Comments on: The Needle And The Damage Done: A Guest Post By Adventures In Babywearing

By: From Dates to Diapers and Beyond! » Am I A “Parasite”?

From Dates to Diapers and Beyond! » Am I A “Parasite”? — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:04:29 +0000

[...] we made our decision. But, the subject of vaccinations is one that hit the Precourt family hard. The Needle and The Damage Done gives you a glimpse into their story. Stephanie Precourt writes at Adventures in Babywearing and in [...]

By: Сергей

Сергей — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:51:43 +0000

Встраиваемая бытовая техника, духовые шкафы, холодильники, варочные поверхности, стиральные машины, малая бытовая техника.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:02:35 +0000

Two words: Herd Immunity. Vs herd mentality.

I totally get the decision not to immunize when your child (or children) has/had severe reaction to vaccines. However, paranoia is very easy to spread and I’m just afraid to say quite a few people, unlike yourself, will only go as far as this post in the way of research and assurance to forgo vaccination because after all, nobody wants to go through what you and Noah did. Most people just don’t have the time or inclination to dig further.

Granted herd immunity in itself may be a flawed theory based on the very fact that the vaccinations themselves are flawed (or we would not need require a “herd” for them to work), until we (as in the human race) can successfully evolve to become NATURALLY immune to these diseases (think Will Smith in I am Legend) – and in order to do so, be willing to let millions die in the process – we cannot do away or advocate an anti-vac stance or the unfortunate circumstance of herd immunity.

People are different but most do not react severely to vacs. I submit that parents should adopt a stance of vaccinate with caution, watch the signs, rather than to start with not vaccinating and hoping for the best.

Remember – your kids grow up into adults who will wish to go places and do things and a vaccination like polio from when they were babies could’ve come in handy. Vaccines like HPV have an age limit as well – a friend of mine found out she had the virus when she was 30, too late for the vac.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. Thanks for starting the conversation.

By: OMSH

OMSH — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:27:53 +0000

Great post. Absolutely. We delayed vaccinations for this very reason – I just don’t see vaccinating a child before the age of 3 for any reason whatsoever.

If our children had not gone into public school I doubt we would have vaccinated at all.

Surprisingly enough, there are more and more doctors moving to this line of thought.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:25:39 +0000

I’m so sorry that you have had to deal with these problems with your son. It is amazing to me how many people are choosing not to immunize these days. It is also extremely scary. To me it is so simple. Look back 10, 20, 30 years ago when chicken pox, whooping cough, rubella, polio, etc. were prevelant and many people were debilitated or died from these diseases. Most of the diseases that we vaccinate for are just not seen any more (remember when you were a kid and everyone got the chickenpox). Unfortunately we are starting to see more of these diseases again because people are choosing not to vaccinate, and that puts everyone at risk. It is true that there are risks with immunizations, just like anything else. But, the benefits FAR outway the risks. So many lives have been saved by immunizations and if we’re not careful, we will be seeing a lot of outbreaks again.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:50:15 +0000

With my first child, we got all vaccinations on schedule without question because I knew no other way or options. With my second child 2 1/2 years later I staggered them a bit and refused a couple that I thought were completely unneccessary (like rotavirus). Now, I think I would stagger even more and refuse even more. The more we know, well, the more we know. You know? Thanks for an informative and thoughtful post.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:45:14 +0000

Be careful with statistics. Just because you found a group of people with sick children who all had vaccinations does not in any way mean the vaccinations caused the problems. I can gather a HUGE group of well children who all had vaccinations at the same age.

I respect your right to make a decision for your family. I’m glad vaccinations are out there. And science can point you to a control group of people who never had vaccinations and who died as a result of the disease. Think polio. Think smallpox.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:36:01 +0000

Steph, this is a insightful and thought-provoking article. Thanks for sharing about how you came to your decision.

It’s such a scary topic with so many conflicting viewpoints and I think that the more people that talk about this, the more likely that more research will be done on the topic. Thank you.

By: PsychMamma

PsychMamma — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:36:11 +0000

This is such a polarizing topic. Thank you for having the courage to share your story and the links for information. My daughter was in the NICU for her first 3 months. We resisted the doctor’s constant pushing for vaccinations until she was bigger, stronger and out of the hospital. Looking back, I can’t believe how much pressure and judgment we got from doctors. We did vaccinate her until she reached 1 year. By then, I had done a ton of reading and investigating (and thankfully my husband was on board) and we made the decision not to vaccinate further. My daughter had been constantly sick, and I started seeing connections with more severe sickness (especially vomiting and fussiness) soon after vaccinations (she was getting RSV shots each month through flu season). When we stopped her vaccination schedule, she became a different girl – happy & energetic with no vomiting and diarrhea. We are so glad we made the choice that we made, but just wish we wouldn’t have given in to the pressure for that first year. I hope that posts like yours help parents realize that they do have a choice, and that they are encouraged to investigate all the information out there before making their choice.

http://psychmamma.wordpress.com

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:34:16 +0000

Wow, what a helpful and wonderful post! My son is turning 1 this week and vaccines have been on our minds a lot. Thank you much for this advice.