Alternate Immunization Schedules

Hi L.,
Congrats on the birth of your son! How beautiful to have had him at home! I too gave birth to my son, Levi, just under a month ago. I have decided not to vaccinate all together after much research. I would love to fill you in on my personal reasoning, but I would rather not post it openly on this site. Early in my pregnancy I started my research on vaccinations/immunizations and posted my decision not to vaccinate on this site. Big mistake! So many "fellow moms" who did not agree with my choice tried to do everything in their power to make me feel like a bad mother (so much for supporting each other).
There are some great books out there that will inform you on both sides of the argument and can help guide you to making the decision that is the best for you and your family.
If you are interested in the literature or personal experiences that helped me reach my decision not to vaccinate my child I would love to share with you.
The very best to you and your son!
B.

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http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?conte...

Love, G.. :0)
http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

"I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin." ~ Jerry Newport

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Hi,
There's an excellent and informative online video by Dr. Tenpenny. If you google Doctor Tenpenny you'll be able to find her video series and download it for free. It warns of all the dangers of vaccines...
Good to be informed,
-W.

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Hi L.,
Congratulations and welcome to motherhood! I want to heartily second the recommendation of Aviva Jill Romm's book Vaccines: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide. It really helped me see that the decision did not need to be monolithic, and that there are many issues to consider. My favorite thing about it is that it doesn't lead every reader to the same conclusion. I read the book, thought about the health history in my family, and chose not to vaccinate at all; a friend read it and decided to fully vaccinate her child. So you can read it and make your own decision about what feels right for you and your family. I know this is a hard one, and I respect the decision made by each parent. I am really glad to hear that you are thinking about it. I am sure that you will make the decision that is right for your child. And remember, if you choose not to vaccinate for now, and change your mind later, you can always change your mind if it feels right.

Best,
E. Bender, NC, CHN
www.nutritionforthewholefamily.com

ps. I am a home birth mama, too!

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Hi there L.. Obviously this is a very touchy subject, and sifting through all the research can be very overwhelming, but come to your own decision on this. What's right for one child isn't for another. Dr. Jay Gordon is a middle of the road doc you might want to check into. I believe he delays all until 3 years and then does some of them. His website is www.drjaygordon.com
feel free to email me privately if you'd like,
K.

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I think it depends on how cautious you want to be. I did a ton of research for both sides and I came to the decision to not vaccinate my child. Although, before my research was complete he did recieve limited 2,4 & 6 month shots and hasn't got anything since. He is now 2. I may give him small pox at some point but I won't give him anything else and with my next child there won't be any either. Most of what I have read says if you are going to do vaccinations then to wait until they are 2 and then do one at a time waiting 6 months in between. I think spreading them out and not doing multiple shots in a day is a good move. Also, you should give your child cod liver oil to help his body recover from the vaccinations. Here is a good link to alternative schedules and supplements to give to help a childs body.
http://www.generationrescue.org/vaccines.html

The biggest kicker for me was going onto the CDC's website to read vaccine ingredients. Some ingredients are banned from skin care products so why would they be okay injecting into our small, devoloping children. It is really scary to read the ingredients.

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Hi, my name is L. and I am a Nutritional Consultant.
I would like to encourage you to do two things before you have vacccinations done on your young child.

1. READ - What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave, M. D.

2. Watch www.sharethecause.com/live

I would be happy to talk with you. I believe it is crucial to be well informed when we make these decisions for our children.

I have 4 children ages 10 - 23 and vaccinations have changed and increased in number considerably since my first daughter was vaccinated. I also work with children in the add/hd - autism spectrum and with cancer.

Feel free to contact me via the share the cause site .. my
number and email contact is available.

L. M.

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Hi L., I didn't want to do vaccines at all, but my husband did. I was never vaccinated as a child and yes, I got the chicken pox and the mumps, but I'm a healthy adult now.

With my twins, I didn't immunize them until they were 6 months old, to let their immune systems mature a bit, and I only did one shot at a time, with a month or two inbetween. The only vaccines we did were HIB and DTAP because our pediatrician said that those were two that if either child DID catch, could be fatal. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't immunized them at all. My son had a febrile seizure within 1 week after his DTAP shot and 6 years later has complex partial seizures. The timing of it all just seems too strange to me...........

You know, I think I read that in Japan, they wait to immunize when a child is 2 years old, in order to have a more mature immune system to be able to deal with all of the things in the shots. Also, be sure all of your shots are mercury-free (thimerisol) (sp?). They may all be these days, but they weren't 6 years ago.

Good luck with your choice.

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Congrats on your new baby! Here's a link to Ask Dr. Sears with some info on alternative immunization schedules. http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/labels/Alternati... From my experience, we had Emma on schedule the whole time and didn't find any reactions. Between my friends and I we've had 17 kids all get their shots around the same times (although we did find they were a little different between the Kaiser and other hospitals) and none of the kids had any problems. I wouldn't skip any of the shots. The shot that people believe has caused autism in their children (the MMR) has recently been proven again that there is no link between autism and the MMR shot. Here's some literature with a list of studies http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p4026.pdf. But in the end, it is your decision. Do you what you believe is best for your family. Good luck and have fun with that little one!

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L.,

These replies all seem to be from people too young to remember polio or measle epidemics, or who have no one in their family who has a living memory of someone being sick with one of these diseases. I am 58 and I am quite clear why we have a polio vaccine. If you see older people in braces, they probably had polio. My mother's younger brother had whooping cough when she had just turned four, and she remembered it so clearly--how my uncle struggled for every breath. You might want to space the immunizations out a little--that seems okay to me, especially if your child has little exposure to other people, but believe me, there's a reason why we have these.

E.

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L.! Congrats! By all means spread out the shots, but please immunize your child.

Regarding the reply that there were vaccinated children came down with the measles in the February San Diego outbreak. Had there not been so many vaccinated children, HUNDREDS of children would have been sick. This could have started a national epidemic of measles if there were not so many people with immunity from vaccines.

The fact that there were only a handful of children who came down with the measles is a testament that vaccines work. They are not perfect and not 100% risk free, but that are one of the best accomplishments of modern medicine. The children who were vaccinated had a milder case of the measles that the unvaccinated ones.

Regarding the reply that vaccine preventable diseases were disappearing before the vaccines were created. This is simply NOT true. All large scale studies show outbreaks are cyclical. The anti-vaccine literature shows just a few years of misleading data. If you look book a few more years, you would see that there were thousands of cases of measles, which leads not only to death (3/1000 cases) but also blindness, deafness, mental retardation, and scarring, as well as damaging unborn children in mothers who are not immune.

There is a lot of bad vaccine information on the web. Please do your research carefully.

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Good book I am reading now is called "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Childhood Vaccinations" by Stephanie Cave and Deborah Mitchell. Lots of good information and explains an alternative vaccination schedule.

Talk to your pediatrician. Ours has us on an alternate (later dosing) schedule than is normally recommended. This is because she believes he is safer because he doesn't attended a day care and also because she feels there is an optimum dosing "range" verus a set timetable.

We have two kids. One 3 1/2 year old girl and a 20 month old boy. With our girl, we did all the shots by the book. She got them exactly when she was suppose to. With our son, we did it differently. With him, I was really concerned with the MMR shot and Autism. I was hearing a bunch of things about Autism and the MMR shot that it scared me. I talked to my doctor and he told me that if I felt better about it, we could wait until he was 2 years old to give him that shot. He said that usually, if someone has Autism, you will know by 18 months. My son is a totally active boy. So he will have his MMR shots at his 2 year appointment. Other than that, he has had all the other shots.

You did such a wonderful thing having your baby born at home (I am assuming drug free). Have you read any books on vaccination? Have you considered NOT vaccinating at all? I have read a few books - so yes, I have done some research and I have not vaccinated my 15 month old boy at all. And we don't intend to. Although thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines (not flu) they still contain aluminum, formaldehyde and some of the viruses were cultured on chick embryos, monkey kidneys and yes, even aborted fetal tissues from the 1960's! Most of the childhood illnesses are not that bad to contract and heal from. A person will become truly immune for life (no boosters needed!) and polio had vanished from north america around the same time the vaccine was introduced - and not b/c of the vaccine. Hygiene and sanitation improved. The only cases of polio that have surfaced in north america since then are the strain from the vaccine. Not one case of wild polio reported! I have theory about vaccines and autism also. We know boys have higher rates. Estrogen protects nerve cells from the mercury in vaccines (to a degree) but testosterone does not work in the same way. So boys are more vulnerable. I believe that if the mother has a large body burden of heavy metals to begin with that she passes them on to her unborn fetus and then the baby is born with mercury, etc. already. Add a bunch of shots from the day they are born for most - especially when they contained mercury (which was over the daily allowance recommended by the EPA as safe per pound of body weight) and the baby has too much and the nerve cells die and you get autism. I am recommending that you read a couple of books instead of listening to me or your Dr or anyone else's opinion. Here are a few:
The Sanctity of Human Blood - by Dr. Tim O'Shea
A Shot In The Dark
Vaccination or Immunization? - by Neil Z. Miller
Congratulations on your wonderful home-birthed baby!

I would look at each of the diseases and their possible effects. Some diseases have high fatality rates, which is why we vaccinate. Check into them.

Hi L.,

I am a mom of a 3 month old baby that I have not yet vaccinted at all. Iam still a little bit in limbo about the whole situation, and leaning more towards not vaccinating.
I agree with a lot of the responses on both sides.
I agree that most of the vaccines are not neccesary due to irradication and or the fact the natural immunization is so much better. I am breast feeding and feel good that my baby is getting my immunity. I also went throught the chicken pox parties and think that is great. I also agree that they are pushed on us so intensly due to the fact the the doctors, pharmacuetical companies, and even schools are profiting from it- like everything else in our culture it is about money!!!!

I do also see on the other hand the threats:
People from third world countries where the illness is still prominent bringing it in and re-introducing it to us. Also my child possibly someday traveling to those places.

I am not sure if I agree with the argument of some that all of us "irresponsible" parents who do not vaccinate are putting all at risk, and that we need to think about the population as a whole.

It is a really hard decision to make. I have read most of the books mentioned by others and am still undecided. If I do decide to vaccinate at all I am deffinetely waiting until she is older probably two at the youngest, and skipping a lot of them.

I would love to continue a dialog with you about this, sharing info with eachother. Other moms knowledge has so far been the best info I have got.

ps - the doc can be really intense about this- mone totally apposes my decision but is no finally realizing that I am not going to do it just because it is the "reccomended norm". I am respectful of his opinion and he of mine. Just be strong!!!

ps- way to go on the home birth- I wanted to but I had some complications and live 45 minutes from a hospital.

We are spreading them out based on the alternative vaccine schedule by Dr. Sears. I thought his book 'The Vaccine Book' was very helpful - it's pretty easy to read and is separated by each vaccine and you can even just read the summary at the end (which is what my husband is supposed to be doing!) I also took the vaccine class at Day One in Palo Alto - I think they offer it every month (and you can even check out The Vaccine Book from there for free).
http://www.dayonecenter.com/

L., In this age it is imperative that we make CONSCIOUS decisions in all areas of our lives, and in the lives of our children. Just because it's "always been" done that way is a dangerous reason for doing something (or conversely, for NOT doing something). We are given the reasoning capacities and have the most current information at our fingertips:in this case information about immunizations and vaccines, pros and cons. This allows us the freedom and the responsibility to make our choices. You are following this path of questioning and of making conscious choices, and I think that's great!
The criteria i used when selecting vaccines for my daughter (now an healthy 23 year old) was: what "diseases" are life-threatening? In my mind, those were polio and diphtheria...and then: what diseases are caused by preventable sources: tetanus. I felt that the childhood diseases of measles, mumps, and chicken pox were low risk and by actually having those "diseases" her immune system would be strengthened.~the same with whooping cough (pertussis) which is only a great risk in the first year of life. My daughter actually had this when she was 8, and then did not succumb to it when a group of teens and adults (all of whom had been vaccinated) fell very ill with it. Also, my daughter was in no position to come in contact with hepatitus, and rhubella was only a problem if she became pregnant, so we skipped those when she was little. As a young adult, she has chosen to have those immunizations.
Basically, I feel that having a disease and surviving it brings about a stronger immunity than a vaccine, and that childhood diseases have the purpose of strengthening the physical body. But I would NEVER have risked my child's life. My daughter was very healthy, with a very sturdy constitution.
My advice is to do your research, and then look into your heart to make your decisions. Your baby chose to be born to you, under your protection, and is looking to you to make the best decisions for him/her. That's an awesome responsibility, but within your love you will make the best decisions. Don't ever doubt that! Listen to all the advice, make your best decision, and know that if it's made because you love your baby, all will be well.
Blessings on you and your baby.

What we did (our kids are now 5 and 2) when they needed vaccinations was to split them up. For example suppose they needed 3 vaccinations that day, we would get 2 and then in 2 weeks or a month we would come back for the other one. Our children had never had adverse reactions, never needed tylenol, were never fussy on the days that they had their shots.
This was the compromise to a parent who demanded vaccinations and to one who does not want them vaccinated at all. Just spread them out.

The BEST resource is a book called The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. You can find it in th library or bookstores or on-line. I will give you the info you need to apparoch vaccines in a sensible, thoughtful way. On a general note, always be sure your child is very healthy, not just coming off a cold or course of antibiotics or something like that before you take him in for vaccinations. If that means you need to make a second trip to the office, then do so.

Aviva Romm's book entitled "Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parents' Guide" is very thorough and gives a history of vaccines, why some choose not to have them, your legal rights if you don't, etc. It's a great reference tool to have on your bookshelf, even if you don't read it in its entirety.

This is a little off question, but I would suggest getting yourself immunized if you are going to be not immunizing your child or spreading out the immunizations

adults carry the diseases that are harmful to children (whooping cough, etc) but they aren't deadly to adults

I want to echo what SR said. Space the vaccines out if you wish (I recommend the Dr. Sears vaccine book), but it is SO important to immunize your child.

Measles, in particular, can be deadly. It is NOT just an "inconvenience." Take a look at what the World Health Organization has to say about the matter: http://www.who.int/features/qa/53/en/index.html

Dr Sears has a great book out on this called 'The Vaccine Book'. I highly rec. It sorted it all out in a very understandable way. It was easier to make a decision. He understands why people might not want to immunize- what is in vaccines- the statistics on the diseases etc.
I wish you the best of luck!

Hi L.
Congratulations on your baby. Time magazine recently had a great article on vaccines...if you could get your hand on it, it might be useful (it was from June, I think).
My husband and I worried as well and decided to have the first batch spread out over several weeks rather than all in one day. We are happy we did it this way.
Good luck!
n

I have skipped on both the chicken pox vacine and the flu vacine for both of my boys. Mainly because teh Chicken Pox vaccine hasn't been around long enough for me to "trust" it, plus I have a good family friend who is a pediatric nurse and said they were finding that in some children, it was giving them MS type symptoms, and I just really want to wait a while longer to determine if I will give that one or not. The flu, I didn't give because it only blocks against one strain of the flu, and has a high chance of actually making your child sick as a reaction and well as far as I know, in this day and age, it's highly unlikely that my children will die from the flu, so I'd rather not chance GIVING it to them, rather than them possibly getting it on their own, if that makes sense.

I also passed on the rotavirus because of the high amount of deaths associated with it. I don't have the specific numbers anymore, but it was higher than I was comfortable with.

That's my two cents.
Good Luck, it's a big commitement to make either way, and the dr.s do NOT make it easier for you.

K.

L.,
Unless your child has a weak immune system, immunizations should be safe. My son had a difficult time getting them all at once (cranky/irritable for a few days, slight fever and once he vomited the next day, which is normal). So after the first round I decided to spread them out, getting half at the MD apt, and the other half 4-6 weeks later. The injection nurse would let me know how far they could safely spread out. It ended up being a little more expensive (Kaiser) having to come to the injection center more often, but it worked for us. Other friend's children have been fine sticking with the normal schedule. Best of luck.
J.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/immunizations/fac...

This link includes a fairly detailed Q&A section and a "traditional" schedule/ recommended dosing.

Hi L., my husband and I worried about vaccinations, but we went ahead and vaccinated with the pediatrician's schedule. We have a completely healthy 3 year old boy and 2 year old girl. We have NEVER had flu shots. For some reason the flu shots scare me more than the other vaccines.

Here in the states, most kids are immunized. So, the risk of a pandemic is unlikely. If nobody has vacinations, that would be scary. Our ERs would be in chaos if an outbreak occurs. Just read the world news about Africa or China and see the epidemics occuring there.

Although the risk is lower here, immunizations are great if a person doesn't want to take any chances that their child will die of a disease.

That child will also become a adult who may travel to places like Africa or China. Doctors prescribe travel vaccines and not childhood vaccination. They make an assumption that we have already been vaccinated with childhood vaccines and send us off to Africa/China.

My parents gave me my immunization records back in college when I didn't have children or care about my own health as much. I lost my records, so I'm not sure I have all of the shots required back then or not. My parents don't even recall the doctor who prescribed the shots, let alone the type of shots I received. So, I have an unhealthy fear of traveling.

Basically, it's up to the mom as to the risk level she is willing to take.

Hi L.,
Congratulations on your new baby and your home birth! We had our youngest daughter at home 13 months ago, we've delayed some of her vaccines and skipped some. The Jan/Feb '08 issue of "Mothering" magazine has an article by Dr. Bob Sears about Aluminum in vaccines, back issues can be ordered at www.mothering.com if you're interested. You may want to go to www.AskDrSears.com and click on vaccines for vaccination information. Dr. Bob Sears has written a book called "The Vaccine Book" in which he details an alternative vaccine schedule. On his website he has a list of Pediatricians and Family Physicians who are supportive of parents making their own decisions regarding vaccines. I hope this will be a good resource for you. I wish you the best in your search for accurate and reliable information as you make decisions for your precious new baby. - K.

we didnt start until our son was 11 months old and we do 2 shots per visit instead of 4. havent yet decided about the mmr vaccine, but pretty much every other one we are going to do, but at our own snails pace. hopefully we will reduce the overall load by about 50% as far as volume is concerned. there are just so many boosters! good luck. it is so hard to sift through all the biased info an both sides.

Hi L.,

I applaud you for looking at this issue very carefully. It is possibly one of the most important decisions that you will ever make for you child!

I see that you have received a lot of good responses to consider. What I would like to add, is that whether you immunize or not, we can and should enhance our immune systems with nutritional supplementation. I can recommend an awesome product that you can give to your baby. It is called Genesis and it is a 100% juice drink made from red grapes, pomegranate, apple juice, aloe vera, and 14 infused herbs. It is an awesome drink with two miracle molecules (resveratrol & ellagic acid). The doctor who formulated it gave to his grandson at 6 weeks. It enhances the immune system and muchm much more. If you want to check it out go to my website at www.symmetrydirect.com/dhendon . There are videos on the website to watch that will give you lots of good info.
Please call me if you like,

D. Hendon,RDH, SMM
###-###-####
www.symmetrydirect.com/dhendon

You have the right to have your child immunized on what ever schedule you choose. (Age appropriate, of course.) From everything I've read, it is best to have one shot at a time.

So, just inform (don't ask) your ped. that instead of the standard 3 shots in one day (or how ever many they want to give), you will be making 3 appointments a few weeks apart to get the 3 shots.

EDIT: Yes, most of these diseases were wiped out due to vaccines. And yes, many third-world countries still have these diseases. And yes, we now have many immigrants from these self-same third-world countries. And yes, we are now seeing a rise in cases of diseases that have been "wiped out" here in the U.S. because they are being brought over from third-world countries, and our un-vaccinated children are getting them. Granted, some of the diseases are not life-threatening. Some of them are, though.

I found the book The Vaccination Dilemma helpful. It contains information about research connecting autism and ADD to vaccines. It also gives detailed descriptions of the illnesses we vaccinate against, their symptoms and alternative treatments.

Wouldn't skip, but yes, spread out. I put my son's first MMR off for a year. Our pediatricians are supportive of spreading out any of them you want. Ask if yours will do that for you - or if you don't feel confident with the one you have make appts to 'interview' other Drs

We didn't begin vaccinations for my daughter until her 4 month appt, and did a variation of the Dr. Sears Vaccine Book schedule. I highly, highly recommend that book. It has detailed info on each vaccine, including ingredients and potential concerns with the vaccine vs. the risk of the disease. I found it to be the most helpful and balanced info out there. Everything else I found was either completely anti or completely pro.

I would have done rotavirus if we could have, as well, but you have to start that by 2 months or they won't do it at all.

We've decided to only to Hib, Pc, and Dtap with my daughter until she's 2, and we only do one shot at a time. At 2 we'll reconsider MMR and Chicken Pox.

We are holding off on Hepatitis A and B and Polio until she is at least school age.

Best of luck! It's crazy to suddenly have all of these decisions to make, isn't it?

Hi, L.,

I followed the book by Dr. Stephanie Cave, "What your Doctor may NOT ell you about Children's Vaccinations". My son (now 4) received one shot at a time, one a month until he was caught up, around age 2 is how long it took. I am following the same schedule with my daughter (now 14 months). The big decision is the MMR. I recommend getting the shots SEPARATE! We go to Kaiser. The three can be separated out, you might have to ask a month ahead or order it, but IT CAN BE DONE. And they will do it for you because it is in the public's best interest to do it.

Good luck to you and your new little one.

Hi L.! I too have a difficult time w/ this decision for my children still after being a mama for 5 years. I chose to do an alternative schedule and not give so many shots at once. I reccomend The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears. The son Doc has done extensive research on shots and has info about them instead of being judgemental about whether or not to have them. For instance, polio has not been in US for the last 25 years, yet that vaccination is still on the regular list for infants. I hope this helps.
Kimberly

Congratulations!

My daughter is 16 months and, so far, I have seen no convincing evidence to cause me to feel good about putting shots full of intense substance into her little body. I actually didn't get a ton out of Dr Sears' book on the subject. I did, though, learn a lot from a book called "Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide" by Aviva Jill Romm. It's subtitled "How to Make Safe, Sensible Decisions about the Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives." It's a pretty dense read but full of good information and logic, which I found hard to find elsewhere. Let me know if you want to talk about this.

The 2,6 and 12 month protocol is because the insurance companies cover those visits. You can choose whatever schedule you want, but it will be charged as a well baby visit. Your local health dept also administers shots. Call them for the times. Mine only charges $10 each visit no matter how many or few vacs you get. Mothering Magazine has a back issue you can order on immunizations. Keep asking questions! By the way if you are breastfeeding you have already given your child his first immunizations.

We only picked a few that we really thought were important in the first year and then spread them out. About every four months.
We did not do the polio,hep b or the chicken pox.

you might want to find a different pedi if you think she/he won't support you in spreading them out.

good luck