If you have given vaccines some thought..

[RainbowSprinkles]

Which are your top 3 must have vaccines and why? Which ones do you skip all together and why?

 

I found my immunization records and I only had 3 kinds of shots before age 2. I had MMR, Diphteria/Tetanus, and oral polio. After these I had nothing until age 11. I don't like that kids are getting shots for everything and so many things all at once. It's too much, especially on tiny little bodies.

 

My first 3 kids have all been vaccinated pretty much on schedule. My 4th one has had none except the 1st DTaP, 1 Hib and 1 PVC. I stopped then because I was uncomfortable and it just didn't "feel" right.

 

I have been reading and reading, and then done some more reading. I started while I was pregnant with her and haven't stopped. I wanted to do selective/delayed and spaced out. Now I'd like to wait until she is about 2 years.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, without turning this into a debate. :bigear:

[Chris in VA]

I don't even know what they are giving these days, but I'd say probably DTap, because of pertussis; polio; and MMR. There's a menengitis one, right? Probably that one, too, since it's so scary and not uncommon (as polio seems to be here in the US).

 

Just FWIW, I delayed some and spread them out, and I didn't do guardisil. Ds20 had a bunch due to drug treatment and JDC programs, and ds22 had too many of one because the thought was you had to start a series and keep going, and if you missed part you had to start over. Dd had all the recommended ones except the newest ones.

[Karen in CO]

My situation is a little different because I started looked seriously at vaccines when my youngest had a severe reaction to the DTaP vaccine - twice. My doctor and I evaluated everything she's been given since. We look at the frequency of reactions along with prevalence and risk of the disease.

 

Polio and HiB were the first vaccine sequence she started (and I think she's almost complete).

After that she started the MMR sequence when my ds was preparing to go to Japan because they have regular outbreaks.

Next we started the menegi-something because we do travel to FL frequently, and I know that it was required when my ds was in school there because of frequent outbreaks there.

 

I am pretty sure that is all that she's had. She can't have anymore of pertussis vaccine or I might consider that because of the huge number of cases in CO. But we base all of our decisions on risk and benefits. If my other two hadn't had all of their shots, I might reconsider them, but I haven't needed to.

[momtoamiracle]

my son has had Dtap,Hib, and two polio. He acted strangely for a week after the 2nd polio so we hadn't given him any more of those.

 

 

 

I do intend on varicella and MMR at some point, he's going to be six this fall.

[RainbowSprinkles]

:auto:

[nova147]

DTaP, for both tetanus and pertussis. MMR, mostly for rubella because it is so dangerous to pregnant women, so I don't want my kids exposing someone. Polio.

 

We have given all the scheduled vaccines to our kids. But not without significant thought. I don't worry too much about hib, pneumococcal, or rsv because they aren't in school/day care. I'm not terribly concerned about chicken pox or hep b either. Not sure what we'll do about hpv when we get there. Not because I'm not worried about the disease, but the vaccine is newer.

 

Have you read The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears?

Edited June 14, 2012 by nova147

[beaners]

We do DTaP, Hib and pneumococcal on schedule. We do MMR a little bit later than recommended. We do polio a bit later also. I feel that tetanus is a bigger concern for us with our animals and fencing, and I wouldn't want to wait until after 2 for that, for us. There have been pertussis outbreaks in the places where we have lived, so I have felt that was also a prudent choice, for us. If I was only choosing 3 vaccines, I'd go with the DTaP because it has the two I'm most concerned about.

 

For now, we don't do Hep B at all. We skip rotavirus. We skip chicken pox, although we will do it if they haven't contracted it a couple years before we anticipate puberty. We don't do the flu at all. Those are all I can think of that we have had to say yes or no to.

[Unicorn.]

DTap for tetnus and pertussis. IPV- (I didn't do oral polio w/ my kids). Meningitis. My next choice in line would probably be Hep B.

[SKL]

I agree with DTaP.

 

I would wait on MMR until at least well past 18 mos.

 

I would wait on varicella until at least school age, or about 8-9 if your kids are homeschooled.

 

I would strongly question any vaccine that has been marketed only for the past decade or two.

[lllll]

.....

Edited November 30, 2012 by ksva

[chiguirre]

Trinqueta was at the doctor for a physical today, so I just had this conversation. We delayed vaccinating her until she was 4 because both of her brothers are autistic and we didn't want to take any chances (I don't want to debate this, it was the medical advice we received overseas.) She's had the MMR, dTap and Hep A. We're holding off on varicella and hope she'll contract it naturally. I was surprised that my pediatrician who's not very crunchy was totally on board with that. When we started vaccinating Trinqueta, she was exempt from more than half of the recommended vaccines because she was over 18 months old. She might get the polio vaccine eventually, but it's not urgent since it's not a threat in the Americas according to my ped.

 

My personal priorities were tetanus and the mmr. Hep A is a nice bonus because there have been outbreaks in the US.

[Mergath]

My dd is fully vaxed, but if I was going to pick three, I'd definitely go with DTaP, Hib, and MMR. Especially Hib. I've seen videos of young toddlers with epiglottitis, and it's horrifying.

[AngieW in Texas]

We just did DT and IPV. We add in meningitis for college. It strikes quickly and you can go from feeling just fine to deathbed over the course a single day. My two older girls are both Aspies.