[Pudding]

Good afternoon forum friends!
Have any of you chosen not to immunize your children or choosen an immunization schedule that is different than the one recommened from your peditrician? If so what schedule? Do any of you have any direct or indirect knowledge pertaining to the relationship between immunizations and autism? Is anyone in the medical profession with knowledge? Please chime in with opinions either way! I would love to hear what some of your peditricians said when approached about this subject.

Beth

[Wonk]

Our pediatrician said no proven link between immunization and autism. There have been groups who are allege a link but there is no proof. In my mind, the risks of the diseases are much much worse than the tiny risk of autism. Also I would feel awful if it was my child who caused another child to get one of these dread diseases.

[CurlysGirly]

My son was developing "typically" up until he recieved the MMR and Flu shot at 15 months. His development was documented by us, family, the pediatrician, pictures and video. He went from a vivacious little spirit to not being able to respond/look when you called his name to wanting nothing more than to be left alone to count his toys (counting was his only language and he can do it in 3 languages).

I believe that there are many factors that contribute to autism including a genetic predisposition as well as outside environmental factors. Just because Thimerisol/mercury (I always spell that one wrong) isn't currently in the MMR, other metallic preservatives are. The flu shot still is not clean.

If you or anyone has any specifics about autism, please PM me anytime. I sit on the board of the Autism Society and get my best therapy from helping other parents who have newly diagnosed kiddos.

DH and I refer to the onset as "the day that Logan stopped smiling for the camera". I know that I didn't really give an answer but just my experience. The CDC now states that 1 in 150 children will be diagnosed and 1 in 94 boys will be.

[triciabn]

My ped? What does he says? You mean the man who is paid by the pharmacutical company to vaccinate kids and convince parents to buy the shots...Oh he says to give the shots and there is no proven link to autism....LOL! Our family doctor thinks that their is enough information on both sides for me to be justified in abstaining from the vaxs.
However, if you ask a few of my friends who have had kids who did really well until their flu or MMR shots... they would beg to differ.
Now if you ask me what we think is best... Well..my first kid is nearly completly vaxed with no adverse affects...My second child had a high fever and was unconsolable in her reaction to the third round of vaxs... and then I decided that was close enough that I wouldn't do that to her again. Now all my other kids since, heck no! No way no how... I just have seen so many other people's children have negative outcomes. Then I went on the CDC's website and WOWWEE.... it just seemed so obvious to me that it wasnot a good choice for our family.
With school... we just fill out an exemption form that says that if the vaccinated kids get sick (with something that they are supposedly immune to) that my child should stay home. If you think about how funny that is ... you will see that even the school systems don't actually put a lot of stock in vaxs.
I have called and inquired about not having any vaxs given to my children in Guatemala... that seems like a dead end. However I hear they are often weak and ineffective doseages but with more mercury... SO here is hoping that I can do some therapy to have the vaxs removed (along with the mercury and other contaminates) out of their little systems.

[adcollins]

I've been worried about this too, so I arranged with my pediatrician to give the decoupled versions of the MMR vaccine. There's a lot of speculation that it is in combining all three things that the big problems started with the vaccine.

So, we've given her the Measles part and we're waiting several weeks in between before giving her the Mumps part and then the Rubella part.

I'm a firm believer in listening to parents who know their children best. While the literature may not show a link between the vaccinations and autism, I don't see why we should be expected to take any chances. After all, it may just be that they haven't proven the link YET.

[JunipersMom]

We dont have a ped - we all go to a family practice doc. He has been very supportive of our almost 2 year old not getting the required scheduled vaccinations. Personally I feel that the vaccination issue is a personal choice that should be researched fully before pursuing.. because once you get them you cant take them back. Make sure you are very comfortable with your decision before you make a choice either way - and dont let your employee (you pay them to help your family with healthcare) bully you into a making a decision before you are comfortable.

[SarahIda]

I have been very careful about requesting single/unit-dosed vaccines for my children. These do not have preservatives, because they do not require it (only one dose - they do not go in and out of the bottle to draw mutiple injections from one bottle). I have researched (as best I can) the contents of each vaccine they have received since coming home. My pediatrician and I have agreed to disagree on this topic. He has been nice - not terribly condesending - and has heard me.

However, this winter I fought with him and the staff about getting my son (over 3 at the time) a preservative-free flu shot. They administered it to my daughter because she was under 3 but would not give it to my son because he was over 3. They said that this has to do with the way the doses are packaged and what they have available. I was persistent - they were insisting that he could not have it but could have the regular vaccine. In the end I did what I thought I'd never do...I didn't have him vaccinated and held my breath all flu season! Thank goodness he did not come down with more than the sniffles all season but I did worry about it a lot.

Next year it will be two children I am fighting for - I'm going to change pediatricians - this is not right. I'm not requesting something outrageous and I have given a rational argument for my position (even if they disagree) and I am being ignored. So, I will move on. Overall, I like the practice but I feel so strongly about this that I will move.

I feel that there may be a chance for problems - so why take the chance?

SarahIda

[joanr]

My biological son has Asbergers. It runs on my husbands side. My sister-in-law has three kids (one girl and two boys). The oldest boy has an asbergers diagnosis and the youngest boy has similiar characteristics and she feels he has asbergers too (and she has not allowed him to have most vacines).

I personally waited to give my son the shots until he was 18 months old. I also did each part separately (mumps, measles, and rubella) about four months apart from each other. Actually I never allowed them to give more then one shot at a time throughout his infancy. I know that when he needed the booster shot before kindergarten I could not get the shot in three separate parts. So I just made sure that his immune system was completely healthy.

My son exhibited asberger characteristics even before the shots. I know he did not get asbergers from the shots in our case, but I still will be as cautious with our adopted child too. With all the studies out there it is hard to know the truth. I say better to be safe then sorry. I have worked with many students with Autismn and know of parents who swear that after the shot was when things changed for their child.


Sorry so long-

-Hope it helps

[hml1976]

Well I did do a delayed schedule with my daughter just in case but I personally know a family with an autistic child who has never had a vaccination so I'm not sure (personally) that there is a link. But we have delayed and spread out our daughter's vaccination schedule just to be safe.

All of that said (I've posted about this before) I contracted Pertussis (Whooping Cough) this past winter. I was vaccinated as a child so it was not a severe case but I was still sick for nearly two months, I have broken blood vessles in my face from the coughing and I nearly cracked a rib. I bring this up because the experience really made me realize WHY we have vaccinations for our kids. I am terrified even of the though of an infant going through what I did.

[jandc]

I made the pediatrician give both my boys the MMR as an M then and M then an R. She was not happy as she argued there is no proven link. She also told me it was hard to order that way and it was traumatic for the child to have to come in so frequently for shots. Well too bad. It made me feel better. DH is an emergency physician and said that even though he felt confident with the shot, if it made me feel better then splitting them up is what we would do. He is adament about immunizations but he wasn't going to fight me on the logistics. While I understand there is no absolute proven link, no one knows exactly the cause so you do what you are comfortable with.

[Graysons_Mom]

This is just my opinion and I think everyone has to do what they feel is best for their children. That said, there has been no link found between vaccinations and autism.

We are very fortunate to live in a country where we don't worry about our children dying of vaccine-preventable illnesses. However, the more and more children that are not vaccinated, the more we have to worry about this. If you think your children aren't at risk for these diseases, you are wrong. With foreign travel so common, ANY infectious disease is literally a plane ride away from us and our children. There was an outbreak of both measles and mumps just last year in Indiana because a teenager that was not vaccinated traveled to another country for a mission trip.

I can understand why parents have hesitations about vaccinations. At the same time, we do not know what it was like to raise our children in a time where measles, mumps, polio, and small pox were somethign every parent was terrified of.

As hml1976 pointed out, if you have ever seen a child with whooping cough, you would have them vaccinated in a second. Children in this country STILL die from whooping cough every year!

Like I said, this is just my opinion.

[Pipercub]

My sister is a pediatrician in a well-known children's hospital. She sees on a daily basis VERY sick children who have developed life-threatening illnesses - that were 100% preventable had they received the recommended vaccinations. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see these children fighting for their lives- and having their exposure risk the health of children younger than them who have not reached the recommened age for those same vaccinations - and know that the serious conditions could have been prevented. From children who get meningitis as a result of getting mumps (1 in 7) to those who go deaf from getting mumps (more rare - but it happens) .... to those who struggle to breathe for months with pertussis.....there are some WAY serious issues that you can protect your child from - just by having them vaccinated. (BTW, I have a relative who lost her hearing as a result of mumps. While not a rampant disease - it's out there.)

Throw me in the group that categorically believes that you should get your children immunized. Take a trip to your local children's hospital, and you'll discover the dangers of not getting them immunized are NOT RARE.

[shellydm]

We are delaying the MMR until at least past the 2 year old mark.


Shelly

[greytpaws]

I have worked with children and adults with autism for 14 years. One family I know does claim vaccinations as a cause but all research I've seen does not support that. Autism is generally diagnosed around 2-5 years, when children get vaccinations so it's easy to correlate the 2 events but does not mean its a causal link. As I am in the process of adopting from Guatemala and (hopefully) will have to make that decision too. I can tell you I WILL have my child vaccinated, as I feel that some may think it's somewhat of a risk, but I feel there is a much bigger risk to my child's health were I to not get them vaccinated. There are undoubtedly MANY facets to autism, and should a link to vaccinations be found, it will likely be due to a genetic vulnerability already present--but with all the formerly "eradicated" diseases showing back up, I will take my chances with the vaccine. Just one person's opinion :-) Hope it helps!

[joepegcamp]

We will vaccinate our son. But we will not do the mega-doses. I would much rather pay out of pocket and have my son vaccinated multiple times then to load him up with the stuff all at once.

I talked to my doc about this -- our PCP is attached to the ped's office. He agreed that while there is no proven link, it doesn't mean the risk is there. In fact, from what he told me, drug companies are removing the mercury and other preservatives from the vaccines.