To vaccinate or not vaccinate?

Ugh.
I am pregnant with my third (AND LAST!) child and after sitting in the doctors office yesterday being stared at by posters advocating vaccination, I started thinking about how I really don't want to vaccinate this child.
Mind you, I use to be really irritated when I would run into people who don't vaccinate their children. I had a friend who didn't believe in vaccinations and his son ended up being autistic anyway. I, like the general population, never questioned what I was putting into my children's bodies as long as it came from the doctor. Until my son had terrible vaccine reactions. And after dealing with the effects of it for the past 10 years, and the denial of the doctors, I just can't imagine doing it again.
I fully understand the horrors of MMR or whooping cough. And I appreciate the fact that these diseases/viruses have greatly diminished over time due to vaccinations. But. I also understand what it is like to rush a 3 month old (and 6 and 9 month old) to the hospital within hours of receiving vaccinations only to be told "he must have picked up a virus from the doctors office". Excuse me?! I didn't know viruses have an incubation period of only a few hours
Did they think I was stupid? Especially when it happened every time he received his vaccines?
So fast forward a few months. He is incredibly delayed with speech and motor skills. Not really walking until 16 months. Not talking well until almost 3 years old. Being tested for autism.
Fast forward to age 5. Very behind academically. Gets debilitating migraines (what 5 year old gets diagnosed with migraines?) Has food intolerances like none other. I spend about $500 a month on food just for HIM. ADHD diagnoses, autism gets thrown out as he finally starts thriving around age 8. He is now almost 10 and I feel as though he is finally "caught up". Physically and mentally. But only because of OUR efforts. Not efforts on the doctors end. They just wanted to medicate him for everything and then some. I refused. I started getting into alternative medicine and holistic healing. All of his "issues" went away with a very balanced diet and some mineral supplementation.
While I can't say with any integrity that the vaccine reactions caused his problems, it is the ONLY thing I can think of as we are a very healthy family. I never really drank alcohol. I don't smoke. I never even took over the counter meds while pregnant. But I did vaccinate his brother and he is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. EXTREMELY intelligent and zero health issues. I feel like I barely had to do much besides feed and clothe him as a baby.

Part of me is frightened that I would have to go through all of that again if this baby has sensitivities to vaccine ingredients. I do not have the energy to go through all of that again (though as a parent, you find it in you), But I also don't know if I can deal with the backlash of NOT vaccinating.
Does anyone on here have children who they decided to not vaccinate? How do you handle that in a school setting, etc? Are your doctors pushy? They were pushy with me about me not wanting to get a flu shot and it's APRIL! Any advice will be appreciated.

This is the worst place to ask for vaccination advice. Most people hear believe vaccines cause Autism amongst many other things simply because they've read it on the internet. Get advice from an unbiased community or person with solid knowledge on the subject that cares more about the well-being of your child than talking about conspiracy theories.

reply to post by PassedKarma

You've got a problem. As SpearMint pointed out, there are a lot of sources of information out there and some are crazy. Can you figure out who you can trust? If you want to try the Centers for Disease Control, here are a couple of links to their vaccine web pages:

www.cdc.gov...

www.cdc.gov...

Ok first of all the CDC website is going to be slightly biased in favor of vaccinating. I'm asking for experiences from other people who haven't vaccinated. Not opinions, etc.

And I posted in general chit chat. I'm just looking to chat about it/let off some steam/share experiences. There are plenty of "average-I-don't-think-everything-is-a-conspiracy" people on here who have children and have experienced life just like everyone else on this planet. Not everyone on this site lives in a bunker, off the grid.

I believe that some of the vaccines are necessary while others may have more side effects than they are worth. If a person has a compromised immune system than they need a flu shot....a majority of people don't need one though. Who needs vaccines though? They don't yet know how to test if you need one. At least they aren't telling us they can tell. I think it is often a sales scheme myself.

Originally posted by PassedKarma
Ok first of all the CDC website is going to be slightly biased in favor of vaccinating. I'm asking for experiences from other people who haven't vaccinated. Not opinions, etc.

And I posted in general chit chat. I'm just looking to chat about it/let off some steam/share experiences. There are plenty of "average-I-don't-think-everything-is-a-conspiracy" people on here who have children and have experienced life just like everyone else on this planet. Not everyone on this site lives in a bunker, off the grid.

That won't be good advice to follow though because you'll have a different experience to them. Children come in to contact with different things, one could be fine while the other gets sick. There's not much they can tell you other than whether their child caught a disease or not, and depending of what disease it is, chances are they didn't. But what if they do? That's why children are vaccinated.

The vaccines they really need are the Mumps, Measels, and Rubella. I may have missed a few others. Chicken pox isn't necessary neither is the flu. All in my humble opinion of course. My train of thought is like this, and my 2 kids don't get the flu shot, let them get it, sick that is, (just like letting a kid play in dirt) to build their bodys own immunity. The flu shots help some, I emphasize some greatly. But the flu shot has more than one virus in it among other additives as well as a form of mercury neatly labeled something other than mercury. There are fish advisory's against eating fish because of mercury, would you want your child shot up with something like that?
Food for thought.
Also, more food for thought, look at the highest vaccinated populous (military bases) and look at where the highest rates of autism are.


ETA: remember, there is always two sides to a fence.

reply to post by kimish

Just a small point. My understanding is that mercury was removed from vaccines in the 1990's. I could easily be wrong, that was just internet information.

reply to post by charles1952


There was a thread a few months back where it was admitted in front of congress that they still used it but in a different form. It's still a form of mercury. Nonetheless it's still mercury. I forget the name. And to my knowledge mercury accumulates in ones system.

I apologize. Vodak clouds my thinking worse than my emotions.

Originally posted by kimish
reply to post by charles1952

 

There was a thread a few months back where it was admitted in front of congress that they still used it but in a different form. It's still a form of mercury. Nonetheless it's still mercury. I forget the name. And to my knowledge mercury accumulates in ones system.

I apologize. Vodak clouds my thinking worse than my emotions.

edit on 5-4-2013 by kimish because: (no reason given)

Ethylmercury, which leaves the body very quickly. Trace amounts are in some vaccines.

I'd also like to point out that a big problem with a lot of people and vaccinations is that there are quite a few given at one time. A lot of people don't agree with that. If they could be spread out... IDK. I had a friend that asked her Dr. to spread her daughters vaccinations out, you know, instead of getting 3 or 4 at once, and the Dr. refused. That little girl has Aspbergers btw. I'm not blaming the Vaccinations for that but... it's still a possibility.

reply to post by SpearMint


I hope that's what it is. But that's not whats listed in the ingredients. Mercury is not in the ingredient name at all but it is still a form of it. Like I said, it was admitted to Congress, last year sometime.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge than myself will chime in, hopefully to prove me wrong.

Here's one source of many, that are hard to find ironically. lulz
www.naturalnews.com...
www.wanttoknow.info...
www.vaccineriskawareness.com...

Originally posted by kimish
I'd also like to point out that a big problem with a lot of people and vaccinations is that there are quite a few given at one time. A lot of people don't agree with that. If they could be spread out... IDK. I had a friend that asked her Dr. to spread her daughters vaccinations out, you know, instead of getting 3 or 4 at once, and the Dr. refused. That little girl has Aspbergers btw. I'm not blaming the Vaccinations for that but... it's still a possibility.

Totally agree!! I think too many are given at one time and at too young an age. "Back in the day" it was easier to contract viruses at... well... birth. But in our bubble wrapped society, it's not AS MUCH of a worry. I think starting them at 6 months would help a lot. That's just my opinion though.

reply to post by PassedKarma


All that's needed is a healthy diet and exercise. Stay away from the Genetically modified foods. I for one, have no problem with hormone fed foods, but that's a topic for a looong discussion over a few drinks. haha.

Take your time and decide what you want to do. Make a list of pros and cons that you get from everybody and marinate on it for awhile.
As long as you love your children and you're there for them, that's all that matters in the end.

Originally posted by kimish
reply to post by SpearMint

 

I hope that's what it is. But that's not whats listed in the ingredients. Mercury is not in the ingredient name at all but it is still a form of it. Like I said, it was admitted to Congress, last year sometime.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge than myself will chime in, hopefully to prove me wrong.

edit on 5-4-2013 by kimish because: (no reason given)

Here's one source of many, that are hard to find ironically. lulz
www.naturalnews.com...
www.wanttoknow.info...
www.vaccineriskawareness.com...

edit on 5-4-2013 by kimish because: (no reason given)

Probably Thiomersal which contains Ethylmercury. Those aren't sites you should be going to for information, especially natural news.

reply to post by SpearMint


I figured that. And Thiomersal is exactly what I was thinking of. Is that another name for that form of Mercury you mentioned earlier?

ETA: I see your edit. Thanks. Another question. When you get the flu shot, isn't there more than just the influenza virus in it? From what I understand it's many varieties of influenza (which would be multiple vaccinations) with others. Am I right or mislead?


ETA: first thing that popped up when I googled ingredients. Thiomersal and another form of mercury. ugh
www.healthscents4u.com...

Here's more food for thought, so to speak.
www.cdc.gov...
articles.mercola.com...
www.nvic.org... and a link it takes you to if you click on it,
www.nvic.org...
and general CDC, most likely government funded info...www.cdc.gov...

All of those, non MSM links in a matter of less than 2 minutes. Imagine the multitude of info that could be gathered in 30 minutes! I'm in no way saying they are correct but the best way to come up with an educated conclusion is to get the most information you can from the most sources and put the puzzle together yourself. Then you check that puzzle to make sure it's right.

Originally posted by kimish
reply to post by SpearMint

 

I figured that. And Thiomersal is exactly what I was thinking of. Is that another name for that form of Mercury you mentioned earlier?

ETA: I see your edit. Thanks. Another question. When you get the flu shot, isn't there more than just the influenza virus in it? From what I understand it's many varieties of influenza (which would be multiple vaccinations) with others. Am I right or mislead?

edit on 5-4-2013 by kimish because: (no reason given)

ETA: first thing that popped up when I googled ingredients. Thiomersal and another form of mercury.

ugh
www.healthscents4u.com...

edit on 5-4-2013 by kimish because: (no reason given)

I think it does contain multiple strains of influenza, the strains that they believe will be prominent. It evolves very fast so it's not always effective. Personally I don't think the flu shot is necessary unless you're at a very high risk of dying if you catch it.

The site doesn't give much information about the ingredients, I don't really trust it, as far as I know the mercury is in Thiomersal but I could be wrong. By the way Thiomersal is known as Thimerosal in the US, same thing.

reply to post by SpearMint


I spelled it wrong 0_o and I stand corrected.

You're grammar is impeccable, Mint of Spear. Touche`