It’s been a while since we’ve talked about vaccines, but I did want to give an update on my family’s vaccine journey.
As I’ve shared in the past, Prince Charming and I chose an alternative vaccine schedule for our children. But I’ve never fully explained how we reached our decision. Ready for a long story?
Big Brother’s vaccinated start
When I was pregnant with Big Brother, I didn’t give a second thought about vaccines. I knew newborns received shots during their hospital stay, but planned to research vaccines after he was born and discuss the issue with his pediatrician.
Big Brother got his Hepatitis B shot when he was a day old, and I thought it was a bit strange, since my sweet newborn was definitely not at risk for getting infected with Hepatitis B. (I wasn’t infected, and he certainly wasn’t going to use intravenous drugs or have unprotected sex anytime soon.) Once we got home I forgot about vaccines and enjoyed the first two months of his life – and was busy with plenty of new mom details.
On the day before his two-month well visit, I decided to look into vaccine safety and make a decision. Oh.My.Goodness. I found website after website of horrible vaccine stories detailing dangerous – and fatal – side effects. I hardly got any sleep as I imagined all sorts of awful things happening to my little boy.
Prince Charming and I took Big Brother to the pediatrician’s office bright and early the next morning. When it came time for shots, I mentioned that we brought a waiver and were choosing to not vaccinate our son. The doctor glanced at the waiver in my shaking hand and began to harshly scold us. In his many years of practicing medicine, he watched children die before many vaccines were created. Aside from clean drinking water, he thought vaccines were the most incredible advance in medicine. If we were going to choose to not vaccinate our child, we needed to leave his practice immediately.
Prince Charming told our pediatrician that we needed to talk things over, then privately asked me if I had any substantial evidence against vaccines. When I didn’t, he said Big Brother would get the recommended vaccines this visit. The doctor came back in the room, heard our decision and said he didn’t want to force us into a decision we weren’t comfortable with – then proceeded to give our son the full round of vaccines (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis; Hepatitis B; Haemophilus influenzae; Polio; and Pneumococcal). I wept.
After the appointment, Prince Charming went to work and I took Big Brother home. While I sobbed uncontrollably the entire trip, he was sound asleep in his car seat. When we got home, he was still asleep – and wouldn’t rouse. Even at two months old, I knew my son was an incredibly alert and active boy. But this just wasn’t like him.
The doctor had warned that he might have a fever and sleep a lot because of his shots, so I tried not to overreact. I didn’t want to be “THAT mom,” so I didn’t call the doctor’s office with concerns. Instead, I held my little sleeping boy all day long and prayed. Normally a healthy eater, Big Brother had absolutely no interest in breast feeding – he just slept, would hardly move, and was feverish. For seven hours he was fairly unresponsive. Then, his father got home from work and he woke up and acted like himself again. It was a definite answer to my prayers, but the seven long hours haunted me.
Finding answers
Shortly after, I bought a copy of Dr. Robert Sears’ “The Vaccine Book”
At Big Brother’s four-month well visit, I switched him to the alternative schedule. A different pediatrician in the same practice cared for us that morning and didn’t hesitate to use the alternative schedule, as long as I promised to bring Big Brother back the next month for his vaccines. I did explain his reactions to his two-month vaccines, but was told that was normal. I wasn’t so certain, but was satisfied with our alternative schedule choice.
Big Brother didn’t have any other noticeable reactions until receiving the MMR vaccine at his 15 month visit. We were leaving for vacation in a week and I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t have any reactions or complications – our pediatrician assured us that nothing would be wrong in a week.
But five days later as I got Big Brother out of his crib at 4 a.m. for our long road trip, I noticed his feet felt unusually hot. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but we hurried out the door. A few hours later, I noticed he wasn’t improving. In fact, he still was hot, crying more than usual, and he had a strange rash on his face and belly. After our 10-hour car ride, he was the same – the next morning, too. Throughout the next day, his rash got worse. I decided to call a nurse line at our pediatrician’s office and was told that from his symptoms, Big Brother had a mild case of measles, thanks to his vaccine. Great.
Big Brother recovered from his bout with measles after we got home from our beach vacation. And besides a mild reaction to his eighteen-month DTaP vaccine (vomiting, fever, and lethargy), he has been fine with vaccines. Of course, he hasn’t had many since that time.
A fresh start
So how did we proceed with Little Sister’s vaccines? Since this post is pretty massive, I’ll tell her vaccine story on Wednesday – and next week I’ll share some very important lessons I’ve learned.
Talk back
Have any of your children reacted to vaccines? How have you made your family’s vaccine choices?
Disclosure: Accidentally Green will receive a small commission if you order “The Vaccine Book” from the link in this post.
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Our oldest, that is almost 15, had about 12 spots on his chest after receiving his chicken pox vaccine at 18 months. I brought it up at the next pediatrician visit and the response was, “That’s impossible, it isn’t a live vaccine.” I told them that I knew what I saw and I even took pictures. Most of the medical community is pushing parents into doing exactly what they want, when they want it done. Very frustrating unless you find a Doctor that will listen.
Thanks for your informative website!
Thanks so much for sharing, Amber! I agree with you – as a mom, it’s so difficult to know your children (and their reactions), want only what’s best for them, yet feel pushed or bullied into decisions by some doctors.
Thank you for sharing. I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to share your views on vaccines due to the strong feelings associated with them.
With my first, we were like you and followed doctors orders, much to my discomfort. Then when number two reacted after his 6 month shots and my doctor basically laughed at me, I began serious research.
Mommy Diagnostics by Shonda Parker was a great read for me. She takes each vaccine individually and talks about the risk vs reward and shares her family’s decision on each vaccine. Some they do, others they don’t.
I have come to the decision personally, for my family, that we are not continuing vaccinations. When my son reacted at six months, I began learning about homeopathy, and we have been using it ever since (with the help of a professional homeopath). We have not used any prescription or over the counter medications in two years since we started. This includes antibiotics. We have been healed of strep, sinus infections, eczema, lactose and soy intolerance, and much more, all with homeopathic remedies. I began blogging about our exeriences as well.
This is how our family is choosing an alternative route to vaccinations, and it is not for everybody, but the point is, parents need to make an INFORMED decision. I am so happy to hear of parents who do their own research and come to educated decisions about vaccines, regardless of if they choose to get them or not.
Thanks so much for your response, Katie. And thanks for the book recommendation! I completely agree with you about the importance of making informed decisions as parents.
From the time that clean sewage systems, cold/frozen food storage, clean drinking water, etc. became readily available nationwide, I believe it was the 40s?, the rate for childhood disease decreased dramatically…the kicker, though, is that when vaccines were introduced around the same time, it did not affect the rate of decrease at all…it was the safe water, food storage, drinking water, etc. that eradicated most illness. I don’t remember exactly where it was, but I saw the timeline on the CDC site.