Personal stories about vaccinating your kids? Opinions?

[Crim]

Many of you know I'm a father for the first time recently and I'd like to get all of your opinions on vaccinating your little one's. Currently my family and friends are almost completely split on the issue....and I'm trying to get as much information as I can before the wife and I confirm to certain if not all vaccinations. We just want the best for him ya know?

If there is a debate, let's try to keep it as civil as possible, many pro-vaccination people think anti are complete idiots and vice-versa...but it doesn't need to be said.

Mostly every person seems to be so biased to one side, I try to stick with as much facts as I can.

Right now based on my own research, I'm just very surprised at how many doses children get within their first year. I want him to be protected but the side effects of some shots like TDap can be pretty scary and some fairly common. It also doesn't help that I have a couple friend's that have autistic children and they are saying that they didn't notice any problems until after specific vaccinations. Right now the research with autism and vaccinations isn't very good...so who knows? It is weird that autism is on the rise, especially in males. However on the other side, if people didn't get vaccinations...than diseases could just run rampant. It's obviously known that vaccinating has decreased hospitalization and deaths by a huge percentage.

A little torn.

My own mother says she wishes she would have researched it better, I always say "look, I turned out just fine." But my sister is convinced that a headache she's had her whole life could have happened after vaccinations.

My mind urges me to stick with what the professionals are saying. But even some medical doctors have spoken against some vaccinations.

[Ernest Jones]

Many of you know I'm a father for the first time recently and I'd like to get all of your opinions on vaccinating your little one's. Currently my family and friends are almost completely split on the issue....and I'm trying to get as much information as I can before the wife and I confirm to certain if not all vaccinations. We just want the best for him ya know?

If there is a debate, let's try to keep it as civil as possible, many pro-vaccination people think anti are complete idiots and vice-versa...but it doesn't need to be said.

Mostly every person seems to be so biased to one side, I try to stick with as much facts as I can.

Right now based on my own research, I'm just very surprised at how many doses children get within their first year. I want him to be protected but the side effects of some shots like TDap can be pretty scary and some fairly common. It also doesn't help that I have a couple friend's that have autistic children and they are saying that they didn't notice any problems until after specific vaccinations. Right now the research with autism and vaccinations isn't very good...so who knows? It is weird that autism is on the rise, especially in males. However on the other side, if people didn't get vaccinations...than diseases could just run rampant. It's obviously known that vaccinating has decreased hospitalization and deaths by a huge percentage.

A little torn.

My own mother says she wishes she would have researched it better, I always say "look, I turned out just fine." But my sister is convinced that a headache she's had her whole life could have happened after vaccinations.

My mind urges me to stick with what the professionals are saying. But even some medical doctors have spoken against some vaccinations.

FWIW, Andrew Wakefield's studies that lead to the vaccine scare have been debunked fairly thoroughly by all the reputable medical journals. I went through the same angst as you and am still a little conflicted. My first born has had "some" vaccinations but certainly not all and my second born has had ZERO vaccinations!!! I've been discussing with my wife recently as to whether or not we want to get him vaccinated for some of the more basic (and dangerous) things but I have always harboured a certain degree of distrust for the AMA and it's Canadian counter part.

[Crim]

FWIW, Andrew Wakefield's studies that lead to the vaccine scare have been debunked fairly thoroughly by all the reputable medical journals. I went through the same angst as you and am still a little conflicted. My first born has had "some" vaccinations but certainly not all and my second born has had ZERO vaccinations!!! I've been discussing with my wife recently as to whether or not we want to get him vaccinated for some of the more basic (and dangerous) things but I have always harboured a certain degree of distrust for the AMA and it's Canadian counter part.

We seem to have very similar thoughts on it. Do you know of any vaccinations that you really wanted to get your firstborn? Or is their any that you really would recommend?

We had our pediatrician (she's a massive golf fan so I trust her a bit more :P ) make a list of the most important vaccines to least important. Unfortunately Tdap was second on the list and that was the one I was so unsure about because of how many doses it require and the side effects for lack of a better word...are quite LAME.

Edit: Tdap might actually be Dtap...haha. Damn vaccinations gave me dyslexia.

[Golfingdad]

My kids have received every vaccination that the doctors recommended.  My son, who just turned 5, just got his last couple of boosters, and he won't need any more shots until he's 11.  He was quite excited about that.

[Crim]

My kids have received every vaccination that the doctors recommended.  My son, who just turned 5, just got his last couple of boosters, and he won't need any more shots until he's 11.  He was quite excited about that.

Haha, indeed. Thanks for the personal story. I'm sure it's nice knowing that you're young one is protected against carriers of certain diseases. We know for certain that he will be getting specific vaccinations a year or two before kindergarten. I've read that after age 2, side effects go way down.

Edit: But then again, after a certain age...the risk of death from diseases goes way down as well.

[boogielicious]

My son has received every vaccination.  I would highly recommend them unless you like polio, whooping cough, measles, mumps, etc...

The anti-vaccine camp uses zero science to base their fears/decisions on.

[Ernest Jones]

My son has received every vaccination.  I would highly recommend them unless you like polio, whooping cough, measles, mumps, etc...

The anti-vaccine camp uses zero science to base their fears/decisions on.

Well, as has been stated many, many times on this forum: science is dumb.

[Crim]

My son has received every vaccination.  I would highly recommend them unless you like polio, whooping cough, measles, mumps, etc...

The anti-vaccine camp uses zero science to base their fears/decisions on.

Nice! Yeah the side effects of some of them are straight from the doctors though (the science is there, I'm not talking about autisim) and some of them are very common and some very serious...the serious one's like seizures are not very common and likely just from allergic reactions.

My sister doesn't vaccinate her kids and they've all been fine so far...she has 8 kids....haha. But dang could you imagine if one got whooping cough? They'd probably all get whooping cough.

All in all I think we're going to go ahead with most vaccines.

[billchao]

FWIW, Andrew Wakefield's studies that lead to the vaccine scare have been debunked fairly thoroughly by all the reputable medical journals.

Our pediatrician actually has a printed news article on display in every one of her examination rooms that shows what a ridiculous fraud this guy is. Still, people believe vaccinations can cause autism. I don't think they're ever going to be able to un-ring that bell. My rule of thumb is this: getting the disease is worse than the side effects of the vaccine. That, and given that less people are vaccinating, my kids will be protected on the off chance that one of the contagious diseases makes a comeback.

[Crim]

My rule of thumb is this: getting the disease is worse than the side effects of the vaccine. That, and given that less people are vaccinating, my kids will be protected on the off chance that one of the contagious diseases makes a comeback.

All of this is a good point, and my thoughts on it as well. Disease is obviously worse than the side effects, aside from serious seizures and allergic reactions which are pretty rare.

The only thing I thought was weird was the amount of doses seems so friggin' high.

[Lihu]

All I know is that both my kids had 26 shots before their third birthday. My son was afraid of either going to the doctor and or needles at one point in time.

He got over that now, but when he was 3 years old. . .

I know exactly how you feel, but get them. The amount of international business travelers is increasing and the possibility of getting some sickness is surmounting.

[Crim]

Another thing i found strange...I was reading the pamphlet that the pediatrician gave me and the #1 vaccine she wanted me to get protected against 13 out of the 70 known strands of influenza or whatever it was. Does that mean that theres 57 strands that they aren't protected from? Maybe those 13 are major? Im going to ask next visit.

[Big C]

I am in the same boat. My wife and I just had our first child a few weeks ago. We saw the pediatrician for his first visit and the amount of recommended vaccines they suggest is staggering. It is/was our intent to vaccinate, but I honestly had no idea the vaccination schedule was so intensive.

To those that have done research on the topic, are all these vaccinations really necessary? Are there any that can be bypassed without incurring risk to our child? I guess in lieu of reason to believe otherwise, we will follow the prescribed schedule, but it really does seem overwhelming.

[Crim]

I know exactly how you feel, but get them. The amount of international business travelers is increasing and the possibility of getting some sickness is surmounting.

Yeah this is a big reason why I want to make a decision soon.

I am in the same boat. My wife and I just had our first child a few weeks ago. We saw the pediatrician for his first visit and the amount of recommended vaccines they suggest is staggering. It is/was our intent to vaccinate, but I honestly had no idea the vaccination schedule was so intensive.

To those that have done research on the topic, are all these vaccinations really necessary? Are there any that can be bypassed without incurring risk to our child? I guess in lieu of reason to believe otherwise, we will follow the prescribed schedule, but it really does seem overwhelming.

Yeah this is another thing I wondering. A lot of people say that the Hep B vaccine isn't really necessary until your little one is actively playing with a bunch of other kids. It wasn't really that high on the pediatricians list either.

[boogielicious]

Well, as has been stated many, many times on this forum: science is dumb.

Eradicating small pox and polio was pretty smart.

[Crim]

Haha, I'm sure Ernest was not being earnest...

[hacker101]

I am in the same boat. My wife and I just had our first child a few weeks ago. We saw the pediatrician for his first visit and the amount of recommended vaccines they suggest is staggering. It is/was our intent to vaccinate, but I honestly had no idea the vaccination schedule was so intensive.

To those that have done research on the topic, are all these vaccinations really necessary? Are there any that can be bypassed without incurring risk to our child? I guess in lieu of reason to believe otherwise, we will follow the prescribed schedule, but it really does seem overwhelming.

I guess the question would be why would you not do all the vaccinations your doctor prescribed?

Plus to get your child in school you must show proof that they have been done.

[Lihu]

I guess the question would be why would you not do all the vaccinations your doctor prescribed?

Plus to get your child in school you must show proof that they have been done.

They had to have 26 just for kindergarten.

How many did your son have to have? Both of mine had over 35 total so far not including Flu vaccines.