Immunizations - Sacramento,CA

I would still immunize him, just space out the immunizations. The big one is the mmr. I waited til my son was almost 2 and then had him get it, and by itself. The theory is that we are giving so many immunizations at one time and at such a young age it is overwhelming their system. My 4 month old is only going to get 3 of the required6-8 immunizations on her next appointment. She will be fully immunized, but at a slower pace as to not overwhelm her. The rotavirus is a new one they introduced within the last 2 years, my son never got that one. Can you believe we are vaccinated them against a stomach ailment? Anyways get him fully immunized but space them out. I went under jenny mccatrthy's website, rescue something, and it gave me some wonderful suggestions. If you choose not to immunize right now and wait til he is older, there is a catch up schedule. Do the research and do what you want, not the dr.s!!!

Let me say that as the person before me mentioned the rates of autism have increased. I know this can be very scary. However, keep in mind also that the immunizations have increased in SAFETY. The mercury (which most of the arguments for autism and immunizations being connected that I've seen were related to this) has been taken out of the immunizations. There is also a lot of research showing a correlation between autism and brain development in the womb. It is much safer to give your child the immunizations then to not. It is highly unlikely that the immunizations are related to autism.

FYI I am a Psychology major looking at getting a Phd in Child Clinical Psychology

I personally am pro immunizations. I have an 8yr old (who is just fine) and an 8 month old up to this point who is also just fine. Have you seen the news recently (yesterday to be exact) about the increase in measles due to parents opting out on the vaccinations? There is no solid proof that immunizations cause autism that is only a thought, they are still doing research on it... but it has been proven that the benefits of immunizations out weigh the risks. This is just my personal opinion and I have decided to get both my children all their immunizations when they are do... I have not spread them out. I went off the advise of my pediatrition whom I had a long conversation with on the pros and cons of immunizations. Good luck with your decission.

In general- do what you feel is best and make decisions after researching the issue. Autism has increased so much and there has to be a reason, right. I don't know that it's the immunizations but I don't know that it isn't either. After I did research. I ended up doing the immunization but in seperate doses. I think the amount of shots they expect a baby to do in one visit is way too much. For my son's appt they had 3 seperate shots and the MMR shot has 3 vacines in it, the other 2 shots had mixes too. I went back 3 seperate times for the shots and only did it when my son was healthy. I also made sure that there was NO MERCURY is the shots (I think it's a preservative used in medicine). My kids are fine so far, thank god.
Do you own research and then make the decision. Hope the advice helps. Good Luck

My two kids are immunized, one of them developed autism at 11 months (was developing normally/ahead of schedule for the first 11 months). I have no idea whether the vaccines contributed to it, but if I were to have another child I would not do the vaccines until at least age 3-4, and would breastfeed longer (I stopped breastfeeding at 12 months) in order to give them my immunity to the diseases that the vaccines are for. I'd also space the vaccines out, not do them all in one visit. The autism rate is up to 1:150, and for baby boys it's more like 1:85 so I would say you can not assume that it will not be your child, and better to err on the side of caution.
Good Luck,
A.

As you probably know by now, this topic carries a lot of emotion either way. I also felt the same as you and decided to spend countless hours researching pros and cons. What I decided was not to vaccinate my child. I figured there are risk either way and I had to decided which was best for our family. I figured there may not be a link to autisum but at this point, my son has the great chance of getting austism over anything else including the dieases we vaccinate for. So, until we know for sure I am choosing not to vaccinate my child. Plus, if you go to the CDC's website you can see all the ingredients in a vaccination. It is mind blowing to think it is okay to inject these chemicals into my child and there be no negative outcome. Some ingredients have been banned from personal products but allowed in higher amounts in a vaccination. It didn't make sense to me so until they clean the vaccines up we won't be using them.

I should also mention that we have two friend right now whos boys haven't been the same since their 2 year vaccinations. I also have another friend whos child never handled any of the vaccinations well. Severe reactions and they just kept giving him the vaccations. He is autistic. It is really so sad to me.

Hi Heather - this is always going to be a hot topic. Matter of fact, there was a post about it yesterday, to which I wrote the message below. You, as a mom, know your chid best, so go with your gut on this and don't be talked into anything you are not comfortable with. If the risk outweighs the benefit in your mind, then you have already made your decision.

love, G.

http://www.mamasource.com/request/13104291658634100737

"My vote is that if you are concerned, there is a reason for your hesitation, trust your instinct, don't do it. I stopped vaccinating both of my kids before the MMR shot (this is the one that is speculatated to trigger Autism, it is a combination of 3 vaccines in one). I feel strongly that there is a link between pharmeceuticals, in general, that we put in our body correlated to the growing percentages of disease. But the main reason I did not have my kids vaccinated is that my husband is adopted, and genetically speaking, I have no idea what my kids are predisposed to. God forbid either of my children develop Autism, I wouldn't know with 100% certainty that is wasn't because of a vaccination they had. Personally, I couldn't live with knowing that, so I took it out of the equation.

There was a really great episode of Oprah with Jenny McCarthy & Holly Robinson-Peete, that speaks to Autism and vaccinations, you may be able to find it on You Tube. Jenny Stated that she didn't know that it was the shot itself that caused her son to have Autism, rather something in his genetic makeup that when combined with the vaccination caused a change.

Many doctors are quick to push vaccines, it is a science they dedicate their lives to, but you are lucky to have one that doesn't guilt you into it. And to quote McCarthy again, "My son is my science," meaning that, as a mom, we know our kids explicitly, better than anyone. SO trust your instinct.

You can always opt to have the vaccine later, when he is older than 2, (many moms of kids with autism say that on the eve after the shot was given, their child spiked a fever and by the next morning, symptons occurred, including loss of vocabulary). Or, contact your insurance company, they may cover having each of the 3 components administered individually.

But I think you are on the right track by wanting to wait or omit altogether. Every body is different and can tolerate different types of things. Vaccinations are 'one size fits all,' and it really is a gamble.

Good luck with your decision,
G."

Hi Heather,
It looks like you have received a lot of advice so far. I just wanted to add my 2 cents...from my understanding the reason Immunizations work, to stop preventable diseases, are that the majority of people Immunize their children. When people choose not to get their children immunized then all children are put at a higher risk for diseases like Measles, Mumps and Whooping Cough. I do respect every parents right to choose what is right for their family however I urge all parents to speak to their healthcare providers about their specific situations before choosing not to Immunize. My daughters, 2 and 4, both have received all of their Immunizations and had no adverse effects. Blessings.

There is no evidence that vaccinations cause autism, and some evidence that they don't. If you are concerned I would suggest that you discuss spacing out the immunizations with your doctor. Mostly they do all the vaccinations at once for convenience. If you are willing to bring your baby in more often just for the vaccinations there is no reason they have to be done all at once. Make a schedule with the doctor's office and stick to it. There are some children that react more strongly to certain vaccines and it might be a good idea to allow them to recover from one before giving them another.

I want to congratulate you on asking quetions. The "experts" keep insisting there's no connection between autism and immuninization, but there are too many mothers who say there is! I have a two year old and he hasn't had any shots. I figure that once he goes to school and has to have them I will give them to him one at a time. Or maybe by then the "experts" will even be agreeing with us mothers!
S. R