Vaccinations

After a post that I made on my Facebook account (25 things about me) where I addressed my fear of vaccinations, I had several people email me with questions: why do I fear vaccinations? Do I vaccinate our kids? Have we had problems with vaccinations? How do I feel in general about vaccinations.

Let me make one thing very clear. My opinions are MY own. There are many parents who would not agree with the choices that we have made and I say kudos to you for making your own choices. As we all know, parenting is one smorgasboard of choice. Do we bottle feed or breastfeed? Do we do preschool/montessorri school/keep them at home? Do we work? Use daycare? Become stay at home parents? The vaccination issue is just one more stand we take as advocates for our little people.

That being said, we do vaccinate our children. We choose to do this differently-let me explain. Until my youngest daughter was two years old, we vaccinated our children according to the routine schedule given to us by our Pediatrician (this is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics). We had no reason to question this routine schedule and did not know that we could alter this schedule. Due to personal circumstances with our youngest daughter (an autism diagnosis when she was 2) I began to do a lot of research into links between autism and the environment. This sparked a need for change in our family unit so we then decided to vaccinate our children by separating the MMR shot and requesting that it come thimerisal free (which we are told now that most shots are free of routinely). Our children receive the measles and then 30 days later go in for the mumps followed 30 days later by the rubella shot. Yes they are getting 3 shots versus one and no I do not feel that I am a bad/mean/cruel parent for doing this. We also do not do combination vaccinations such as the newer kinex shot (for dtap and polio) and yes Emmy did have a wicked reaction to this particular vaccination-a red, hot, raised welt that last from August 18, 2008 until December of 2008. We also do not do flu vaccinations due to the high metal content.

Many people will tell me freely that there is no official link to any disease/disorder and a vaccination-but to those people I say: until you have walked in my shoes you have no place to judge. Until two of your children receive an autistic diagnosis , until you have spent thousands of hours in therapy, watched your child retreat into themselves/not speak/not make eye contact/not play with another sibling, until you have waited to hear your daughter say "Mama" and your son to stop behavior that he cannot control, until you have taken your child out into public and have had people openly stare when your child is falling apart instead of offering to help...PLEASE do not tell me that you are right and I am wrong. Because even if you do, I am not listening:)

So there you are....an answer to your questions (I hope). And for the record my daughter has come back from a very dark place and is living a full, typical life. Our son has also come a long way and will continue to blossom with the love of his very large family.