Looking for Advice on Not Vaccinating and Which Pediatricians They Use

My ped office is in Palos Heights. There are about 5 docs in the practice. They have never questioned me delaying shots or eliminating some completely. They do sometimes tell me their opinion though :). Their phone # is ###-###-####.
Also, this was the first year I used a vaccination exemption letter for school. It was no big deal and there were no problems.
Good Luck. There is a LOT of info out there!!

Please do some more research on the pros and cons of vaccinations. The diseases the vaccines prevent are a lot more harmful than the vaccines themselves. How will you feel when your child gets polio and is crippled for the rest of his/her life and you could have easily prevented it? There are reasons for these vaccines, and the laws that require them for school. Some diseases that had been almost eradicated are now reemerging because some people don't think the vaccines are necessary. I can understand maybe not doing so many in the first year, and spreading them out over a longer time period, but do a lot of research and make sure you still think not vaccinating is a good idea. If enough people choose not to vaccinate we will start to see a lot more epidemics. Disease is a natural population control. Is that what you wish for your child?

I don't want to comment either way on vaccination, that is a personal choice. I did see that someone recommended the Homefirst practice - the Tribune did an extensive article on this practice and you should read it before you decide on them as your doctors.

I appreciate your thinking of the best options for your child to be. But please, also look into the downfalls of not vaccinating. I also considered not vaccinating until I did research on both sides of the issue. My pro and con list was long and to protect my child, which is our responsibility as parents, vaccinating was the decision for me. There were just too many negatives on the not vaccinating list than there were positives. Vaccinations will not harm your child. I could not bear to run the risk of my child ending up with a life altering/ending disease.

I've gone to Homefirst for many years. I read the article in the Tribune that another mom referred to, and it was very biased. I do not like either of the doctors mentioned in the article, but still think a lot was out of context and stats were used to make things sound bad, but failed to mention that those stats are average across all OB practices.

I highly recommend DR. Zumhagen and Dr. Schattauer. There is an office in Orland. Check homefirst.com

And it's not a big deal to get an exemption when it comes time to send your kid to school. We just wrote a letter saying it's against our religion.

What an intelligent mama- questioning and learning! I am going to tell you about a homeschool meet up group I am a part of that is very "green" and regularly talks about topics like this: http://www.meetup.com/holisticlearners

School will be an issue- look into acceptable excuses for not vaccinating or homeschool with us.

S. Botana

Really the only physicians in this area that you will find who support you on not vaccinating will be homefirst in orland. you can look in my files and note my past posting on what i think of homefirst. i do still utilize them as my sons physician.

good luck!
B.

I don't know of any personally. My childrens' pedi is Kevin Germino. He is great about using alternate vaccine schedules, which I am doing with my daughter. I'm not sure how he feels about not giving vaccines though.

You can also try calling Health from Within, it's in Oralnd Park by the mall. It is a chiropractic wellness center. I was asking the clinician if they do pediatrician appointments. He said, "No, but we could reccomend you to someone in the area." Their number is ###-###-####.