Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I would call your doctor and talk to them about your fears. Hearsay is why the Mothering forums are a hot mess of faith based medicine and superstition.

It's also filled with privilege because I daresay that if any of those people lived in a place where vaccinations were hard to come by and diseases like polio were common they would not play so fast and loose with the truth.

Yes, before we had Leela, I didn't think we were going to vax, because I knew so many mothers that I respect who don't vax because they saw it as an unacceptable risk with their kid's health, and I hadn't done the research myself, so I took their statements at face value.

Once we had her though, and I had to consider the risks of her getting sick or getting other people sick in the light of the lack of any scientific information against it, it was a no-brainer. And she has had no issues with them at all (knock wood).

This! I was on the fence (probably leaning more toward non-vax) before Felix was born, but the more I looked into the more I realized only one side was presenting me with actual facts. Both my kids have been vaxed on schedule. So far we've had maybe one feverish reaction betwixt the two of them.

I will say, though, that the first few nurses (military hospital...) that gave Felix his shots were pretty useless at addressing the few, basic concerns I did have (What kind of reactions should I expect? Why are you suggesting I preemptively medicate him?) and that did sabotage my confidence in vaxing a little. It makes me suspicious of medical professionals when I get so uniformly dismissed for asking questions, and that kind of treatment is probably why I was willing to consider the idea vaccines were not safe in the first place. Thankfully, we get to go to a really great civilian doctor now (and forever more!), and they have never been put off by my questions.

Agreed as well! We were pretty anti-vax while I was pregnant, after talking with so many non-vaxing mothers I knew. I think the second S was born I changed my mind. Looking back so much information I received was just plain ol' fear-mongering.

If you have any doubts about the pertussis vaccine, listen to this: http://www.soundsofpertussis.com/

Now there's a pertussis outbreak in Boulder; sad but not surprised.

I'm glad I've done it the way I have - delayed vaxing, no more than 2 at a time (man they want to bully me into like 4 at a time sometimes). she's still only had 1 hep b vax and she hasn't had varicella but aside from that i think she's totally up to date.

Do doctors normally do the hep b vaccine before they do varicella? That kind of surprises me. (that's no comment on delayed-vaxing--I really am just surprised that hep b would be first in the rounds).

They give Hep B when your baby is first born. The idea is that it isn't harmful to the baby and is intended to be more of a public health measure for later in your kid's life, not something they necessarily need in the first few years.

We opted out of it, and I think it is pretty routine to do so. She was just so tiny and we prefer to wait until a bit later.

I don't know about this for sure, but is there a possibility that the Hep B vaccine protects against passing it through breastfeeding and that's why they do it at birth?

I agree that if the mother has Hep B, it makes sense to get, but I don't, so it didn't make sense for us to get at birth. She is definitely getting them as part of the regular schedule (1-2 months).
http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-hepatit ... ne_1561.bc

We declined the Hep B vax at birth, too (although otherwise we are vaccinating "on schedule") as well as the eye goop, but the routine administration of that stuff is more of a public health campaign casting a wide net over people who might be infected but don't know it (like the b.s. law that all pregnant women in NJ have to get tested for HIV twice during pregnancy).

@app, we're mostly just spreading thimgs out too.

Huh. I edited the post above as I submitted it too soon, but it seems to have vanished.

Anyway, we settled on a staggered, spread out schedule in part because Mr refinnej had a bad reaction to a vaccine when he was younger and had to go to the hospital, so we wanted to be as careful as possible. We chose to do the diseases that present real dangers to her (tetanus, pneumonia, meningitis) first, along with polio which is relatively rare but carries serious consequences.

We've had a mixed bag with reactions from medical staff. Our GP, who knows me fairly well was fine and addressed our concerns. The vax nurse was infuriating in that she thought I should just do the shot (the 5 in in) right then and there, just because she said so. Nevermind that we'd spent the better part of a year reading on PubMed, talking to a doctor friend, etc. "Trust me, ignorant hippy peon" was the mentality. Sigh. We're not tin-foil, vaxes are some conspiracy kinda folks...just two parents who want the best for their only daughter.

could you share the specific concerns you had with multiple shots at once that caused you to go with an alternative schedule. From my understanding alternate schedules haven't benn show to have a benifit.

It just seems to be easier for the baby to deal with one or two at a time. Our ped's office recommends that you get two hsots at the appt and then come back a week later for the additional one(s), just because in her experience babies tolerate it better.

Yep. Our doc says that the only reason they do Hep B at birth is to get the baby on the vax schedule, and aid as a jumping off point to make sure the family comes in regularly for their vaccinations and well-baby check ups. (You get that official-looking booklet, so you feel more obligated.)

For me, the 1-or-2 only vax thing is just a personal preference. Yeah, I know his body could handle more, but if we can still fit all the vax in by just doing one or two at a time, I like that better. It's hard enough to get my child to sit down for one set of shots, I can't imagine going in for round two. And even though I know that vaccinations do a world of good, I do believe there is a lot of crepe in them that our bodies would rather do without, so I'd like to give him some time to recover between them. Even if it has no scientific basis behind it, it makes me feel better and calmer about the whole situation (as it does for my husband, who has severe OCD, which adds a whole other layer to this vaccination madness...)

tolerate it as in not flipping out? cause i would certainly flip out over 5 needles in one go, i was one of those kids that had to be held down

Grey got really sick after his four month shots. The next round we spaced out and he handled them much better. He still cried so much though, and that is heartbreaking even when you know it's for the best.

My experience was that my son had a harder time with vaccinations once he was old enough to know what they were. As a baby, it was pretty much one cry and done. Last time they offered his chicken pox vaccination, he said "let's do this." It was done in a second.

For SV. ..

cute! FishyChips was the screamer, while her sister just watched calmly with the resigned look. I do distinctly remember doing the "basket hold" one time to restrain her so we could just get it the frig done (she was maybe 2.5 or 3yo?)- after distractions, pleading, chasing, and the pedi saying "you know, i don't remember her being so difficult!" (pedi was a good friend). The next time I was sure it would be a total disaster and she looked at the nurse and just stuck out her arm and gave her the stinkeye.
i am pleased to report she grew up to be fine with needles- she had a stress-free blood draw in January (i passed out, but that's a different story....)

We're on a regular schedule (except declining the Hep B at birth), but I don't think we've had more than 3 shots at a time at an appointment and they were all done simultaneously - 2 nurses, 2 legs, 1 nurse does 2 shots at once. Most of the time it's been just one or two. Malka has had a little bit of a rash and taken an extra long nap after a few vaccinations, but otherwise she hasn't reacted at all.

My brother got a bad cut when he was about 12. A neighbor took him to the ER, saw them clean the wound and passed out. He hit his head and was put in the bed next to my brother. His wife laughed hysterically.

His wife was evil, then?