I'm not sure if this is just an issue in America, or if it's a concern all over the globe...Anyways, I was wondering what your thoughts on immunizations are. My daughter is 2 months old right now, but I'm dreading her 12 month shots...I've read so many articles that link MMR to autism and I've effectively scared myself to death. I know that the studies have only found LINKS between the two, and have not definitively proved that MMR causes autism...I'd just hate to think that immunizations could have anything to do with causing diseases. So, what are your thoughts on this? If you have young kids, are you planning to break up the shots and do an alternative shot schedule? If your kids are grown, please reassure me and tell me that I'm being an overly-protective mom I have a tendency to do that!
Hmm, this is definitely a big issue. I had all my shots when I was younger, and I fell that I've turned out fine (you never know though! ). Still, I don't know what it's like to be a parent yet, or so you should hope!
haha, let's hope not I had all my immunizations, and I'm fine too. But being a parent certainly changes your outlook on things. And my husband is sick of hearing me whine - he says we'll cross that bridge in 10 months when we come to it!
I didn't know stuff caused autism - I thought you were just born with it. Anyway, it sounds like one little shot won't do too much damage. My big brother's got a mild form of autism (forgot what it's called) and he's fine, even if he is a little spacey sometimes. He's super responsible, he can drive, and he's got some mad video game skills. I don't think you can get whatever my brother's got from a shot, but even if you can, it's not too big of a deal. I'm not a parent, and if I was I wouldn't be a very good one, so I'm not really the best person to be giving advice. :redface:
speaking as a parent. the shots in the long run prevent epidemics of fatal and life threatening diseases. My husband and all our families had the shots when we were kids. My 2 children both had the shots. No side effects at all. Well aside from peeing all over the nurse who was stupid enough to give them the shots while they were naked. The one nurse gave Danny his in his leg and it was more tender because it was right inside his diaper so it was being contaminated by dirty wet diapers. Took longer to heal. So get the shots in the arm. I am also a mental retardation councellor and I have never seen that shots caused autism or retardation in any of my clients. Right now we keep seeing outbreaks of measles in Canada and I think this is from the parents who when their children should have gotten the vaccinations didn't. Now 20 years later the measles are back and causing big problems. It is kind of like saying I will not carry a kinife because I might fall on it and hurt myself. THEN walking out the door and into a knife fight. You have to prepare for life and all the curve balls. If something is there to protect you. Use it. the statistics are 1 in millions that something bad will happen. Protect your child now and in the future. It is only being a good parent in my mind. Cool baths and a baby aspirin help if the needle causes a fever.
There are some very limited links between autism and vaccinations. But these have all been disproven or remain unproven after testing. Most or all vaccines in North America are now completely free of any trace of mercury so the one major possible link is no longer valid. The only people who say the link exists are now a limited number of parents that have autistic children. The problem is since autism usually appears between 1 and 2 years of age, it often appears shortly after the doses of vaccines have been given. Which is why the link appears at all.
I was terrified when we took little Rumpole for his shots (for the same reasons you've described LibbyAnn but he turned out fine). As a side note, my mother has been working with autistic children for almost forty years now and she brought up a very interesting point. Throughout all those years she has seen vaccinated and unvaccinated autistic children and there was always a belief that some vacine caused it. The vaccines changed and yet they were still blamed.
The immunizartions are not perfect, but they are doing their best to minimize the risk. I had measles when I was about 3 years old, and nearly died from it.
Thanks everyone for your responses! lessa - I will definitely give her the vaccines...I was just worrying about it. But you brought up a good point about the measles outbreak. I wouldn't want her to go through that either! Rumpole - How interesting...I didn't realize that different vaccines had been blamed for autism in the past. That definitely puts my mind at ease a tiny bit!
i'm just glad my kids are the ones having to deal with this quandary, not me... i can't honestly say what i'd do... i'd be very wary, due to the reports coming out... would most likely opt for being safe, rather than sorry and eschew the 'baby shots'... none of my children were autistic, but two developed MS with no family history of same, so i have to wonder what caused that... one of my 17 grandkids is mildly autistic, don't know how that fits the national average...
LibbyAnn, just one more thing. We had my mom over for dinenr tonight and I mentioned this conversation. Over 60% of her autistic children have never been immunized.
My cousin's wife (I guess?) is super concerned about this issue. Of course, both of them are into every conspiracy theory ever named, so I have to take what they say with a grain of salt. Some research has found that autism is related to getting certain shots. However, there was a preservative in the shots that had mercury which I believe has been removed. Plus, it's not that the shots cause autism. If a child doesn't have any chance of being autistic without the shot, the shot won't create autism. It does increase the chance for some, but I think it's better to be immunized against diseases. Vaccines, in general, do a decent job of protecting against health hazards.
I've not got any children myself, but I know that if I had children then i'd definitely get them immunised. The links between autism and immunisation are so stretched that there really doesn't seem much to worry about, and look at the numbers of people who actually haven't got autism but have had an immunisation. I've had all of my immunisations, as has my sister, and we've had no problems whatsoever but I do not that my mum's friend saw all this sort of thing in the news and decided against it. Her daughter is currently in hospital, something that would have been prevented with one quick injection and all the time she's crying about how its her fault...
That's a good point, Kit. The links between immunisation and autism are spotty at best, but the links between diseases and grave health complications/death are (I think) fairly well documented.
I have a three month old granddaughter. My daughter has been an autism couselor for several years and she did an exhaustive study of this issue during her pregnancy. I would be happy to put you in touch with her if you are interested...let me know by private message if you are interested and I will get permission from her to give you her email address. BTW - she has her head on straight. She's not one of the extremists; she's just cautious. .....NaCl
Just spoke with my daughter...the one who is an autism therapist. She told me the best book on the subject is: The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for your Child by Robert W. Sears, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Naturally you should get children vaccinated. You could hope that enough other children are vaccinated that diseases won't crop up near your unvaccinated child, but (sorry for no specific source) the number of children who "become" autistic after vaccinations is much smaller than the number of children who have to deal with a potentially dangerous (or fatal) illness because they did not get their shots. I know of no children personally who have had issues with their vaccines. There is no clear link between vaccinations and autism, as many have said, and it's also unlikely that the vaccines will cause enough immune system trouble to be dangerous. It's generally better to decide by a large positive majority than by a (very) small negative minority. Mama, 1/17 is not unusual, though I don't think you can accurately measure the chances among a single family group.
He breaks the decision into its components. Some immunizations are more important than others. Some "inert" ingredients in the innoculations are more harmful than others...particularly the use of heavy metals like mercury. My daughter's decision is to spread the innoculations out over time, and to avoid "multiple" disease innoculations, like MMR in favor of individual immunizations. Her daughter is getting each shot spread over time so as to minimize shock to the baby's immune system. By the time the child is ready for the greater exposure that occurs in preschool/elementary school, she will have had all her major shots and boosters. By the way, her pediatrician is in strong support of her immunization "program". .....NaCl
Thank you, NaCl...that is exactly what I was looking for! I will PM you later today to get contact information - I'd love to hear more about what she's learned. And I'll definitely be buying that book!
