Vaccination Update

I've been meaning to write a quick update on all my vaccination woes. You might remember when I was ever so politely asked to leave our pediatrician because I had questioned him on the recommended vaccination schedule.

Many of you weighed in with your thoughts on the matter, either by leaving comments or sending me personal emails or facebook messages. First of all, a huge thank-you to all of you who took the time to do research for me, or help guide me in a specific direction, or simply to offer your support of this freaked-out-first-time-mom. I did appreciate all the advice, words of wisdom and encouragement.

At the advice of several people whose opinions I trust, I read The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child, by Dr. Robert Sears.

I'm SO very glad that I read this book. It is incredibly well-written and helpful to those of us who don't always understand medical terms. When I feel overwhelmed by my lack of knowledge and understanding of some thing, I often shut down and refuse to even try to learn about it. However, I can't do that with my child. I've been given the responsibility of caring for him and ensuring that he receives the best possible medical care as I am able to give him. I might not always make the best decision, but I can not take a lackadaisical approach to his well-being.

The author explained the diseases and corresponding vaccinations in such a way that was easy to understand. He broke down difficult terms and threw in aspects of humor to explain those terms. I felt that he was very unbiased in his approach of explaining the reasons for the vaccination. He laid out what the diseases were, how common they were, were they treatable, etc, and then moved on to the vaccinations, what they were made of and the controversial elements (if there were any), side effects of the vaccine and reasons why or not to get the vaccination.

All of this information was so helpful to me in aiding my/our decision for what our family wanted to do with Bennett's vaccinations. Even if we hadn't been questioning the standard schedule for vaccinations, I'm glad I read this book simply to understand the diseases that the vaccinations are attempting to stop, or at least lessen the severity of it. I feel empowered now that I've read a little on it. Sure, my knowledge is nothing compared to a pediatrician or someone who has studied vaccinations, but I don't feel now that I can get pushed around or blindly say "yes" to something my doctor is telling me just because I don't understand or am too ashamed to ask questions.

We finally found a pediatrician who will allow us some freedom in our vaccination schedule. Kc went with me when we went in for B's 4 month well-baby, when we started our shots. The pediatrician (whom we chose simply for location at first) gave us the run-around about our decision, especially the polio vaccine!, but ultimately said that it was our choice and he was ok with us selecting some shots to decline. I think if we had wanted to do away with all of them, he would've had a bigger problem, but since we were just being choosy, he agreed.

Our plan is to follow the suggested alternative vaccination schedule as given in the book. I'm fine with this plan and I feel that it's best for our family.

I recommend this book. Highly. Even if you are planning on following the standard vaccination schedule, I believe you owe it to your children to be informed and to not do just what's expected of you but to know for sure why you are doing what you are doing.