Hellobee

I think it’s very important to point out that statistics like this: “…like Polio, which is now considered non-existent in the U.S. and entire Western hemisphere” are because of vaccines; the diseases didn’t just dwindle off on their own.

I do not mind an alternative/delayed schedule, but am vehemently opposed to not vaccinating children. Our pediatrician follows the AAP’s guidelines and Baby S has never had more than two shots per visit. We did opt to have the DTaP in the hospital (both he and I got it) because it was the winter and there was an outbreak in our area.

Like you, finding a pediatrician who would work with us on the vaccination schedule was important to us. Thankfully, we found one. Unfortunately, I have been lacking and have not done research yet like you have so we have been following our pediatrician’s recommendation. I had thought they followed CDC schedule but to date (2 & 4 month shots) she has only gotten 2 shots + 1 oral at each visit.
Have you been able to find any bi-partisan resources on the subject of scheduling?

@Mrs. Stroller: must be what our ped follows as well. I took Dtap at the hospital and was told because I will be BFing she will not need it.

We did an alternative schedule with DD, and also paid extra for individual vaccines, instead of some of the combos. With DS, we’re on the regular CDC schedule. Honestly, I haven’t noticed a difference, and I think both kids are fine. So I think parents have to do what they are personally comfortable with; of course, making those decisions with input from their doctor. My personal experience has been that there is no difference between my kids, healthwise, so we’ll probably keep with the traditional schedule for any future children.

@Mrs. Stroller: Agree. It’s also important to note that many diseases like measles are reemerging because people don’t think it is important to vaccinate for it anymore. Smallpox is the only disease that has been eradicated through vaccines – the rest are still out there!

We have discussed this and we’ll be doing it based on our doctor’s recommendations. Delaying – and especially skipping – vaccines really worries me. Like @jedeve: pointed out, these diseases are still around, and many are seeing a resurgence because people have stopped vaccinating. I also worry, with delaying, that LO will come to associate the doctor with shots, and will learn to fear going to the doctor. I don’t want that to happen.

As some of the others have pointed out 6 vaccines at the 2month appointment doesn’t mean 6 shots. Many are combo vaccines.

And @Mrs. Stroller:’s point is absolutely correct. These diseases are only non-existent because of vaccination. There are some counties here in TN that are seeing huge jumps in preventable diseases like pertussis because the percentage of people vaccinating is low enough that they don’t actually qualify for “herd” vaccination which is terrifying to me.

We will follow the CDC/Our pediatrician’s suggested schedule. I am super pro vaccinating and it was actually a requirement for me that both our pediatrician and our day care did not accept children who have not been vaccinated (although both do accept children on delayed schedules).

@Mrs. Stroller: I was going to make the same comment about the diseases being less of a threat because of vaccines.

I am all for an alternative or delayed schedule. But I believe passionately that children should be vaccinated. If you don’t vaccinate your child, you are counting on every other person your child ever comes in contact with to be vaccinated so that your child doesn’t get sick. That’s just not a risk I’m willing to take.

My pediatrician (who literally wrote the book on vaccines) advised us to follow the CDC schedule. DS was healthy and there was no family history of allergies or sensitivities on either side of the family. When you split up vaccines, you expose your child to more of the preservatives that make the vaccines stay good. DS had a reaction to Prevnar (sore leg) so we did that vaccine up from the rest and delayed it a bit.

@Mrs. Stroller: Agreed.

Vaccinating my daughter against disease is of the utmost importance to me. I have began my research and will most likely be following the CDC schedule for vaccinations (or maybe a slightly delayed schedule if my pediatrician supports it).

These are cures for diseases. I feel like the best thing I can do for my child is to give them something that prevents them from catching a disease. Considering how many parents are now opting out of vaccinating their children (and schools are allowing those students to attend school with no complaints), I am all the more inspired to make sure my child is protected.

The only one we have chose not to do is the Varicella (Chicken Pox). I haven’t done a ton of research but my pedi was more than ok with us choosing to skip that one.

Thank you for this post. I know it was a tough one to write. I have been researching vaccines for years and we are now making decisions for the baby we are pregnant with now.

We have chosen an alternative schedule, meaning some delayed and some we have chosen to skip altogether because we believe the risks outweigh the benefits.

I know this isn’t a popular choice and we have and continue to receive much criticism about it, but it comes down to the fact that we will do what we believe is best for our son or daughter, regardless of the opinions of others.

We have found a pediatrician who is very understanding and agrees with much of my research, and supports us in our decisions, for which I am very thankful.

@Mrs. Stroller: I agree 100% polio is non existent thanks to vaccines. My husband is west african and we have visited west african countries where polio is still very much existent because some people couldnt afford the vaccines or they werent stored properly and so didnt have full effect.
The only vaccines I am less concerned about is less serious illnesses like the flu and chicken pox, I am still on the fence about when my baby will have those.

I have been thinking about this a lot recently as I look for a pediatrician. I have discovered that some pediatricians won’t take your baby as a patient if you don’t want to do the full vaccine schedule. I am hoping to do a delayed schedule.

One of my best friends worked in a vaccine injury clinic in law school, so I have heard my fair share of horror stories. While most of the time there are no issues, it only takes one time to change your child’s entire life. The issue with the combo vaccines is that sometimes the combinations have an effect that each vaccine alone would not have. Additionally, the preservatives they use may also cause reactions.

I really like the balance you found; I plan on doing something similar. It is hard to share something so controversial – thank you!

I still have a little while before I need to really dig in and research this, but I’ve occasionally wondered if there shouldn’t be a separate official schedule for breastfed vs formula fed babies, kind of like how there are different growth charts for the two? Maybe I so far have an oversimplified sense of the protection that breast milk provides, but again, I still have a few months before I start worrying about this.

I’ve never heard of alternative schedules, but I think it’s interesting. I agree that much of medicine and studies are based on money, etc, but not so much with regard to vaccines since they are such a huge world-wide public health issue. I will be following the CDC guidelines.

I’m also looking into an alternative schedule, but I’m nervous about what my pediatrician will say. I did read the book “What your doctor won’t tell you about children’s vaccinations” which I would recommend.

@Arden: Don’t feel alone, my only child that was full vaccinated on the CDC schedule is my oldest, he is 10 years old and has developmental delays. I chose not to vaccinate my younger 2 children. I believe vaccines are just like any other medicine and some people will have reactions to the chemicals/ingredients. My younger brother had a reaction as well (in 1985) so I should have listened to my mom. Genetics play a huge part in how our bodies react to outside influences (food, pollen. medicine, ect) Nothing in medicine is a “one size fits all” like vaccines seem to be. They don’t even adjust the vaccines for weight like they do with other medicines (like tylenol or antibiotics).

A big problem with choosing to skip vaccinations is that this practice can create population pockets (usually in areas where this becomes a trend) where herd immunity is compromised. That’s when you see horrors like babies dying of whooping cough. (Whooping cough is of course covered by the DTaP vaccine).

Some info: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/07/23/anti-vaccine-movement-causes-the-worst-whooping-cough-epidemic-in-70-years/

I would find it unconscionable to imagine someone’s baby having to die because someone else refused to vaccinate.

As long as the “debate” is “CDC schedule vs. alternative schedule”, that’s fine. But I would like to counter a couple of the arguments against the CDC schedule that you gave:

*”a total of 25 vaccines” by 15 months of age is actually 9 vaccines – as is pretty plain on the chart, a lot of these are multiple doses of the same vaccine. And the varicella and flu shots are pretty optional.

* 6 shots in a visit? I have never heard of this. My son has never received more than 2 shots and an oral vaccine per visit.
I think the anti-vaccine crowd likes to create a vision of tiny babies being constantly punctured with needles, and really, it’s not like that at all.

To contextualize my pro-vaccine stance: My father had two sisters who died of whooping cough. One was 2 years old, the other only 6 weeks. They died within a week of each other. My grandmother never recovered from that, and now that I’m a mother I simply can’t fathom how she survived it at all.

Space out the vaccines however you want, but get them.

@Schmei: This points out one of the big issues with people who choose not to vaccinate. Obviously your aunts were a different era, but today, a 6 week old wouldn’t have been able to get the TDAP vaccine and could have picked it up from a two year old in a doctor’s office whose parent chose not to vaccinate their kids. So it’s not just a “oh it’s only me an my kids who are affected, I’ll make that decision for them” – it’s also putting others who they come into contact with at risk, even those who would be vaccinated.

I’m sure I’ll be like any first time mom and cry when my baby gets his/her vaccines and cries and is tired and grumpy for an afternoon. But I’d cry a lot more if they actually got sick from a disease that could have been prevented.

I think it’s easy as a society to forget horrors of some diseases like measles, polio, whooping cough, because we didn’t grow up with it. And then we see that things like chicken pox are vaccinated now, which we all had growing up and thought it wasn’t a huge deal, so we assume none of the rest of the stuff is too. NOT TRUE! Babies and children died of these diseases; we’re very blessed to have the option to not need to worry about them.

@schmei – I believe the only oral vaccine is the rotavirus one… everything else is administered through a shot. And several of the vaccines are bundled so it is still more than 9.

I wouldn’t consider myself a part of the “anti-vaccine” crowd because I do believe in vaccinating, but at a less aggressive pace. That is terrible that your dad and grandparents had to experience a tragedy like that… I don’t know what I would do either…

I’ve got a post brewing about the same issues. Can’t wait to compare.

I think it’s funny that there is (or seems to be) a controversy over the spacing of vaccines. So long as they are done at some point, what’s the worry of using the alterntive schedule?

Mrs. High Heels – just curious, but how come there is only 1 polio vaccine on the alternative chart but three in total for the CDC one? Are the boosters happening later? Or are the earlier vaccines not as protective, so there has to be more?

I never once considered not vaccinating. I know that everyone who has the internet nowadays thinks they know more than doctors but I trust my pediatricians & their medical knowledge. They follow the recommended schedule for their own kids so that’s what we do (although I don’t think we’ve ever done more than 3 in a visit and one is usually oral).

I think part of the problem with the anti-vax movement is that many parents nowadays weren’t alive when diseases like polio and whooping cough were serious threats. It wasn’t that long ago- I know polio was still around when my parents were kids and they are in their early 60s. I think if more people had seen the horrifying effects of these diseases, they would realize how the benefits of vaccines far outweigh whatever possible risks there are.

@Amber1279 – I was thinking about the whole “one size fits all” approach to vaccines as i was drafting up this post. For example, I wonder how preemies are vaccinated… their little bodies can’t possibly handle the same amount as a full-term baby. Every baby is so different, and I totally agree that genetics play a huge part in how their lil’ bodies react to vaccines. Like I said, I’m just doing what I think is best for my family and I am more afraid of my daughter reacting aversely to a vaccine and ending up with some developmental problem than worrying that I delayed her vaccines by a couple months.

@grace – the alternative chart is just my daughter’s chart of vaccines to date. she is only 20-months now so she got her first polio shot at 18-months and will get the rest within the next year. i was just showing what she’s been given to date. her next pediatrician appointment is when she turns 2.

@mrs. tricycle – oh i’m so curious what you have to say now!

I chose not to give DD the hepB vaccine when she was born but did it the next day. I don’t love the idea of combo vaccines either but I’ve just done what my ped reccomends. DD does better with them than I do lol

@jedeve: This is what scares me. Even if we are following the CDC guidelines, I would be so nervous to bring my baby around other possibly unvaccinated children where my baby could catch something simply because she hasn’t been vaccinated for it yet, and the other parent opted out of vaccinating their child. The herd immunity totally breaks down at that point.

I have a family member with a major immune deficiency and so my family relies on herd immunity to keep her safe, so clearly I am pro-vaccines. That being said… I will absolutely space out vaccines for my children, choosing to administer individual doses in some cases instead of the combo versions.

The way I see it, the actual shot is the smallest piece of the puzzle, I would rather space things out and allow my child’s body to build antibodies to one thing rather than forcing it to create antibodies to 6+ diseases at once.

I have dealt with many, many pediatricians through my career as a nanny and I wish that more were well educated on vaccines and were willing to have a conversation about them and to educate their patients in a way that does not involve scare tactics. Most don’t even want to share the package inserts with patients before administering the drug. I think they get so frustrated with people not doing sufficient research and just randomly deciding not to do certain vaccines for no particular reason that they get defensive the moment anyone brings it up.

The one other thing that bugs me is that to my knowledge, there haven’t been any large studies about the safety of doing multiple vaccines at one time– I don’t mean the safety of dtap, I mean the safety of administering dtap with hepb, polio etc. I would love to be proved wrong about this so please send me some links if I am mistaken but frankly it bewilders me that this hasn’t been widely addressed.

@Mrs. High Heels– thanks for addressing this in such a great way, it shows that your piece is well thought out and I really appreciate any new info I can get on the subject!

@cole – thanks for the encouragement… i really appreciate your kind words! i’ll admit, i was a little caught off guard by the intensity of some of the comments, but i knew what i was getting into as i was writing this up… it is definitely a hot and very controversial topic!! it’s great to hear all the different perspectives though.

i have heard some horror stories of my own from mom’s who tell me their pediatrician have said things like, “if you’re not going to vaccinate then we’re done here!” when all they were doing was asking some questions about the vaccinations and not necessarily saying they weren’t going to vaccinate. i can see how pediatricians must get so fed up after awhile, but part of their job is to be informed themselves so that they can inform parents when questions come up!

one of the main reasons we chose our ped is that the practice requires all of the vaccinations at their specified timeline. i won’t have to worry about the scary, scary scenario @jedeve mentioned where someone else’s non-vaccinated child infects my newborn in the waiting room.

Thank you for this post. I’m due any day now and really need to get researching. I feel very conflicted on this topic! Mostly because I haven’t educated myself yet.

I’m with @Mrs. Stroller. Vaccines are there for a reason, and a reason why so many diseases are almost non-existant. I couldn’t bear not giving shots to my kids because I didn’t think it was necessary. I love your research and thought. I never really did much homework on this portion of parenting because either way i knew i would get all the required vaccines.

I don’t think anyone doesn’t vaccinate their kid because they “don’t think it’s necessary”. It’s because some (many) people believe that vaccinating, especially at such an accelerated rate at such a young age compared to previous generations, can cause problems such as developmental delays and ASD. I would never put other children at risk just because I wasn’t convinced that the vaccines were necessary. But when I start thinking about the harm they might cause my 1 month old, I’m sorry but that’s a priority too. I know all the studies that have shown no link to vaccines and ASD, but I also have heard an awful lot of stories from moms of ASD kids that whole-heartedly believe that the vaccines caused it. @Mrs. High Heels, I feel ya and I respect your decision to delay.

I have to throw in a few contrarian comments that I haven’t seen in this discussion so far. I do totally acknowledge everyone’s opinions and right to parent their children the way they see fit. But this is a debate so…..

Vaccines are not ‘cures’ and never have been. They are a method of prevention, and everything you can read from the CDC down to the hard core anti vaccine folks will state clearly that NO vaccine is 100% effective.

Therein lies the debate. There are vaccines that have ingredients that might cause bad reactions. These same vaccines might not protect your child from the particular disease, so some parents decide to weigh that risk and take the chance.

Things like the resurgence of whooping cough are also not 100% attributable to unvaccunated populations – evolution anyone? Drug resistant bacteria? The diseases themselves can change and the vaccines don’t always keep up. I personally feel that the resurgence of some of these diseases like whooping cough is an example of how the vaccines don’t always do what they are supposed to and how the drug companies are not on top of things the way they should be.

Very young babies immune systems are not developed yet, thus the vaccines don’t last very long and repeat doses become necessary to get full protection. If the initial shots are delayed, oftentimes not as many doses are needed.

Multiple doses ARE cumulative – the child will receive x times as much of the preservatives etc as well as the vaccine itself so it’s not just as simple as – the CDC schedule has 9 diseases not 25 so you can’t count it as 25.

As far as I’ve found NONE of these vaccines have ever been studied long-term in the combinations recommended. This means that nobody has real data on how they combine in the child and what reactions can be caused. There are real, documented serious reactions and when multiple vaccines are given at one time, you can’t pinpoint which one caused the reaction.

I am personally planning to err far on the side of caution and choosing the vaccines that we will give our children based on the actual current risk of contracting a disease and the actual documented risks of the vaccine. Some vaccines are known to be more reactive than others.

In Dr Sears’ vaccine book in a concluding chapter it’s put this way – and this is what we all have to decide for ourselves: Would you rather put your child at risk for something (like a serious reaction) by something you DO, or would you rather NOT DO something and leave things up to fate, chance, God and have a risk that they will someday catch a rare disease and have a serious reaction to the disease. Some people are more comfortable with the action (vaccinate) side while others are more comfortable with the no action (don’t vaccinate) side.

@Missrachelk: Thanks! Good points. I like the Dr. Sears quote.

As a pediatrician, I have to say that the evidence is incontrovertible and the only controversy does not exist in the scientific literature but from the lay public. Vaccines save lives.

I really applaud everyone who uses reputable literature to make informed decisions and respect those who despite their fears, go ahead and vaccinate (even if on a modified schedule). We’ll take what we can get to keep our nation’s kids healthy!

@Mrs. High Heels: I think you did a great job on this article btw

@MISSRACHELK: great comment, I was just reading today about the CA increase in whooping cough and the majority of cases are vaccinated children, so obviously something isn’t working. The lack of long term side effects studies bothers me as well. For example, the why is there such a drastic rise in cancer in the years since vaccines have increased? Is nature trying to balance science? LOL

We are vaccinating on schedule. It’s just not possible where I live to get singe doses of vaxes, you either do the full shot or you do none. The most we’ve had at a visit is 2 shots.

I think it’s great if you can find single doses of a measles vax, but I have no idea where a person finds them and if it’s even safe to use. I also don’t think any pediatrician would inject a vax that they didn’t procure themselves.

I also think we have to be aware of the fact that people and organisms are much more mobile than they were a generation ago. People get exposed to terrifying illnesses while on vacation or visiting their home countries and easily bring them back to the US. Just because you don’t think you’re exposed doesn’t mean you are safe. You just don’t know everything about everyone that you come into contact with.

I never gave a second thought to the CDC schedule, I’ve always planned to follow the recommendations. I don’t have a problem with people who choose to use alternative schedules, as long as they follow them. However a 2010 study found that parents who delay vaccinations often fall behind and and end up not fully vaccinating their kids. So if you come up with an alternative plan I think it’s important to make sure that you stick to it.

@Mrs. Jacks: Amen!!

Part of the problem with the whooping cough epidemic is that the vaccine doesn’t last for the lifetime, and people often forget to get their booster.

@Mamamoose: Just wondering, why was it a requirement for you that your childcare center made vaccinations mandatory? (Since your children are vaccinated). I am not asking this snidely, I really am curious. Thanks!

Thank you for this post. I haven’t done very much research on this, and it reminds me how far behind I am!

I do wish there was more information that wasn’t completely alarmist on both sides. On the one hand, you’re made to feel if you adopt an alternative, delayed, or no vaccination schedule, that you are dooming not only your child to death by disease, but other children, as well. On the other, you’re made to feel if you follow vaccine recommendations that you are an uninformed sheep who is dooming your child to death by severe reactions, cancer later in life (I mean, seriously? Really? We REALLY think that?), or developmental delays like autism. It makes you feel like, as a parent, there is no good decision that you can make.

The fact is, there is a lot of bad stuff that can happen to your kid. I, personally, would rather say that I did everything I could to protect them, than say I did not. Unfortunately, I don’t know which side that falls on. I can say that I am uncomfortable with the notion of abandoning medical advice so that I can leave things up to “fate, chance, God” — especially when it comes to my child.

And I’m uncomfortable with the insinuation that you should forgo vaccines because they’re not 100% effective. That’s like saying condoms don’t work all the time, so you’re not going to use them because you might have a latex allergy. Except, you know, sperm=deadly germs and latex allergy=anaphylactic shock.

While I’ve carefully considered both sides, done quite a bit of research, and decided to follow a delayed schedule with my first, now that I’m carrying our second due in December, I’ve continued to read and really find myself struggling with even that position. Is there a really, really delayed schedule? Heehee.

For me, what’s something very unstudied about current vaccination combinations and singles are the ridiculous levels of aluminum and other secondary chemicals within them. We have already proven a link between aluminum and brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s … and yet when we give a baby even a single vaccine, there are doses of aluminum in there a 250lb adult shouldn’t be consuming. Aluminum assists in “aggravating” the immune system, allowing the vaccines to do their job, but I’m left suspect of how much of it is really necessary for infants who hardly have a developed immune system to speak of.

For me, it’s less about the important parts of the vaccine and what they’re meant to do and more about what ELSE is contained in those cocktails. Much like deciding to follow a particular way of eating to avoid HFCS and MSG and all that other stuff, some of my choices in terms of vaccines for our next babies will be dictated by my options in terms of what extra stuff is crammed chemically into the vaccine I’m offering my child(ren).

@Mrs. High Heels: Rotavirus is also a shot now.

Plus getting the vaccine does not mean you can’t still get sick. My LO has been sick with HIB-a and Rotavirus even though she had the shots.

@thehistoryofus – there’s the option of taking it as an oral vaccine… i think that’s the more common method according to my pediatrician.