Vaccines

A friend and fellow blogger recently asked me my view and thoughts on vaccines for this upcoming addition to my family. And how did she know that indeed I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading up on this very subject.

She and I have a lot of things in common family wise. She has an older daughter about 3 years old who is "advanced" for her age. She did vaccines in the way suggested by their doctor. Now she has a brand new baby boy, with whom she is considering doing vaccines a bit differently for many reasons.

I, too, have a daughter who will be 3 in less than a month, and will soon have a brand new baby boy with whom I am considering (and will certainly make a valiant effort to)doing vaccines differently with him.

I started out with M in New Orleans (barely pre-Katrina), and I took her to the pediatrician for whom I worked. I loved the practice then, but I can appreciate it even more as I learn and grow more as a parent. Miss them alot. I trusted them in a big way! Their vaccine schedule was different. It involved the infant coming in every month starting at 2 months up to about 7months for 2 vaccines. And it went on from there at about 9 months and then 12 months. And then I don't really remember.

When we evacuated, M was due for her first shots, and so we went to the Children's Hospital Clinic in B'ham, AL and they attempted to give her 4 shots while we were there. Well, I wasn't having it. I wanted to stick to the schedule that I was familiar with. Can I tell you it was almost like a marketing scheme with them sending in 3 different people to run through the schpiel with me...trying to convince me that their way was best. I am the mom, so I win! Aces!

Seriously, that's how it was...but I caved eventually and did it in line with the new pediatrician, and really never thought about it again. HOWEVER...with the recent attention on vaccines and autism and such, AND the fact that I'm having a boy, I have done a lot more research this time around. I'm no longer an ignorant parent, just doing whatever someone tells me. AND it makes me appreciate Hales Pediatrics so much more. I realize after research, that they practice an alternative shot schedule that was both safe and effective and got most of the shots that children need at the appropriate times, but they also didn't try to overdue the amount of shots in a visit, and thus expose a child to too many chemicals all at once. I never asked why they did it that way, but I have a feeling that Dr. Hales did his research! He is extremely intelligent and was often keeping up to date. I'm quite sure that I under-appreciated him.

Having said all that...I read The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert Sears. This is the best one I have found so far. I did not find it to be particularly biased. I felt comforted that it was written by a practicing pediatrician, whose specialty happens to be on vaccine study. He gave a break down of every vaccine and the disease it was intended for. It told how it worked, what was in each one, and I mean down to the differences in doses and manufacturers... The book gave evidence of studies and even warnings that have not yet been proven but can't be disproven. All in all, "Dr. Bob" leaves the whole mess up to you to figure out, but gives a few suggestions on schedules.

I see the value in vaccinating...if we all just quit vaccinating our kids, we'd have a huge problem on our hands in years to come. Still, I don't see the point in over vaccinating or exposing them to too many unknown chemicals all at once, so I am adopting the Alternative Vaccine Schedule. Now this is trickier cause I'll most likely have to pay a little bit more and go to the Dept. of Health to get some of them, but it is worth it, to reduce the risk of ill effects to my child. Here is my choice:

2 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, Flu (if it is flu season and ONLY if you can get this mercury free)
12 months--Mumps, Polio
15 months--Pc, HIB
18 months--DTaP, Chickenpox
21 months--Flu
2 years--Rubella, Polio
2 1/2 yrs--Hep B, Hep A
3 years--Hep B, Measles, Flu
3 1/2 yrs--Hep B, Hep A
4 years--DTaP, Polio, Flu
5 years--MMR, Flu
6 years--Chickenpox
12 years--Tdap, HPV
12 yrs and 2 months--HPV
13 yrs--HPV, Meningococcal

For more info on this, check out the book at your local library AND go to www.TheVaccineBook.com