Hi,
I have a three year old with pdd and 15 month old twins.
Recently my one fo my twins, Nathan, has been diagnosed with asthma. He was diagnosed with pdd about a month earlier.
He gets sick often which results in wheezing coughing, chest congestion etc. He has been hospitilized when he had an asthma attach about a month ag0. He is now on daily preventative asthma medication but still is having flair ups.
I stopped all vaccines when they were nine months old and i started to notice dev delays.
Anyways our ped thinks Nathan should get the flu shot since he gets so sick and has asthma. There office has the thermison free shot.
I discussed this with our dev ped who is also a DAN doc and she says based on the health risk it would probably be a good idea to get him the flu shot but not the other two.
I am so on the fence. I dont know what to do. SHould I get him the flu shot? BTW he is not in day care i stay at home but we do go to play groups and into the community often.
Any advice is helpful
I just discussed vaccinations with both my ped and DAN! docs this past month. Both concurred (I was shocked on the part with my ped) that we should skip them. Even if the shots are thimerosol free, the other substances in the shots, for our children with already disadvantaged immune systems, can be a problem.
I'm not sure if this helps you or not, you know your son best. I would just recommend talking to your DAN! doctor if you go ahead with the thimerosol-free flu shot and see if there are any supplements your son can take to help boost his immune system.
Goodluck.
That is a tough one. I guess I would be concerned about how his immune system would react to it, especially since he already has asthma. Does anyone in your family have a lot of exposure to other people (ie the increase possibility of bringing it home). Is your 3 yrd old in daycare or school where he has a lot of exposure to people?
Something you might want to consider if you are leaning towards getting the flu shot is that typically the first flu shots are given in 2 half doses 30 days apart. Maybe you can request this. If you see any negative reactions after the first one, then you can opt not to do the second one.
(((HUGS))) This is a tough decision.
This website can provide more info about it: http://www.909shot.com/
You can even ask the DAN doc for the insert that comes with the flu shot and see if there are any reports on the VAERS database (may not have any if it is recent, but it doesn't hurt to check) and to see the preservatives.
Other places you can post your question to is:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=47 (don't forget to ask for someone to post links that contain more info about the flu shots - both sides of the issue)
Havent really got any advice, its a tough one, just wanted to say - SNAP - I got a 3 yr old and 15 month twins too !!!