Just two questions for non vaxers.

[Roopee]

After reading thru some of the threads i was wondering, if ,when your child is sick do you give them medication, eg, panadol etc?

Also in another thread someone mentioned tht they were still getting the immunisation allowance even though they dont immunise? I dont understand how or why on this one.

I dont was a debate, im just curious, thats all.

[xkwzit]

I do vaccinate, but I think I can answer your 2nd q. Ppl get the immunisation allowance, provided they get a conscientious objection form signed by a GP. I believe that this is very appropriate, otherwise you are blackmailing ppl who would otherwise choose not to vax for money. I believe the imm allowance is really only to make sure that ppl who do not object to vaxxing get off their butts and keep their kiddies up to date with vaccinations.

Cheers

[Shanaynay]

I have been wondering about that second point too.
Good point Xwizit, I had never thought of it as blackmail, but if it is making people want to vax for the $$$ who otherwise oppose vaxing - it most certainly is :yes:

[Roopee]

Ok so that answers that- im glad you put it like that and it makes alot of sense.
Good point:thumbsup:

[WeThree]

I did delayed vax with my second son and was not about to go against what I believed in for a few hundred bucks, so we missed out on the money with him. Then I discovered with DD, who is still not vaxed, that I could get a conscientious objection formed signed and still recieve the money. This should not be bribe money and is just a leftover from the original maternity payment anyway, so should be payable to everyone. Besides, not all 'non vaxers' are non vaxers as such, just because my DD is not vaxed by 2 or whatever the cut off age for the payment is, does not mean she will never be vaxed. (she may not be either, but ykwim, lol) :)
In answer to your panadol question, yes if my daughter is in pain that will not go away or has a bad fever that will not go down, then yes, I give her panadol or nurofen, others may not, but I personally have no issues with pain relief for my children :)

[shed]

We haven't vaxed yet, but the other day when DS had the sniffles I gave him some panadol for the first time.

I was so nervous!!

So in his short life he has had breastmilk and one lot of panadol put into his body.

And whatever water he slurps off my arm in the shower, lol!

He had a slight fever, which is an indication that his body is fighting the germs, so I didn't give it to him straight away as I wanted to let his body do its thing. I pushed him to feed more so the breastmilk could do its thing too and I squirted it up his nose. (the breastmilk, not the panadol!)

I haven't gone and got the Conscientious Objectors form yet. I need to find a new doctor and I am currently looking for one. He might possibly have the meningococcal vax when the time comes, but we will need the form for the others which I am pretty sure he won't have until AFTER he is 2 (which is when the payment is made) if he does have them.

With all the research, reading, discussions and studying we have done to get to the point that we are at, which is delayed vaxing, then HELL YEAH we are going to get the flippin money.

[Ffrenchknickers]

We don't generally use panadol. I have found the kids tend to get better more quickly if a fever is left to run its course. I believe that fever (obviously unless it is ridiculously high) is the bodies way of killing off bugs etc. and is an important mechanism. Another reason I dont like using it is becasue it makes the child feel like they are better and they start running around etc. when their bodies actually need to be resting in order to recuperate. Does that make sense?

As for other medications, we always try natural remedies and homeopathics first, they normally do the trick although ds2has had antibiotics once or twice for recurrent ear infections (they normally cleared up by themselves though...) and ds1 has had them once for Pneumonia.

I believe that the immunisation payment is there to make people think and make a concious decision about immunisation - whichever way they decide to go:)

[the_queen]

I give homeopathic remedies rather than paracetomol. I've only given it once to DS, when he was getting his first tooth. Second tooth has come through with no issue :)

I won't give paracetomol/homeopathic equivalent unless the child is in obvious pain. A fever is the body's way of fighting infection/virus/disease. If my daughter has a headache, she gets a big drink of room temp water and a banana (potassium! :thumbsup:). If she grazes/scrapes herself, we do some QBB's (Quick Big Breaths - thank you Scott and Amy from Activ8 :)) because slow deep breathing can help with pain relief.


My daughter was vaxed as a baby, so I received the "reward" payment. My son will not be vaxed before 18 months old (and probably not at all) but my wonderful GP will sign a CO form. The payment is a part of the Maternity Allowance, and it is held back until the baby is 18 months old in order to make sure the parents fulfill the government criteria for the payment, ie vaccinate, have a medical exemption, or have a CO form.

[Funkychicken]

I have used Panadol in the past for my two older children but these days we use homeopathics as a first choice. Hamish had a chesty cough which I treated with Hepar sulphate and he came good within a day. My older son has in the past been prone to School sores (Impetago) and I ususally treat it with Colloidal Silver and a blend of essential oils as a topical treatment. Same results as pharmaceuticals, less nasties in their little systems! :thumbsup:

[Shanaynay]

I am not a non-vaxer, but if I were, I see vaxing and medical pain relief as quite seperate anyway.
I see vaxes as (perhaps an uneccessary) prevention of contracting a disease which is VERY unlikely - so in the vast majority of children in Austalia, vaxes will never have actually done anything good,

and things like panadol a cure to pain. Of course though I believe in medical pain-relief when other natura/homeopathic/non-medical pain-relief treatments ahve been exhausted.

So TBH I don't see them as related at all iykwim, only in that non-vaxers are probably less likely to use panadol unceccessarily because they are concerned with what goes into their child's body if not needed :)

[faery]

our bub is not vaxed. for teething and sicknesses we always use herbs or homeopathics first. if it doesn't do the job we will use panadol. i don't want my little one in pain but nor do i want to overdose his liver with toxins.
as for the payment, we have the concientious objectors form signed so will happily collect the money.

[theycallmemum]

We are non vaxers now after serious reactions in both our older children. Yes I do give my children pain relief if they need it, absolutely, why allow a child to be in pain?

As far as antibiotics go, I try to avoid them as much as possible because they kill the good bugs as well as the bad but will use them if it is the only treatment available.

To me it's all about moderation.

[youngbrismum]

My DD is non vaxed and I don't plan on vaxing #2 due in march either.

If DD is sick we aways explore alternative therapies (eg. homeopathic) and so far haven't had to use Panadol/Neurofen etc. If however she had a particularly high temperature that wasn't responding to natural remedies I would use them.

I agree with Ffrenchstar, that a fever has a purpose and it is best to let it do its job. Our babes bodies will be all the better for it.

[lottiesmum]

I want to share my stumbling block in this whole vaccination issue and wasn;t sure where to post it so i decided to put it here! it's not really a question for non-vaxers as i totally understand/get why one would choose not to vacinate one's child. my maternal instinct would suggest not doing it and not exposing my children to unnecessary toxins or whatever one choses to call them. i've read about pros and cons and read various posts and also thought about the issue a fair bit. however. my personal sticking point is that vaccines are good for the community, but not necessarily an individual child. for example, pregnant women, young babies, those with immune system illnesses or conditions which prevent them being immunised and the elderly, benefit from the general population being immunised. so while not vaccinating my 2yr old with the MMR might be the right decision for her, because by a certain age the disease is less ''risky'' for her personal health - if she were to catch Reubella for example, and during the incubation period, were to come into contact with a pregnant woman who was not vaccinated (for the same reason) - her baby would be at risk of the serious birth defects exposure to rubella brings. Same applies with chicken pox (perfectly harmless to a 3 year old) when a small infant catches it. I BF my children but some women don't'and even BF is not guaranteed immunity...or if (god forbid) one of my kids developed leukemia and cou;dnt be immunised - id still want them to go to pre-school/school and i'd be grateful for general population immunity.

so anyway, that's my stumbling block at the moment. not terribly lucid but i needed to get it out!

End of the day, we all love our kids and want to do the right thing by them. i'm not trying to criticise one way or another...so please don't take this personally if you disagree. i'm not sure i fully agree with myself :rolleyes:

[jessgray]

we delayed the chicken pox vax for my ds1 for health reasons but we got the money anyway. i got in november or december. we had to delay it, ds1 wasnt well and we needed to make sure he was ok with his asthma before he got it.
my ds2 is vaxed as well.

i personally dont like to give panadol unless its really needed.i'm a huge fan of the brauer range:thumbsup: i wont bother ranting about how much damage panadol can do to a little body-i'd be here all day lol i wont start on nurofen either:laughing:

non vaxers: what do you do when kids are school aged have you been told to provide certain things for not vaxing etc?or have you been discriminated against for your choice?

[the_queen]

Jess, as I understand it, schools may not discriminate based on immunisation status. My daughter had her baby vax's, but after reading and finding out more, I decided that she wouldn't have any more ever - and not long after that I enrolled her a public school and was not asked anything about immunisation status. Schools are obliged to inform parents if there is any type of communicable disease outbreak, and if there was, say a measles outbreak, I'd probably keep her home from school (actually, if she was really really healthy at the time, I might even send her to school, in the hope that she gets it. I'd check with our doctor first though, but it is better for kids to develop natural immunity by being exposed to the disease.)

LottiesMum - I understand your dilemma. I guess apart from the ingredients and the possible side-effects of the vax's, my other problem with today's vaccinations is the effecacy rate. The varicella vax, for example, when I asked a government immunisation representative (at a parenting expo) about the effecacy rate, she said they think that the child might need a booster in 10 years or so. They think. Maybe. Or perhaps it won't work at all. The rubella vax also has quite a low "success" rate, apparently (I can find data for that, if anyone is interested, I just don't have it right here in front of me now). So yeah, if your child develops Rubella and then during the incubation period is around a pregnant woman - well, she doesn't have to be non-vax'd to be susceptible to it. IYKWIM. She may have had her Rubella vax's, and according to her records she might be right up to date. But perhaps the vax didn't work on her, or perhaps it's worn off. That's a big issue I have - how long until it wears off? If we choose to vaccinate our children, should we get them blood tested every couple of years to check their immunity levels to each and every VPD? How many double-blind studies have been done on these vaccinations?
For me, too many unanswerable questions.



And, back to original topic (sorry mods :)) I don't like to use paracetomol at all.