The BIG Vaccination debate...

really it's a personal decision and so you need to do what you feel is right for your daughter...for me personally(and just my personal opinion I'm not judging anyone who doesn't ) it was very important to me to get him vaccinated. We got them all and got them on time because for me I wanted to do all I could to prevent him getting diseases in such a serious way and ones like Rubella are not caught by vaccinated children.

Even if they don't go to daycare they are around other kids and coffee groups and other sorts of places like that and for me I wanted him to have as much protection as I could offer him.

It's such a hard topic I guess because people tend to have strong views one way or the other and it's hard for that not to be taken the wrong way. But as I said before this is just my personal view for myself and my children.

the other things is there are lots of sites that are for and lots against and they are biased one way or the other and i found that hard..

I don't want to debate but while I do understand how some people are for natural immunity I have also seen how awful some of the diseases are without vaccination (whooping cough ,, measles etc) and with every person who doesn't the rates come down and the fighting against these awful diseases continues:( the prevenar for example I am sure if one of the reasons my child has never had any ear issues and for that I am very thankful.

anyway as I said I respect people who are either way ...your child your decision..:)

I have had a little bit of negative feedback, nothing too bad. Mostly just from family members. I just pointed out to them it is my choice, and I have actually researched the subject.

5 days after receiving his 3month prevenar shot my son came down with a temperature of 39.9 and had what appeared to be a seizure. Spent most of the day at the hospital to be told by the pead it was most likely a reaction to the vaccination--but on his file it went down as a mild cold. He didn't have any cold symptoms.   I questioned him on this and he said that since it was 5 days later they couldn't officially link it to the vaccine, but that the delayed reaction is quite common. I think this is why alot of the reactions are not reported as a reaction

Edited by _kellie_

I personally wish I had looked into it more! As someone that has a nursing background, I was always going to vaccinate. I did all the initial ones and had a major freak out prior to the 15 month ones and at that pointed started doubting myself and my decision.

I think initially it was easier to agree with the med professionals as I was too overwhelmed by everything to research it all. I stopped him getting the MenzB one after his first 2 as found out that it was (in my opinion) a pointless vaccine for my child.

I wish I had researched more prior to having a child and admire people who have taken the time and effort to do that. I also think as long as you are making an informed decision based on your research and you are comfortable with it, then its your choice to make!

I am now in two minds about vaccinating #2 as almost feel that perhaps if one is and one isn't, then it looks like I cared about one more than the other as bothered to research it etc...You can't win!!

Edited by Peanut

We have not vaccinated either and I know wish I hadn't vaccinated my pets either, cos they are just as bad.

Anyway I don't have the time or energy to go into everything as I have two sick kids, a husband who has man flu and the distinct feeling in my stomach that my 2yr old has given me his tummy bug.

We did loads of research, tons and tons and I agonised for some time over what to do, DH came to the conclusion not to do them a lot quicker than I did but I was still reading stuff in the days before having Spencer and only made a decision about Vit K the day before he was born.

We have had no real issues about not doing them, apart from one nurse giving me an earful at Kyle's 3 month check up, so that was easy I choose not to see the nurse again at his 5 month one and just saw the GP instead. Our GP supports out decision, plunket have never had a problem with it either and Spencer was in daycare for a little while and they didn't care either. I did have to sign something to say he wasn't vaccinated but that is just so they know who is and who isn't, it's not to exclude anyone.

HTH and good luck with your decision

I really appreciate everyone's honesty.

I agree with comments from people who vaccinate when they say they want to protect their children from getting these diseases. I'm just not convinced that any decent scientific literature supports this to be the best way to do it, but My Goodness it's a can of worms if you choose not to!!!!!
Jury's still out for now, she's not actually "due" for a few weeks anyway.

Thanks again.

Red wrote: You can get homeopathic vaccines as well which is another option.

That's interesting, do you have any other info on these that I could look at, like a website?

thanks for explaining peanut i just wondered.. i am lucky in that E never had any issues with them and i must admit i didnt research the menz one..but am comfortable with the rest of my decision.

I chose to vaccinate, with Maya purely coz it was the done thing, but with the other three because I had done substantial research of my own before making a decision. The gremlins have an unspecified non-syndromic immune deficiency so we have given them extra vaccines in addition to the main schedule - Pneumovax and the flu vaccine. Having seen how sick they were for most of last year, I'd do anything to even reduce it by a fraction.

Completely aside from the immunisation debate, don't rely on exclusive breastfeeding to keep bubs healthy. Yes, it does have fantastic benefits, including to the immune system, but Chiara was 100% exclusively breastfed to 6 mths, and continues to have breastmilk as her sole "milk" source alongside solids, and yet in her first 11-mths of life she has had pneumonia, five lots of bronchiolitis and chickenpox. Sometimes, no matter what we do, our bubs are going to get sick.

Regarding the homeopathics, you can find one near you on this site http://www.homeopathy.co.nz/

Just send a few an email explaining that you are looking for vaccination alternatives, you can tell from their reply which ones will be most helpful, thats what i have done