Immunisation

[Ffrenchknickers]

Who does, who doesn't! :eek:

[jakobsmum]

I have, just the main ones you get done. None of the optional ones.

[kurtsmum]

I have with my previous two, my baby is not due yet for another month but I will be getting him immunised as well.

[willsmum]

We do everything available - as far as we are concerned, why take the risk? The risks from not immunising outweigh the risks associated with the vaccines as far as we are concerned, so all the scare tactics about autism etc should be weighed up against the possible nasty outcomes from contracting measles, chicken pox etc and an educated response taken regarding which are the better odds - adverse reactions to vaccines or adverse outcomes from the actual illnesses.

We've made our choice and have nothing against those who choose differently so please don't think I'm having a go at people who don't immunise - that is their choice for their family just like we made our choice for ours.

[Lucybelle]

I think the scare tactics are on both sides. Some awful childhood illnesses have been succesfully eradicated due to vaccination. I class chickenpox and measles as normal childhood illnesses. kids do not die from either (fact). There can be complications with but very rarely. The term immunization gives the impression to concerned parents that the child will be immune from disease, this is not true, in fact I can think of 3 friends kids off the top of my head who have contacted measles/chickenpox despite vaccination. There questions re: quality control and ingredients in the vaccinations.
If you choose to vacc, you can do it when baby is a little older and their bodies not so new and fragile.
Make an informed, educated decision for yourself and your peace of mind. This is a huge emotive issue so be prepared for strong opinions on both sides of the fence.
I do have further info and a website with info for and against. (NOT SCARY)
On that note I must say that I cannot believe I was asked to vacc my newborn for hepatitis B. This is PRIMARILY a disease contracted by IV dug users AND the vacc needs a booster within 6 years!! :eek:

[Eleni's Mum]

We've had most to date - you need to way if your family has a history of side effects, that's the main one for me. No history of problems for us though.

Big concern now is that a lot of schools are beginning to not enrol children if they aren't immunised. Not a reason to be immunised but a reson to be concerned if you have specific schools in mind.

[Elfin]

I have immunised my kids including the optional ones. I got chicken pox at 24 and was severely ill. I guess I don't want my kids to suffer things they don't have to.

I used to work with a man and had a school teacher that had polio. When you see this, it brings it home how horrible these diseases are and how lucky we are now to be able to avoid this suffering. Polio was pretty prolific in the 1950s.

I agree with everything that Willsmum said. There is a lot of scare mongering about immunisation but at the end of the day I couldn't live with myself if my child got a disease that could have been easily prevented.

Easterlily :)

[Lucybelle]

You cannot and shouldn't be discriminated for any choice you make for your children. This makes me sad.
P.S There is an incentive to immunize- Maternity Immunisation Allowance, from Centrelink. You do not have to vaccinate to receive this, if you conscientiously object or of vacc is contraindicated for your child.

[bubbalove]

mmm, i agree that this is going to get heated! SO everything here in is just my opinion, and all are entitled to theirs...
Aidan has had all his vaccinations, including chicken pox and pnumococcal. While people say that chicken pox is just a 'normal' childhood disease, it can have some pretty horrific side effects, and if you missout on it as a child and end up with it as an adult, you can get seriously ill from it. Also, I don't want Aidan to have to unecessarily suffer, and if a vaccination is going to help prevent him from contracting an unecessary disease, then I'm all for it.

[mamafelix]

We did the immunisations but we waited 6 months to start.
I just wasn't happy with my small baby getting all these chemicals and microbes injected into him, and after doing the research and finding that in other country's the schedules are ofetn quite different (for example I think in Japan? they start at 2years old), I didn't have any problem in waiting a while.

I agree that the hep B at birth is pretty ridiculous. Obviously aimed at a small minority of babies who might be sexually abused/bitten, since it is transferred by blood/sexual activity. I think each parent needs to make up their own mind, but it's definately worth doing some research so you are fully informed.

[H&B'sMum]

This is my opinion only.
We have decided to immunise Harry. I researched it thoroughly as I had a friend at school who's sister had a very bad reaction to her needles and was mentally disabled because of it. I wanted to make sure that I was doing the right thing with my child's health. After all the research I still had Harry immunised. I knew Harry was going to be in day care and if your cchild is not immunised then 1, you can't get your Child Care Benefit, and 2 if there is an outbreak your child MUST be excluded for the outbreak duration and still have to pay the fees. I couldn't bear the thought if Harry got sick from a disease that is on the shedule and if I had immunised him he wouldn't have gotten the illness. I didn't want to expose him to that kind of suffering no matter how small.
Another reason why we decided was because immunising your child helps to eradicate diseases from the planet. Small Pox is one example. So if I can do my very small part to help other children in the world just by immunising Harry then I'm totally okay with it.
Just on another point, my mother's group for Christmas just gone decided instead of having a Secret Santa and the children getting another present, we would donate money to a World Vision program. For $21.00 we were able to have all the children in a village in Tanziana immunised. I felt strongly that we should give back to the world and this was one way we were able to. We rised enough money that we were ablt to sponsor two of these programs.
This will get lots of strong opinions on both sides. Everyone has a view on this topic so it should be interesting to read what happens next in this thread.

[Lucybelle]

O.k, check out this website - www.avn.org.au, this information is all from mainstream medical sources.
Remember chickenpox/measles parties? If one child contracted it, all the local parents would send their kids over in the hopes they would catch it too.
I don't know why either of these diseases are now considered so terrifying. No, its not pleasant to be sick, but its not the end of the world.
Most of us seem happy to use Brauer Homoepathic remedies. Homeopathics can help just as much in the treatment of chickenpox etc.
As long as we are retain the right to make our own choices about our own children, thats all I want. :D

[Kassiasmum]

I think that it has to be totally your decision, not what others may say, there is definately strong arguments for both sides. It is well worthwhile doing all the research to make an informed choice. We had our daughter immunised but my sil decided against it and follow a naturapathic immunisation (not sure of the exact name).

[xkwzit]

Hi
I didn't make the decision re immunisation until just before DD1 was born. We decided to have her (and DD2) immunised against everything (including the optional chicken pox, meningicoccal C and pnuemococcal). This was based on the recommended immunisation schedules for other countries (for example, chickenpox vaccine is part of the normal recommended schedule in the US, meningicoccal C is routinely provided in the UK) and discussions with our GP and paed. We also planned for her to attend day care from about 1 year and so expected that there would be more opportunity for her to be exposed to these diseases.

The only vaccine we didn't do was the vaccine for HepB given at birth. I didn't want our baby to have to deal with a vaccination then (the Vitamin K injection we did have, this is completely different to a vaccination), mainly because I had read that you should give a child extra fluids to cope with any fever brought on by a vaccination which is pretty tricky if you're still trying to establish breast feeding! Once we had discussed this with our pead, he told us that it wasn't really necessary anyway :eek: (how dare he, after all my angst :p ). It is really only beneficial for babies in high HepB risk households, other children can wait till the normal 2 month immunisation and will be completely immunised if you follow the normal schedule from then without that first needle given at birth. So discuss this with your paed (because they all have different opinions and its not really a simple issue - but VERY important), you might save your baby from one needless immunisation :o .

Cheers