Home Vaccination Schedule?

[cellososweet]

Hi Everyone! Hopefully someone out there can give me some help on this topic. I''m 32 weeks pregnant and am trying to pick a pediatrician for my soon-to-be-here little one. One of the pediatricians that came to our childbirth class was really nice and I was going to go with him until he started preaching about vaccinations.

Now, I''m not terribly educated either way, but a woman in the class tried to ask him a question about ingredients in one of the vaccines and he became very irritable with her and started with the whole "God complex." I was immediately turned off by his attitude (not about vaccinations, but about how he seemed to not even want to listen to this Mom''s concern and spent more than 3 minutes talking over her in front of a group of people. eek!).

It really got me thinking when I got home though. I''m horribly allergic to everything and get half the side effects of medications like clockwork. I worry about some of the ingredients in the vaccines and some of the potential side effects (those that have been proven, not those that are just ideas), especially in giving them to such a small child. I''ve heard about delayed vaccination and was wondering if someone could give me more info.

Since it''s such a hot topic, I get a load of pro and anti vacc propoganda on the net and am just looking for sound reasons to delay or not delay.

For what it''s worth, I plan on exclusively breastfeeding (*cross your fingers*) and will be a stay at home Mum. DH works from home and we aren''t around many people very often. We do plan on doing play dates and such, but baby will not go to any form of daycare until at least 3 years of age, which then we''ll think about part-time preschool.


Please let me know if you have any resources so DH and I can make a decision about this. Links to reputable sites would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TravelingGal]

cello, I won''t give you too much of my opinon on vacs, delayed or otherwise, but I will say you are wise to find a ped you are comfortable with. Good peds will take the time and effort to address your concerns, even if they believe in something different from you. I love ours. He is pro vac, but is very polite and educating about it.

Another reason you want to find a ped who doesn''t "pooh pooh" things is that many times mother''s intuition is right, but we second guess ourselves. IMHO a good ped gives referrals to get second opinions and doesn''t just say "s/he''ll grow out of it." A friend of mine has a different ped and her son is cross-eyed. The ped said the kid would grow out of it so she left it at that. She went when he was 4 or 5 months old and then at 9 months went again to a specialist. Sure enough, it was a problem that required glasses.

Good luck!

 

[neatfreak]

Certainly find a Pedi who makes you comfortable! Generally there is little to no problem with doing a different vaccine schedule. It just means more trips to the doctor and more insurance copays. I would find a Pedi who doesn''t jump down your throat about it and go from there. They will have some advice I am sure.

The most important thing is that you GET the vaccinations-it generally (I say generally just because there of course is a chance your baby will catch the disease in the meantime) does not matter if you space them out a bit.

And your Pedi should be VERY willing and happy to discuss ingredients and also your history of allergic reactions. Find one you love and don''t settle for someone you don''t jibe with.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

So in general, pediatricians are very frustrated by the modified immunization issue. But that is not an excuse to take it out on the patients. Generally, a pediatrician should talk to you about your concerns, listen to them, and try to re-educate. If a parent is still concerned, than most doctors will do a modified schedule. I know I will do it if it means getting a kid immunized.

There are some pediatricians who won''t take kids who are un-immunized or are significantly delayed. The AAP has recently put out a policy against that practice, but some doctors still do it because they don''t want the newborns and other venerable kids being exposed to diseases that could harm them.

The key is to find a doctor who is up to date on current practices (so your child gets good medical care) but that can communicate with you about your concerns. Do you have friends who have children? There are also some websites rating doctors (I found that out the hard way when a mother sent me a like to a review she wrote about me!). Good luck.

 

[cellososweet]

Thanks everyone. I think my question got a little lost in my rambling though. I was looking for information on delayed vaccination so I can read what the point is and whether or it''s something I should consider. Then if I decide to go for it, I can find a pedi that is on board. Thanks!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/16/2009 7:45:53 PM
Author: cellososweet
Thanks everyone. I think my question got a little lost in my rambling though. I was looking for information on delayed vaccination so I can read what the point is and whether or it's something I should consider. Then if I decide to go for it, I can find a pedi that is on board. Thanks!

Unfortunately there isn't much good solid information on it-it was started because Dr. Sears (who is a major wackjob IMO) put out a book in 2007 and proposed 2 delayed schedules that are not backed up by science (but he claims they are). As you have found, most info is from websites full of propaganda.

Your concerns will also be different than a parent who is concerned about all the unproven "links to horrible effects" of vaccines. Sounds like your concern is more about the potential for allergic reaction.

The AAP does not think it's generally a good idea to split vaccines and so it doesn't (nor do any other big health groups that I know of) endorse a delayed schedule. But I am sure a good pediatrician has dealt with families with concerns about allergies and they will have more information about how they usually handle it.

Really, your best bet is to find a pediatrician you can trust and talk to them about it.

Here is the AAP's website about vaccine info. The info is reliable and will give you some background research on the vaccines, what is in them, when they are given, etc.

http://www.cispimmunize.org/

 

[gailrmv]

My friend's daughter is one of the rare ones who had an allergic reaction to one of her vaccines. They worked with an allergist to work out a schedule of one vaccine at a time, smaller dose, over a longer period of time. The thinking there is that if there is a reaction again, they will know exactly what vaccine caused it, and also hopefully the lower dose will not trigger a reaction. They are midway through that schedule of vaccinations now and so far, so good.

In my opinion I would choose a pediatrician with whom you feel a good rapport and discuss your allergy concerns. If your baby seems to have allergic tendencies perhaps they can send you to a peds allergist like they did for my friend. I don't think it would be necessary to go to the allergist or change the vaccine schedule unless a problem occurs, though. JMHO

 

[vespergirl]

I used a staggered vaccination schedule for my son, and will probably do the same with the boy I''m pregnant with now. My mother told me that both I and my younger brother had intense negative reactions when we received several vaccines at once as children (spiked fevers, etc.).

When my son had his first round at 3 mos. or 6 mos. (I don''t remember what the standard age is for the first shots) he had 5 shots at the same time. He also spiked a fever and got rather ill, so I talked to my pediatrician about staggering the vaccines after that. My pediatrician said that was fine with him.

We did that with the remaining vaccines, never getting more than 2 shots at a time, and he did great - he never had a negative reaction again.

When he hit 15 months and was ready for the MMR vaccine, I was worried about doing that one because of all of the negative press surrounding the vaccine at the time. Since my son was at home with me full-time, he did not have to have that vaccination immediately to attend day care, so we decided to postpone it for just a few months. Since autism generally shows up between ages 18-24 months, we decided to wait until that window passed to get the MMR vaccine - in case he did show symptoms of autism, I wanted to make sure that they weren''t affiliated with the vaccine. So, we waited until he was 25 months old for the MMR vaccine, and it went fine, no side effects.

My son is now 36 months old, and doing great. We found that the staggered vaccination schedule worked for us - he was fully vaccinated by the time he started preschool at 34 months old, and after that first round of 5 shots at once, never had any side effects.

I''ve read that the reason that most doctors don''t recommend a staggered schedule is because they''re afraid that parents won''t bring their children back for the rest of the vaccines, because they''re too busy, or don''t want to pay for an extra doctor visit.

 

[MustangGal]

With your allergy situation a more spread out schedule would probably be better. My pedi is willing to do it if there''s a reason to (such as allergy). Just call the pedi offices you''re considering, and ask the receptionist if the doctor will do it. Then you won''t have to waste your time going to meet them first.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

It is hard to make any conclusions on a child based on family history alone. The best thing to do is see how your child reacts to things. My sister is penicillin allergic, and I have had several doses of penicillin and done fine. I am surprised how many parents don't want me giving their children penicillin because of an allergic sibling. But it doesn't work that way. That is basically guilt by association.

Basically I agree with TanDogMom, and would't worry unless a problem occurs.

Based on what I have seen and my background knowledge, I would not spread the immunizations out if I had children because that means more visits to the doctor (which is a great place to be exposed to an illness), more sticks for the baby (which means he associates doctor with bad at a younger age, and is more incorporative), and more times that he is going to have fevers and feel bad the day or 2 after the shots.

But as I said before, most pediatricians are willing to a modified schedule if that means getting a child immunized. Just realize there is no data saying that the effects of multiple immunizations together are more harmful than the shot given alone, and if a kid is going to be allergic (which is rare, food allergies are much more common), they will be allergic to one of the components of one of the immunizations weather it is given alone or with other things will not change that reaction.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/17/2009 6:04:12 PM
Author: LtlFirecracker
Just realize there is no data saying that the effects of multiple immunizations together are more harmful than the shot given alone, and if a kid is going to be allergic (which is rare, food allergies are much more common), they will be allergic to one of the components of one of the immunizations weather it is given alone or with other things will not change that reaction.

True-BUT if you give them alone you at once know which shot the child had a reaction to. If you give them all at once you wouldn''t know which one it was.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Date: 11/17/2009 6:31:05 PM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 11/17/2009 6:04:12 PM

Author: LtlFirecracker

Just realize there is no data saying that the effects of multiple immunizations together are more harmful than the shot given alone, and if a kid is going to be allergic (which is rare, food allergies are much more common), they will be allergic to one of the components of one of the immunizations weather it is given alone or with other things will not change that reaction.

True-BUT if you give them alone you at once know which shot the child had a reaction to. If you give them all at once you wouldn't know which one it was.

That is true, except lots of the immunizations are combined into one, and doctors do not stock the individual shots (physicians are already loosing money on immunizations). It guess it could narrow it down to 3 if it was one of the combined immunizations. More likely they are allergic to one of the components that the immunization was made it. It is a challenging situation when it happens.

 

[Blenheim]

Just an FYI - most pediatrician''s offices will not charge a copay for a vaccine-only visit.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/17/2009 10:55:10 PM
Author: Blenheim
Just an FYI - most pediatrician''s offices will not charge a copay for a vaccine-only visit.

You have a nice Pedi then! Mine charges.

But at least they only charge me one co-pay for both kiddos. Buy one get one free I guess!

 

[Blenheim]

Date: 11/17/2009 10:57:18 PM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 11/17/2009 10:55:10 PM
Author: Blenheim
Just an FYI - most pediatrician''s offices will not charge a copay for a vaccine-only visit.

You have a nice Pedi then! Mine charges.

But at least they only charge me one co-pay for both kiddos. Buy one get one free I guess!

Really? It may be dependent on the provider or on the insurance then, I''m not sure. We haven''t been charged for vaccine-only visits and neither have the few people I''ve talked to about it, but that obviously is not comprehensive. I guess this is one more thing to ask a potential pediatrician about!

 

[cellososweet]

Thanks everyone!

As for the guilt by association with allergies thing, I probably should have gone into specifics. I had a bad reaction to some vaccinations when I was a kid and didn''t tolerate the HepB at all when I was a young adult. My brother had a hard time as well. Both of my parents have had a hard time with flu shots and I got one once and will NEVER get another one again I had that bad of an experience.

There''s something about us that we don''t do well with vaccinations, so I''m a little leary and researching splitting them up a bit. I wouldn''t go as far as not vaccinating, I just want to see if we can do fewer at a time so if there is a problem we can try to figure out what it was. Unfortunately for us, we got so many at a time that we could never figure it out and we were miserable.

I found a pediatrician that''s willing to delay a few but I still need to do some research because there is so many biased articles for either position that I can''t figure out what''s bogus and what''s not.

 

[miraclesrule]

Cello: My DD just posted on FB today about modified vaccine schedules. She got a boatload of responses and many emails from other mothers as to their modifications. I will ask her if there is a source she is going to follow or to post them for me.

I think it is a completely relevant question and a valid concern. Given the increased quantity of vaccines administered to infants at the current time, I think it's prudent to modify to some extent and be sufficiently acquainted with the alternatives available to you and your child.

There are some Pedi's that will scoff at a Mom who questions the status quo. Personally, I wouldn't take any loved one to a doctor who only sees black and white. No, no, no....

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/17/2009 11:09:15 PM
Author: cellososweet
I found a pediatrician that's willing to delay a few but I still need to do some research because there is so many biased articles for either position that I can't figure out what's bogus and what's not.

Cello-really the only benefit for delaying would be that you could give them one at a time and figure out which one was causing the allergic reaction (if there is a problem). There are no scientifically proven benefits otherwise. Period.

When you are calling pediatricians asking if they will delay-are you explaining that you are worried about allergic reactions? Or just asking if they will delay? Because they are two different things.

Any pediatrician should be willing to space them out if there are concerns about allergic reactions. But on the other hand because there are no proven benefits to spacing nor any proven negatives to giving them all together most pediatricians will strongly encourage parents to follow the normal schedule.

 

[Pandora II]

I'm having Daisy vaccinated according to the normal schedule recommended over here, so:

8 weeks
Shot 1: DTaP/IPV/Hib - Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and Haemophilus influenzae type b
Shot 2: PCV - Pneumococcal infection

12 weeks
Shot 1: DTaP/IPV/Hib
Shot 2: MenC - Meningitis C

16 weeks
Shot 1: DTaP/IPV/Hib
Shot 2: PCV
Shot 3: MenC

12 months
Shot 1: Hib/MenC

13 months
Shot 1: MMR
Shot 2: PCV

3 years + 4 months
Shot 1: MMR
Shot 2: DTaP/IPV/Hib


She's also having the BCG against Tuberculosis next week as we live in a high-risk area. I believe you don't immunise in the USA against this.

We have had several measles epidemics in this area in the last couple of years and 10 children died from it and several others were left severely brain-damaged so I will be having Daisy immunised on the dot of 13 months.

It's pretty common to have a reaction to vaccines - D had a high fever and was generally unwell for a couple of days after her 12 week shots, but when she had the repeat at 16 weeks (which I expected to be worse as it was 3 shots not 2) she was absolutely fine. I asked my father about it and he said that she would have had the fever the first time as her body was working overtime producing the right antibodies - the second time her defences recognised the vaccines straightaway and so didn't need to do the hard work - basically a very healthy immune response!

Strangely I was reading Dr Sear's book last night and the section on immunisation and he must have changed his thinking as he was advocating immunisation on the APP schedule unless there were specific reasons to do otherwise (allergies/immunocompromised etc)

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 11/18/2009 7:29:23 AM
Author: Pandora II

Strangely I was reading Dr Sear's book last night and the section on immunisation and he must have changed his thinking as he was advocating immunisation on the APP schedule unless there were specific reasons to do otherwise (allergies/immunocompromised etc)

There are 2 Dr. Sears IIRC...although I haven't read the wacko Dr. Sears recently so he might have changed his tune-but the not wacko Dr. Sears does advocate the normal schedule as do most doctors unless there is a medical reason for it. So maybe you are reading the not wacko Dr. Sears.

I believe Bob Sears is the stealth anti-vaccine activist (he pretends to present a well-balanced "objective" view but he very much advocates an anti-vaccine agenda and is in bed with every single one of the major anti-vaccine groups out there) and Dr. Bill Sears is the sleep habits guy who does all the talk shows.

 

[princesss]

Date: 11/17/2009 11:06:30 PM
Author: Blenheim

Date: 11/17/2009 10:57:18 PM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 11/17/2009 10:55:10 PM
Author: Blenheim
Just an FYI - most pediatrician's offices will not charge a copay for a vaccine-only visit.

You have a nice Pedi then! Mine charges.

But at least they only charge me one co-pay for both kiddos. Buy one get one free I guess!

Really? It may be dependent on the provider or on the insurance then, I'm not sure. We haven't been charged for vaccine-only visits and neither have the few people I've talked to about it, but that obviously is not comprehensive. I guess this is one more thing to ask a potential pediatrician about!

My guess is that it depends on the insurance - my company does not charge for any preventative service, so all vaccines for me (and any future dependents) are 100% covered. Be sure to check your insurance policy, because it should be pretty clear on that. Mine says right on my card that preventative services are free.

 

[MustangGal]

My pedi didn''t charge for a vaccine only visit either (I did it for the flu shots a few weeks ago), and I''m on an HMO with $25 copay per visit plan.

Maybe just limit it to say 2 shots at a time or 1 combined shot? I probably wouldn''t go so far as to try to break up the combined shots. They also give the first HebB in the hospital now, so keep that in mind.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 11/18/2009 10:45:52 AM
Author: neatfreak

Date: 11/18/2009 7:29:23 AM
Author: Pandora II

Strangely I was reading Dr Sear''s book last night and the section on immunisation and he must have changed his thinking as he was advocating immunisation on the APP schedule unless there were specific reasons to do otherwise (allergies/immunocompromised etc)

There are 2 Dr. Sears IIRC...although I haven''t read the wacko Dr. Sears recently so he might have changed his tune-but the not wacko Dr. Sears does advocate the normal schedule as do most doctors unless there is a medical reason for it. So maybe you are reading the not wacko Dr. Sears.

I believe Bob Sears is the stealth anti-vaccine activist (he pretends to present a well-balanced ''objective'' view but he very much advocates an anti-vaccine agenda and is in bed with every single one of the major anti-vaccine groups out there) and Dr. Bill Sears is the sleep habits guy who does all the talk shows.

Ah ha - yes I''m reading Dr Bill Sears and have been very impressed (having expected a good dose of looney claptrap) - Dr Bob is his son.