When my first son was born over six years ago, I blindly followed the vaccination schedule provided by my pediatrician. While I wondered why a baby needed so many shots at one time for some diseases that has been eradicated in the United States, I didn’t question the schedule. I didn’t do any extra research other than read the pamphlets on each vaccine that my doctor gave us at one of the well-baby check-ups. And so Darius was stuck multiple times with multi-combination vaccines at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months. Every time, I pondered to myself why so many shots at once. But every time, I held down my son’s chubby thigh and whispered that it would all be okay and cuddled with him afterwards with praise being a brave boy.
Then The Vaccine Book was published. By then, my son was three years old and we were practically out of the dark. I received a review copy of book and read most of it before passing it off to a girlfriend who was pregnant with her first child. “If you read any book, this should be the one you read,” I told her. I had wished it came out earlier. I had more information than I ever thought I needed to know about each vaccine, but deconstructed in a way that made the information digestible. I instantly regretted not doing the research the first time around and placing my son on a slower schedule.
When I got pregnant with my second son last year, I knew that I would follow a slower, alternative schedule for vaccinating my son. And I began to prepare for the flack I’d get from my pediatrician for breaking the standard schedule.
Slow Vax doesn’t eliminate any vaccines. It merely slows down the vaccination schedule. Instead of getting 6-7 vaccines at one time, you get 2-3 (depending on if the combination shots can be given individually). Less shots means that it is easier for you to determine which shot was the culprit if your baby has severe negative reaction. It also rearranges the schedule so that the most important shots are given first and the ones that are less likely to infect a newborn (like Hep B or Polio) are delayed until you baby is older.
Slow Vax also means more doctor visits. And more shots. When my two month old received his first shots this week, he would have received only 3 shots if we had gone the combination shots provided. Three shots that made up seven vaccinations. Instead, he received two shots that made up four vaccinations. Of the other three, two will be given in another month (between his well baby office visits) and one will be delayed until he is over a year or before we put him into daycare. My second son will still end up getting all of his vaccinations, just as his older brother did. We are merely slowing it down.
I never believed that vaccines caused autism. And now with the one and only study that linked them has been ousted as total fraud, perhaps the door will be closed on the controversial debate. For me, it’s not about preventing autism; it’s about protecting my son. Since he had his first shots two days ago, he’d been nothing but cranky with a swollen thigh and a low fever. Normal? Absolutely. But now I know which ones caused the fever. Doesn’t it mean that he won’t get another fever in another month when we return for more? Probably not. But I feel better about the pace of our schedule. I’m sure that there are no negative effects of giving him fewer shots at one time. More importantly, I feel like I’m in more control of his care. Perhaps he’ll hate me for making him get stuck more times. But I’m guessing he won’t remember and he’ll be a shot-champ just like his older bro. One thing is for sure, I will always be there to whisper that it will all be okay and cuddle with him afterwards with praise being a brave boy.
We started “slow vaxing” after my older daughter had a near fatal reaction to her pertussis vaccination at 2 months. You’ve read some of that story (The Bug’s Story) on my blog. We do one shot at a time, and this is what I’ve done with my youngest since she was born. It’s harder to keep up with, we sometimes go to the doctor once a month. And it means my oldest was getting shots when she was older, could anticipate them and definitely knew what to expect (and didn’t like it). But I’m not above some M&M bribes to make me feel better about what we’re injecting into my kids. I have switched pediatricians because our old one told me, when my youngest was an infant and going into daycare, that “That’s how babies die” (when I said I was delaying on some shots). I had another pediatrician get 2 in. from my face and jab his finger at me and tell me that he had “given millions of vaccinations and none of them had ever caused any serious reactions.” In that case, I picked up my toddler and left the room. I stopped at the desk and complained, and watched while someone typed into our file that we were never to see that doctor again. I complained to every other doctor and nurse I could find. Anyway, my long and blathering point here is that it is often inconvenient and difficult but worth it. The only real advocate your kids have is YOU.
By ‘vaccine book’ do you mean dr. sears. please read the science on vaccines.. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=512#more-512
Yes, there is a danger to slowing vaccination, and no benefit. More time to get vaccine preventable illnesses, more time to expose babies to vaccine preventable illnesses. Also knowing which vaccine causes a non-serious reaction doesn’t really help you at all. The treatment is the same. of course a ‘near fatal’ reaction to a vaccine means you are in a special circumstance, and slow vaxing could be indicated..
One more link, sorry to give you all this stuff, but I was following your blog for a long time, and really enjoyed it.. I know you do consider stuff carefully, so I thought I’d show you the other side.. I was at once pulled into ‘the vaccine book’, but when started investigating realized a lot of the information is misleading, it is all based on your protection you get from the herd, and he is not a vaccine expert when you compare to the scientists that were involved in building the vaccine schedule.
http://www.immunizeforgood.com/fact-or-fiction/delayed-schedule