To Vaccinate or Not?

Yes, we vaccinated. But I did delay some of them, and didn't give the meningitis ones with the other vaccines, like they try to do now.

yep i did well relly my mum did as i cried in the coner (i,m a wimp) and james was a little sore the next day but i would do it again its better then him getting sick from some of these horrable things

We didn't do any of them on schedule and didn't get any of the MenzB...

It's all a personal decision. Do some reading and go with what you feel.

Edited by Anna

I was given so much research etc when I had Hannah (my mum is anti) that I got overwhelmed and we eventually decided to immunise her when she was 10mos. I found that most of the research we had was quite old and also that our doctor was happy to talk through any of our concerns. I decided to trust him really.

Briona was very unsettled as a baby so I delayed hers as well, cause I didn't want unsettled+unsettled lol. Later we would find out that she had silent reflux. So we started her at 5mos.

Kryssi was our first baby to be on schedule lol and by this point MenzB had been introduced. I must admit to being sceptical of MenzB because it still seems so 'new'. So none of our girls have had MenzB but they are up to date with all the others.

We have decided not to immunise and we also didn't allow him to have the Vit K injection. We did a lot of research and looked at the arguments on both sides. We are confident that we have made the right decision and our personal believe is that the immunisation are damaging and do not actually prevent the diseases.
That statement is probably going to cause some uproar but it is based on the extensive research that we did. My gp was happy for us not to immunise, but if you choose not to they have to tell the government you are not going ahead with it and why and apparently it can cause problems with some childcare which I don't get cos if the immunisations work surely other kids couldn't catch anything off my kid, but I digress, legally they cannot refuse to take your child if not immunised.
There is a support group for parent who don't immunise but I cannot remember the name of them. I can find out for you if you do decide not to go ahead or if you want more info.

Really it is a very personal choice and I do not want to force my opinions of it on anyone, so I would just say that make sure you research it fully you can only make an informed decision if you look at all the evidence for and against.

jake was delayed as we weren't in the country - he has a wicked TB scar from japan though - then he got them done at one - he actually saw the nurse that did them in Pak n save and screamed. he hates her. No reaction apart from a swollen site that wasn't painful.

Taine had all onschedule and was fine. didn't even cry during the first two lots. weird kid. I found the heel prick to be nastier

I did Andrew on the schedule that he had and then the MenZb when it was introduced.

Josh however started with normal schedule (without MenZb) and then had the MenZb once he turned 5 months old. My reason for that was not having 3 jabs at one time and he only has to have 3 MenZb jabs.

Have a read of things and don't let your practise nurse push you into them if you don't want to have them done. Mine tried to make me get Josh's MenZb done when he was 6 weeks old but I had already made my mind up and read the stuff about it.

GPs get paid for each child immunised, I would question how impartial they are. But definately do look at both sides just try to steer clear of government info it is written by the pharmaceutical companies and is propoganda not research. Also when you look at stats you need to know what they are based on. Some pharmacuetical companies will quote stats of children that have died from a certain illness, i.e measles, but they don't tell you how many of those deaths were children who had a) been immunised b) had other immune affecting illnesses.
I would also look at research from more than one country, we looked at NZ, OZ the US, Canada, the UK, European and Japanese research.
And just as you should steer clear or government/pharmacuetical research you should also steer clear of looking at the really pro anti-immunisation people as you get the opposite problem that they use the stats to bend it all the other way.

Oh and I don't think that Spencer won't get ill (I hope he won't but it is a risk we have accounted for) I was just saying that if he is ill he wouldn't be able to pass on to an immunised child, so I don't understand why some childcare centres have a problem with taking a child who isn't immunised. I also don't see what business it is of the governments whether we choose to immunise our child or not, but they make a song and dance about it at the doctors at all his visits telling me they have to record that we are not doing it and why.

Child care centres shouldn't make any issue over whether a child is immunised or not. They do however request to see the imms certificate in the back of your Well Child book. At one preschool we went to I asked them why that was (I felt checked up on lol!) and it's so that they can record who is and isn't immunised for whatever, so that if there is an outbreak they will send the un-immunised kids home immediately.

At our docs they have to ask us every time whether we will do MenzB or not but they have never asked us or recorded why - just yes/no.

sunnyhoney a very sticky and sometimes touchy subject.

I believe that you have to do your own research and get both sides of the story so that you can make a properly informed choice.

busymum is right in that if there is an outbreak then any non- immunised child will be sent home first and they cant discriminate based on immunisations.

You have to be happy with your choice and be doing it for the right reasons, not just cause it is the done thing or because you dont like needles or whatever...

good luck with your decision.