To Vaccinate or Not Vaccinate?

The great vaccine debate started a few years ago for us. Before I begin, I must say we are very grateful that we live in a first world country and that we can even have the discussion about whether or not we should get vaccinations. With Lucy we were hesitant with the vaccinations, but not enough not to get them. When we had Gus we were much more hesitant about vaccines, especially the MMR. Mainly, because boys are more likely to have autism than girls. Our former pediatrician wanted to give Gus the MMR vaccine, along with a host of others, while he had a horrible cold, and just finished his second round of antibiotics in a month. I declined, the Dr was unhappy, but we moved forward. Gus reacts really negatively to shots: fevers, moody, "typical" stuff. Gus is very light for his age (less than 10th percentile) and has been since his 9 month appointment. I just don't know how much his little body can take.

Anyway, we had the blow-up with our former pediatrician at Judson's two month appointment. He wouldn't focus on any of my concerns with Judson (spitting up 75+ times a day, his gas, sleeping, etc) and camped out on the vaccine issue. He bullied me into getting some vaccines, but I refused three or four. It was really awful, I won't go into it. After that appointment, I shopped around for a new pediatrician. Let me tell you, it's much easier to break up with a hairdresser than a pediatrician. I did that last year. But back to the pediatrician, we wanted to find a pediatrician that would be a help, a resource, and did not judge us for how we chose to raise our children. We found just the right man for the job!

I really wanted to know more about autism so I didn't sound like a complete dufus when I talked to the Dr. I read the Jenny McCarthy and Jerry Kartzinel book and it put so much together for me. My understanding now is that autism is different for every kid. It's like a cough, three kids could all have a cough, but get it for different reasons (allergies, bronchitis, choking). There are so many toxins in our environment, and in what we eat, that some bodies just cannot process all the toxins. Gluten, dairy, and sugar are just a few toxins that complicate things. So a kid is trying to process some toxins (like gluten) and then a live vaccine gets introduced to their system, too. The body cannot handle it and it cannot function, it cannot get the toxins out of the system properly. Anyway, there are all sorts of big and fancy words in the book, charts, and trees. It was very helpful. There were warning symptoms and family history items that might be indicators if our children could be at risk for autism. Between Dave and me, we had about 90% of the genetic disposition checklist items (only one or two is needed, we had about 20). Then the book talked about behaviors that could be indicators. Gus had quite a few of those, too. Let me be clear, I do not think the MMR vaccine causes autism, I just think it's the straw that breaks the camel's back. And once the child crosses over, getting them back to the other side is incredibly difficult and painful. We do not want that for our children. I'm also a bit frustrated that the CDC thinks that everyone should be able to handle the vaccines. Not everyone can have penicillin, so why is it expected that everyone can handle live vaccines? Apparently, there's a test that can be done to see if your body has a high number of something, and if it does, it's an indicator that you won't respond well to the MMR vaccine. It's not ready for babies, and I think Gus is too little for it, yet, but it's definitely something we'll be exploring in the next few years.

Judson only had some of his vaccines at his two month appointment and there was a marked difference in his eye contact and interactions for the following two weeks. So, we're not vaccinating him at all for another few years. Once a kid is four, the number of vaccines needed is so little, it's amazing.

Well, that's the summary on where we've landed for now on this big debate.