First Time Mom Needs Informaion on Vaccinations

[Greenie]

I'm due Jan 7, having a baby boy, and having won the Circumcision debate, I'm now researching Vaccinations.

I have a good friend who said that he read some stuff about why not to vaccinate the child. Of course, mainstream folks think that not shooting your child full of chemicals, and feeding it animal carcass is bordering on child abuse. So, I need some info from the folks who will most likely have it!

I've never had a baby, nor have I ever cared for one, so Any info on anything would be helpful!

[Erin Pavlina]

The vaccine issue might take a while to explain here on a board, so I would recommend a few books that will give you the basic reasons why some parents decide not to vaccinate their kids.

Go here to see a list of recommended reading on this subject:
http://www.vegfamily.com/lists/vaccines.htm

Me and my husbnad spent 2 years researching and thinking about this subject. In the end we decided NOT to vaccinate our children. Injecting them full of harmful chemicals on the off chance that it might prevent a disease they may never be exposed to anyway seemed like an unnecessary and possibly harmful (and fatal) idea. Instead we learned how to boost their immune systems naturally, and we read books on how to treat those "awful" diseases IF they ever get one.

It can be a tough decision for people. I wish you luck in your research.

[PikkuMyy]

I would also check out the vaccination board on Mothering.com for detailed information and book/article suggestions to help you make an informed choice.

Some people don't vaccinate at all, some selectively vax (choose specific ones and reject others), some do them but on a much more infrequent schedule rather than the usual 10-shots-in-one thing they're really fond of in the US, etc.

Personally, I plan to be very specific about which vaccinations, if any, we give our children, and that we will wait as long as possible to give them so that their immune systems can actually handle them.

[xmysticprincessx]

you will find people on this board who are both pro-vax and anit-vax. some people dont vax at all, while others selectively vax for the diseases they feel their children are most likely to get or to have a bad case of, and others will delay vaxes, or do a combination of the last 2.
definately do your research. figure out who paid for the studies and which groups the doctors doing the studies belong to or if they have any potential biases. (think of all those studies that say that soy will cause men to have lower sperm counts or that little boys will have female characteristics because of the estrogen in soy. quite often its the dairy or meat industry who pays for these studies because they lose money.)
lots of mamas go disease by disease and study the vax and disease and then choose yay or nay based on that.
also remember that you can always change your mind. if you decide to vax but then decide that you really dont like the ingredients or you dont feel its worth the risk or whatever reason you come up with, remember that you can always stop. and if you decide to non-vax and you decide that you dont want to go through the hassles with school exemptions or that there's been outbreaks of whooping cough in your area, you can always go to your doctor and start vaxing. you can decide that you think the chicken pox vax is worthless since you had CP when you were a kid and you got to miss a week of school and CP really wasnt that bad, but that the thought of your child getting polio terrifies you because your great uncle had polio, then that is your choice.
i guess my point is that YOU are the parent. don't let anybody else make the decision for you: not your doctor, not the nurses at the hospital, not your mom/dad, not your friends, just YOU and your fiancee.
again, mothering.com has a great forum on vaxes.
oh, and if you decide not to vax, dont advertise it too much (esp if you have people close to you who are pro-vax).
good luck in your research and with whatever decision you choose!

ETA- i noticed you live in texas... if you choose not to vax, people may tell you that your son cant go to school. i know texas has a medical exemption and a religious exemption. i'm 99.9% sure that they also have a philosophical exemption. i think the website is 909shot.com that has all the exemption details for each state.

[bluefin]

you are right
vaccinations are very important for the child
do get them done on time
in our case in india i remeber there is one vaccination for polio and other one for small pox
do get the child vaccinated from a trusted doctor only
thanks

[xmysticprincessx]

i dont think any states in the US require the smallpox vax... i had thought that it was considered eradicated and that nobody vaxed for it.
but like i said before, do your research. this is YOUR decision to make and be sure that whatever you do, that you are 100% confident with what you have chosen.

[vegma]

Originally posted by xmysticprincessx
...be sure that whatever you do, that you are 100% confident with what you have chosen.

This is a tall order! :) I have read so much on both sides of the debate and I am thoroughly on the fence. We have selectively vaxed, and I worry about the ones we've given and I worry about the ones we haven't given! :confused: