Delayed Vaccination

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Posted on : 9:35 AM | By : Anonymous | In : ,

Kirsten left a comment on another post asking my experience with delayed vaccination, so I thought I would make a post about it. We decided to vaccinate our kids after lots of thought and research. This isn't to say I'm completely happy doing this since I know what goes into immunizations, but in Canada the ingredients are marginally better - at least without the mercury. Surprisingly, however, most of the people I know with kids the same ages as my own kids did not vaccinate. I am not sure that this represents the general population, but many people where I live have chosen not to.

When I had my first baby I assumed I would vaccinate but then I heard all kinds of things about autism and how the MMR could cause it. I believe that this has now been proven to be absolutely false (check out the story about the court case), and from my own experience it has proven to be false as well. My first baby was not what I expected... I wanted to wear her in a sling, keep her close to my body, never let her cry it out, etc. What I got was a baby who screamed every evening for hours but who slept through the night if she was in her own space instead of in our bed. We put a little bassinet in our room and she became very happy. When we held her she pushed away and didn't want to be held close. As it turned out, she was extraordinarily sensitive to touch. She also had some food sensitivities and couldn't have anything with fragrance on her skin - baby wipes, dryer sheets and fabric softener where eliminated from our home. These things continued on as she got older and she's now able to voice these things without screaming, but for many years it was a struggle to understand what was going on. We now realize that she has a sensory integration disorder and possibly mild Aspergers... both which began at birth, and not from any vaccine. Because of her sensitivities we delayed the first immunization until she was 6 months old, and she didn't get the last of them until she was 5. She had a little bit of a reaction, but nothing abnormal - a small fever for a day or so.

The second baby was the opposite. She loved to cuddle, she was not sensitive to anything and was generally happy. We still delayed, but I think it was still at 6 months old for the first shots. She had less of a reaction to them as well.

Now our third baby is one month old. I would not take her at 2 months for the first shots because while she is an extremely cuddly baby, she has a little more skin sensitivities and food sensitivities than my second baby and I simply think waiting a little longer to test her immune system is a wise idea. Six months seems like a good age to me because they are beginning to eat some solid food and are stronger and just able to handle more. Right now she's still learning how to use her digestive system, lol.

The reasons I immunize my kids are:
1. I never believed that they caused autism, and that has now been proven. I won't go into specifics here, but it has been shown that the children used in the studies to prove that vaccines caused autism actually showed signs of it before they ever got vaccinated, just as my own child did.

2. I value herd immunity. When a certain percentage of the population is immunized, it protects the rest of the population that isn't. Some people have immune disorders and organ transplants and cannot be immunized, but are also more susceptible to these terrible illnesses. They can be protected if the rest of the population is immunized.

3. I don't ever want my kids to get measles, polio, pertussis or any of those crazy disease that we don't have to deal with anymore. One hundred years ago three out of 10 babies died before they were a year old and life expectancy was only 40 years old. One of the biggest reasons we now live longer and get to keep all our children is because of vaccines, and I'm very grateful for that.

Comments (3)

Nice post. I'm not planning on skipping vaccinations, though what I hear rumors of make me a bit nervous (am planning on researching it myself in the upcoming months) but I haven't thought about delaying them til the 6th month mark. I will look into it, though actually I'm not sure if we'll have much choice when this baby is born, as we'll be moving to China when it's about 2 months old.. so it might not work for us, but definitely something to keep in mind. :)

Thanks so much for the in-depth response! My baby is now past that 2-month mark, and I still haven't decided whether to vaccinate on-schedule, or delay it a little. i have decided to vaccinate, though I am probably not going to get her the Hep B vaccine while she's a baby.

Enjoy your blog. The subject of vaccines being safe and their relation to problems like autism will no doubt always be debated, just as one person says it is proven safe, another says not. For me, it comes down to the parents and what they think and feel.
See, I have two autistic children. After 13 years of living it personally, reading, following the latest studies, trying to read between corporate lines, I have come to a decision and agreement with some studies.
It is not that vaccines cause autism, Tourette, etc, but that the combos or something in them amplifies or activates what is already there.
Coming from a family of 2 Tourettes, 3 DS, 2 autistic, 3 ADD, 2 dyslexics, and knowing how each was vaccinated I can't see it as anything other.
For my family gene pool, such shots have proven a catalyst.