My son will be 12 months old in 2 months. He will get his MMR shot then. Just wondering if anyone chose to seperate the shots or not. I am a little worried about Autism. Just curious what other have done. Thanks for advice!
I am on a delayed immunization schedule with my now 4 year old. I chose not to give any immunizations until she was 3 and I spread them all out in three month intervals. Ironically she isn't required to have as many immunizations as she would have (to attend school and daycare)if she had started getting them as an infant.
I also got pertussis in December of 2007 and my daughter did not get it.
We chose to skip the MMR altogether and delay the other vaxes. My husband's a family doc so it was REALLY hard to convince him to change his mind at first. Once I made him read the research he had no problems delaying and omitting certain vaccines. Education is a powerful tool, every doc I know that has actually researched vaccines (which is sadly only two!) has decided to skip or delay them. Sadly the vast majority of docs do not do the research and know very little if anything about vaccines (other then the schedule they are provided with of when to give them). You NEVER have to vaccinate, it's always an option. In the state of Tx we are blessed to have philosophical, medical and religious exemptions so you have to fill out a state waiver to enroll them in Mother's Days Out/Preschool and school. It's a one time waiver. Hope that helps, just really research your decisions and it will all work out.
We have given both of our children all of their shots on time. Most Pediatricians do not have the separate vaccines on hand and will not order a box of 10 for one child because vaccines are VERY expensive. You would probably have to go to the health department.
I have spread out all my 19m old twins vaccines, and have not yet given them the MMR. When that time comes, we will be splitting up the MMR. You can ask your pediatrician to see if they offer it that way.
Our family decided to give my son all of his immunizations on schedule except for his MMR. We delayed his MMR until he was 2 1/2 years old (I was registering him for preschool and he had to have the shot to be registered). We delayed it because of autism concerns. Our pedi agreed to delay it because he is a stay-at-home baby so his exposure risk to disease is greatly reduced.
Ironically, seven days after receiving his MMR he had an "atypical febrile seizure". I did some research and found that this is a possible side effect from the MMR. He just had a second seizure yesterday. I don't know if the MMR was his trigger or not but it does make me skeptical.
This might be more that you were looking for. By the way, if you chose to delay his MMR, make sure you double check with the nurse before she gives your son any shots. Even though my pedi and I had agreed to delay, the nurse still walked in with the MMR in hand ready to give to him. If I hadn't double checked exactly what she was injected, he would have received the shot anyway.
Good luck!
