatrician probably won't like it, you can push back and insist on waiting. There's an alternative vaccination schedule from Dr. Donald Miller (you can Google him). Here's basically what it says:

1. No vaccinations until a child is two years old.
2. No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury).
3. No live virus vaccines (except for smallpox, should it recur).
4. These vaccines should be given one at a time, every six months, beginning at age 2:
* A) Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell)
* B) Diphtheria
* C) Tetanus
* D) Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells)

American children are the most highly vaccinated kids in the world. This schedule is an alternative to the one that rules our "vaccine nation" (as the Village Voice terms it). In contrast to the CDC's immunization schedule, it is user-friendly.

My 6-year old son has consistently had problems processing vaccines. If you can avoid the hassle of medical problems, you should. Pumping small babies full of various toxins just doesn't make a lot of sense. But, please continue to do your own research and make up your own mind. You are your child's mother, guardian, and protector - and you can decide what is best for him. No one else (not even a doctor) can do that.
Good luck!

If you're working you will need to follow the schedule, or close to it, for your baby to enter daycare. If you are not working and you are not at high risk for contracting these diseases, you can spread them out.

If you look at the catch-up vaccination schedule you will notice that fewer shots are required if they get them later. I don't remember which ones since my baby is 6 1/2 years old, but I think he got at least 3 fewer shots. Every little bit helps.

I wish I had done this with with my first son. Poor little practice baby ;)

Another piece of advice, make the vaccinations the dad's job. I cry my eyes out and the kids pick up on that and get more upset as well.

Good luck!

A.

My husband and I just went through this. We used a combination of the internet, family advice (we have a lot of nurses in the family) and of course our doctors advice. We asked our pediatrician to meet with us before any vaccinations. She was great. We did not do the oral Vaccine and Hep-B. Also with the D-Tap (multiple vaccine), we postponed the "P" Pertussis part of it. This vaccine will be given at a seperate visit. We discussed all our concerns with the doctor first. Some vaccines she was fine with omitting and others she explained why we should definately have them done. There is so much info on the internet, it can be overwhelming. Don't go too crazy. I hope this is helpful.

Hi, J..

We researched all the vaccine stuff in 1995 for my first child and decided to postpone them all until he HAD to get them. I'd read enough about autism and other problems arising from vax, and I wasn't about to take that chance. (Mothering.com has a great set of articles about it.)

He got his vax at age 3, when I had to put him in pre-school. I wasn't comfortable claiming a religious exemption, though easily could have in Pennsylvania, where we were at the time. I did opt to do only one vax at a time, and we always do the DT, I think (I'd have to check his records) and not the Pertussis part. We've never had trouble getting him into school or extracurricular activities that require submission of vax.

With my 2-yo DD, we've postponed everything, too. We re-researched, just in case there was new info out there. She's perfectly healthy right now, and we probably will get her shot when/if she goes to school. We'll do the same sort of thing: one shot at a time, no Pertussis or whichever one we skipped with DS.

This is definitely something to be researched and given your full attention. Of course the doctors are going to tell you that you MUST vax your kid, but they're into that way of thinking. It IS a choice you can make.

Good luck.

I'd say spread them out as far apart as possible and research each one- my son had real difficulties after receiveing vaccines at a young age and they really suppressed his immune system leading to several years of getting sick all the time. I stretched out my 3rd sons shots and saw no negative reaction-I have several friends who children are now autistic and it is being linked to high mercury levels in immunizations-thermisol is bad, don't think it is in many now but be sure-it is in many flu shots-also some oral ones have less negative effects linked to them-take your time and really research this. The article I just read said 1 in 150 kids get mercury poisoning from vaccines. Don't want to panic you but defitiely don't just go along with what the dr office tells you till you understand. You may want to try www.mercola.com and type in vaccines or the article I just read was from www.mercury-freedrugs.org Good luck, A.

I know how you feel me being a mother of two. I think its best for you to have your baby have them all at ones then to brake them up. I think you should just get them over with he's going to have many more to come as he gets older and besides its best not to look when he gets them and his little cry will in fact make you mad because first thing thats going to hit you mind is there hurting him but there helping him with all the things that are going around you need to protect this little baby so with that being said get them all at once so you'll know at that time if any fevers follow with him having any of his shoot other then him having fevers with them being broken up each time......I hope this helped alittle good luck

My now 2 yr old always had a fever the day or two after just about every vaccine. I never really thought about all the shots at the time, but I am more aware of the issues now.

Several of the mom's from my stay-at-home mom's group (http://sahm.meetup.com/1420/ ) highly recommended Whole Child Pediatrics at ###-###-#### in Ashburn Farm, sort of across the street from the Giant and the car wash, because they are very willing to break up the vaccines.

I just recently switched to them just in time for my son's 2 year checkup last month. I really like that they have two waiting rooms: one for sick kids and one for the well ones. We also had to page the doctor on call the weekend before last and she returned the call very quickly. The issue required us to go to INOVA Loudoun ER and she called ahead so we could be seen faster. I've been very pleased with Whole Child Pediatrics.

I'm not sure how much this info helps you regarding your posted question though, but hopefully it will help a little in general.

Good luck!

I definitely recommend you discuss your concerns with your pediatrician. They should be willing to have a reasoned discussion on the topic - if they don't you might want to consider switching practices now, rather than at a really crucial point later. Regardless of the issue, you want a pediatrician who listens to the parents and considers them a partner in the health care of the child.

You can easily get a copy of the schedule of immunizations from the doctor - in advance - and do your research. When I did mine, I found that the worries linking autism to vaccines, if they were ever true, are unfounded nowadays. The mercury-derived ingredient (thimerasol, a preservative) is no longer used in any children's immunization shots. It IS still used in flu shots however, so that may change your mind about having your child get the flu shot each fall.
Parents.com has quite a few articles discussing it:
http://www.parents.com//parents/search/results.jsp?search...
Also check out the topic on Babycenter.com and some of the other parent sites, as well as the medical (APA, WebMD, etc.) sites. You will get a more balanced view from the different sources, anyways.

On this topic, I can tell you that both my 4 yr old and my 6 month old have been/are going through the standard immunization schedule. I haven't felt the need to change it and my girls haven't had much of any reactions to them. I highly recommend the rota oral vaccine when it's offered, since the virus can be dangerous for infants (and terribly inconvenient and uncomfortable for everyone else.)

Good luck in whatever you choose to do!