My daughter did not get her DTAP until she was one year old. She did not get her MMR until she was almost 4 years old. She got Polio I believe (I think it's IPV?) and she did end up getting Pneumonia, but she has not had chickenpox or any others. She has not had a flu shot either.
You will get the NASTIEST responses from people, so just prepare yourself. Every time I had to take her to the ER for her ear infections (she was born with natirally small eustacian tubes that required tubes by 18 months, but her first year she had frequent infections) the nurses and doctors would say "Is she current on her shots?" and I would say "NO, she has never had shots" and then I got this look like I should have her taken away right there on the spot! Just start telling them about thimerosol (ok I can never spell that right LOL) and then they start to think maybe you actually know what you are doing.
I had to change pediatricians because of it and ALMOST didn't get her into the preschool I wanted her to go to. I made 2 MMR appointments when she was 3 years old but chickened out and we literally left the appointments.
All I know is, my son had vaccines right on time in 2001 when the thimerosol vaccines were still on the shelves (even though there was a recall in 1999, many were still on the shelves in early 2001 when my son was born). My daughter did not, and she is NT.
I do not believe that MMR causes autism, because my son's symptoms began from birth basically. But I DO believe in the dangers of having mercury preservatives in vaccine and the risks of vaccines are very serious. I followed the DAN protocol as well, her vaccines were always split up. I also had the doctor write down the Lot # - this is very important if you want to have evidence for legal purposes. I think you are doing a great job! My daughter was fine after a year with no shots, and even when she started the serious it took nearly 3 more years to get her caught up with spacing them out. You can do it!At www.mothering.com they have some great discussion forums. There is a section on vaccinations, with a sub-forum there called selective/delayed vaccinations. There are lots of schedules there with some real knowledable folks.
Dr. Stephanie Cave's book spells one out. I can't remember the title. It is something like "What your Pediatrician Won't Tell you About Vaccines." Do a search under my posts (it would probably be about a year old) and I know I detailed it. Or do a search about Dr. Cave.
I'm pretty sure she says don't do the Prevnar. We didn't do the fourth with either child - with my ds it just wasn't available (they ran out) and with my dd that is when we started getting wary of vaccines.
DEFINITELY delay and separate the MMR. We did that with my dd and I think I spaced them at least 4 months apart. I know that Dr. Cave recommends more...
DEFINITELY no flu shots (my ds had regressions after this).
DEFINITELY no rotavirus - I agree. It's too new and the first time they tried a vaccine for that it went bad FAST.
Good luck!
Does anyone have a good source to recommend for a delayed/spread out vaccine schedule? We are trying to figure out what to do about my 2 month old's vaccines. I've been doing some research, but it seems like most of the info is either very pro or very anti vax without much in the middle. I'm not anti vaccine but think they get too many too young and at the same time.
We've already made a few decisions...
1) Wait to start until 4 months then do DTaP
2) Wait to do Hep B later (not sure when)
3) Delay and separate MMR
4) No Rotavirus vaccine - it's too new
5) No flu shots (my older son had problems with it)
But, I'm not sure what to do about all of the others Hib, Prevnar, IPV.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Thanks for your suggestions. The more research I do, the less comfortable I am with the vaccines. It seems that out medical community has taken a "one size fits all" approach to vaccines and it just does not make sense.
For example, I had no idea that Hib is extremely rare for breastfed kids not in day care. Why can't they say that? It reminds me of my doctors response to my inquiry about why on earth they would vaccinate babies at birth for Hep B, which is a STD or spread by IV drug use, if they know the mother is Hep B negative. His response, they don't necessarily know the current status of the mother even if she was screened during pregnancy so "from a public health perspective it makes sense." Come on, how many moms acquire Hep B while pregnant - I'm sure a few do but it has to be an extremely low number and they use that to justify mass vaccination???
In general, it seems we could wait to start the schedule until later for many healthy babies and then they would require fewer doses of the vaccines. Polio is a great example. It's been virtually eliminated so the vaccine has done it's job, but now couldn't we wait to start the vaccine series until later. I'm not saying wait years, but would a few months hurt? Since every vaccine carries risks, it makes sense to me to develop a schedule that minimizes the risks from the vaccines as well as the diseases. But, that would also mean less $$ for the pharma companies and the doctors who give the shots.
Sorry for the rant, but I'm just so frustrated by the approach to vaccines and the lack of informatin and options given to parents - unless you ask and do much of the research yourself. I just with I had known a lot of this with my older son...