Every parent does what they think is best for their child. With my firstborn that meant giving her vaccinations as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Perhaps two years of media got to me, or maybe it was Jenny McCarthy and all of the other parents of children with autism that made me a tad wary of vaccinations. So I will go a different route with my second babe.
To see what it is, read more.
When I met my son in the hospital, I knew I would have to make a decision pretty quickly on how to deal with his health care. As autism is more prevalent in boys, his gender certainly played a part in my thought process. I obviously want to protect my lil guy from every harmful disease while not putting him at risk for developing any other disorder. To put my mind at ease, I decided to ask my pediatrician to give my son his vaccines on an alternative schedule. While my doc agreed to my request, my pediatrician does not advise the alternative schedule because she said the child ends up getting twice the preservatives that accompany vaccines because the doses are further divided. Despite her warning, I chose to move forward with an alternative schedule. Instead of receiving six shots at his four-month check-up, my son got four and then we returned a week later to get the rest. I feel good that he is up to date on his shots even if it means extra visits to the doctor. If you want to see an alternative schedule, check out the one Dr. Sears suggests:
- two-months: DTaP, Rotavirus
- 3-months: Pc, HIB
- 4-months: DTaP, Rotavirus
- 5-months: Pc, HIB
- 6-months: DTaP, Rotavirus
- 7-months: Pc, HIB
- 9-months: Polio (IPV)
- 12-months: Mumps, Polio (IPV)
- 15-months: Pc, HIB
- 18-months: DTaP, Chickenpox
- two-years: Rubella, Polio (IPV)
- two-and-a-half-years: Hep B, Hep A (start Hep B at birth if any close relatives or caregivers have Hep B)
- three-years: Hep B, Measles
- three-and-a-half-years: Hep B, Hep A
- four-years: DTaP, Polio (IPV)
- five-years: MMR
- six-years: Chickenpox
- 12-years: Tdap, HPV
- 12-years, 2 months: HPV
- 13-years: HPV, Meningococcal
The same information is provided in the Ask Dr. Sears Vaccine Book.
Source
Buffalo London
Coggles.com
American Vintage
I would personally start the IPV. Polio virus innoculations at 2 months.
1hmm I am so torn on this topic, no on in my family has autism but we were all vaccinated. I had heard anything abou this to Jenny McCarthy had her son.
2My daughter followed the regular vaccination schedule, but I worried the entire time. After my son suffered fevers and was wiped out after getting his shots, I put him on a modified plan. And, I will do the same with our baby-to-be. Until I know what causes autism, I'm not willing to take any chances.
3Forgive my ignorance, but what are the benefits to the alternate schedule?
4with my son i had him vaccinated...no matter what i think it's important that he receives his shot on times
5no matter what? so if he has a fever you're still giving him whatever he's scheduled for? wow.
i'm not giving my 3rd child hepB. no one in our family has it or has a reason to be at risk for it and by age 7, 50% of those fully vaccinated against hepB have zero immunity to it anyway.
lil i am SO glad that you are changing your child's vaccine schedule. sometimes i feel like i talk and talk about all the damage vaccines did to my oldest and NO ONE HEARS ME! vaccines are poison. they have done lots of good, but they have also harmed children. the modified schedule is a good alternative starting point. also, on the shots that have 3 jabs, 95% of the population is fully immune to the virus after 2 jabs, but for that last 5% the medical community insists on the 3rd vaccine for all children. you can have a simple blood test called a titers run and that will tell you what your child has antibodies too and if there are vaccines that need to be repeated.
i hope all parents realize that the medical community is treating a herd, not the individual, when they put out their recommendations. we are all individuals and should be medically treated as such.
6(stepping off soap box).
There is no evidence that the alternate schedule does anything except add expense and more doctors visits for vaccnies (by giving the same amount of vaccines over more visits, and in formulations which are not readily available, ie mumps seperate from measles and rubella).
7Vaccines are a huge medical breakthrough, people! They have saved inumerable lives. Children used to die from measles (its not just a rash). Children used to die and be permanently disabled from polio. Children used to die from tetanus. The fact that we can protect our children and are choosing not to....CHOOSING not to, makes me sick. To not immunize your children is the height of ignorance and irresponsibility.
I am choosing to do an alternate schedule and not giving my child any more than two vaccinations at a time. I'm also waiting until he's 18 months to do the MMR. I got a lot of push back from my first doctor. I ended up leaving his practice as I just felt he was too pushy about this and other stuff. My second pediatrician laughed at me and said "vaccines don't cause autism". So I asked her "what does cause Autism?" She went on about how nobody really knew and there were all sorts of environmental factors as well as others... So I just said "Until you can tell me what DOES cause autism I'm not going to rule anything 100% out". That actually brought her around a bit and she settled down.
8macgirl — I appreciate your sentiment.
9I have definitely heard your story lickety. And you have played a large part into my deciding that when I have children to go on an alternate schedule (and forgo things like Hep B at birth if there is no immediate need).
In fact, lickety, I have told your story (or what I know about it from talking to you) in my Special Ed class a few times. One time we were discussing Autism and what causes it in my lab class. One girl said "I know of a family that their first child received vaccinations and the child developed Autism. They didn't vaccinate their other two, but they still developed it. I don't think vaccinations are the cause".
She was very high and mighty about it. So I told her your story. (I truly hope you don't mind). I probably wouldn't have been so pissed by her account if she hadn't acted like her story was the end all be all.
Oh and thank you for the titers run information.
10Ugh, Jenny McCarthy has no place making anyone feel anything but, "Great, wonderful, now be quiet, former MTV star." What kind of society listens to actresses and not medical professionals with years of training? We are letting our fears take over our common sense. And this "mothers know best" nonsense: ha! No, intuition does not replace decades of training, experience, research, conferences, etc. that the professionals have. This shouldn't even be a post. Let's focus on the real issue: providing care for the children and their families affected.
11i applaud babysugar for sharing that she's chosen to go with an alternate schedule. if more people did their own research, I think that everyone would be following an alternate schedule. we've also chosen to space out the shots... and don't feel like we have to CATCH UP if he misses one because he had an ear infection (he's only had one incidentally) or because he had a cold.... we only do ONE shot per visit and I'm very happy we've chosen to do that.
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