Can anyone recommend an unbiased write up on vaccines for infants? I'm not an anti vaxer but am skeptical about the need for Hep B for an infant and a few others. Most of the stuff I've found is not exactly biased but just seems to be written to persuade, not to inform. Love to hear input from folks who recently had a kid. Thanks in advance.
First kid on the way - vaccines
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Last: 9 mo ago by TikkaShooter
I can't speak to the vax, but I got Hep B in high school, and it sucked. I was in school, felt like crap and noticed my liver was swollen and painful. I have no idea how I got it. No drugs or weird behavior, sexually inactive (not by choice) etc. I did kiss a chick about a week before the diagnosis and my parents had to call hers. That was the end of that relationship, lol.
I was diagnosed and quarantined for over a month. No treatment, just rest. In the beginning, my urine looked like Coca Cola, and I had some yellowing of the eyes. I slept all night, woke up for about an hour, then had to sleep again. I was only awake for a few hours a day in the beginning. I lost a ton of weight and muscle mass. At the worst, I was about 5'9 and ended at around 115 pounds. It was in the fall of my senior year of high school and what really sucked is no one could come to see me, and I couldn't do anything or be around anyone. Missed wrestling and that was going to be my best year. No high school football games or parties. Maybe wouldn't be as bad in this age of the internet, but it really sucked in the 1980s. I read a ton of books. Thank you, Tom Clancy.
Probably due to my age, I fully recovered quickly thereafter, but to this day even ~40 years later, they will not let me donate blood. I've never had any other symptoms.
Anyway, do with this info as you wish.
I was diagnosed and quarantined for over a month. No treatment, just rest. In the beginning, my urine looked like Coca Cola, and I had some yellowing of the eyes. I slept all night, woke up for about an hour, then had to sleep again. I was only awake for a few hours a day in the beginning. I lost a ton of weight and muscle mass. At the worst, I was about 5'9 and ended at around 115 pounds. It was in the fall of my senior year of high school and what really sucked is no one could come to see me, and I couldn't do anything or be around anyone. Missed wrestling and that was going to be my best year. No high school football games or parties. Maybe wouldn't be as bad in this age of the internet, but it really sucked in the 1980s. I read a ton of books. Thank you, Tom Clancy.
Probably due to my age, I fully recovered quickly thereafter, but to this day even ~40 years later, they will not let me donate blood. I've never had any other symptoms.
Anyway, do with this info as you wish.
Just an FYI: the preservative that includes mercury has never been used in the MMR vaccine. It was out of all the other childhood vaccines by 2001.
I'm not a pediatrician, but luckily we have one that posts on this board frequently. I'm sure he'll chime in.
That being said, my understanding is that infants have a substantially higher risk of developing lifelong hepatitis B from an infection, compared with adults. Risk of chronic infection decreases as you get older. About 90% in infants, 30% in toddlers, and down to about 5% in adults. Hep B comes with a high risk of liver cancer (though not quite as bad as HepC).
I dunno what you read, but a 90% chance of chronic Hep B seems like reason enough to vaccinate in my opinion. Also the Vitamin K shot given shortly after birth, while not a vaccine, is sometimes declined by parents. There's something called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Risk is low, but it's even lower with the vitamin K.
That being said, my understanding is that infants have a substantially higher risk of developing lifelong hepatitis B from an infection, compared with adults. Risk of chronic infection decreases as you get older. About 90% in infants, 30% in toddlers, and down to about 5% in adults. Hep B comes with a high risk of liver cancer (though not quite as bad as HepC).
I dunno what you read, but a 90% chance of chronic Hep B seems like reason enough to vaccinate in my opinion. Also the Vitamin K shot given shortly after birth, while not a vaccine, is sometimes declined by parents. There's something called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn. Risk is low, but it's even lower with the vitamin K.
If you have good prenatal care and mom does not have Hep B there is no rush to get it. It can easily be given in the teen years. The only caveat to that is almost all of the combo shots have Hep B as one of their components so if you opt out of hep B your infant ends up getting more than the usual number of physical pokes.
Vitamin K as mentioned - it is foolish to allow a risk of a brain bleed because you are scared of a shot of vitamins.
DTaP- by far the most important for infants mainly for the whooping cough protection. Whooping cough still spreads yearly just in fairly small numbers but it is very dangerous for infants and the vaccine is old and effective.
PCV- Strep pneumo is a REALLY bad player with ear, sinus, lung, blood, brain infections. The vaccine is safe and works very well. Since starting it in 1999 there has been a dramatic decline in pneumonia requiring surgery and chest tubes and brain infections. It has radically changed our approach to a febrile infant as this was the big baddie until the early 2000s.
Hib- a horrible bacteria that likes to infect the brain and epiglottis. Very old and effective vaccine. In 25 years I have never seen or even heard of a Hib infection. Does that mean the risk is low enough to not use an old and proven vaccine? that is up to you but my kids sure as hell got it.
Polio- old effective vaccine but the infection itself is very rare in the USA. Still I like my kids being able to walk so they got this one.
Rota- oral vaccine with very rare bloody stool side effect. You don't want to have to deal with this in your infant but the worst case scenario is an ER visit for IV fluids. Pick your poison. The vaccine reduced gastro hospital stays 80% so really good.
Those are all you need to worry about until the first birth day. Generally I don't encourage flu/COVID as the vaccines simply don't work very well. In higher risk populations I encourage flu.
Note that this is all my opinion after raising my 2 kids and being in primary care pediatrics since 1999.
Vitamin K as mentioned - it is foolish to allow a risk of a brain bleed because you are scared of a shot of vitamins.
DTaP- by far the most important for infants mainly for the whooping cough protection. Whooping cough still spreads yearly just in fairly small numbers but it is very dangerous for infants and the vaccine is old and effective.
PCV- Strep pneumo is a REALLY bad player with ear, sinus, lung, blood, brain infections. The vaccine is safe and works very well. Since starting it in 1999 there has been a dramatic decline in pneumonia requiring surgery and chest tubes and brain infections. It has radically changed our approach to a febrile infant as this was the big baddie until the early 2000s.
Hib- a horrible bacteria that likes to infect the brain and epiglottis. Very old and effective vaccine. In 25 years I have never seen or even heard of a Hib infection. Does that mean the risk is low enough to not use an old and proven vaccine? that is up to you but my kids sure as hell got it.
Polio- old effective vaccine but the infection itself is very rare in the USA. Still I like my kids being able to walk so they got this one.
Rota- oral vaccine with very rare bloody stool side effect. You don't want to have to deal with this in your infant but the worst case scenario is an ER visit for IV fluids. Pick your poison. The vaccine reduced gastro hospital stays 80% so really good.
Those are all you need to worry about until the first birth day. Generally I don't encourage flu/COVID as the vaccines simply don't work very well. In higher risk populations I encourage flu.
Note that this is all my opinion after raising my 2 kids and being in primary care pediatrics since 1999.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
KidDoc said:
If you have good prenatal care and mom does not have Hep B there is no rush to get it. It can easily be given in the teen years. The only caveat to that is almost all of the combo shots have Hep B as one of their components so if you opt out of hep B your infant ends up getting more than the usual number of physical pokes.
Vitamin K as mentioned - it is foolish to allow a risk of a brain bleed because you are scared of a shot of vitamins.
DTaP- by far the most important for infants mainly for the whooping cough protection. Whooping cough still spreads yearly just in fairly small numbers but it is very dangerous for infants and the vaccine is old and effective.
PCV- Strep pneumo is a REALLY bad player with ear, sinus, lung, blood, brain infections. The vaccine is safe and works very well. Since starting it in 1999 there has been a dramatic decline in pneumonia requiring surgery and chest tubes and brain infections. It has radically changed our approach to a febrile infant as this was the big baddie until the early 2000s.
Hib- a horrible bacteria that likes to infect the brain and epiglottis. Very old and effective vaccine. In 25 years I have never seen or even heard of a Hib infection. Does that mean the risk is low enough to not use an old and proven vaccine? that is up to you but my kids sure as hell got it.
Polio- old effective vaccine but the infection itself is very rare in the USA. Still I like my kids being able to walk so they got this one.
Rota- oral vaccine with very rare bloody stool side effect. You don't want to have to deal with this in your infant but the worst case scenario is an ER visit for IV fluids. Pick your poison. The vaccine reduced gastro hospital stays 80% so really good.
Those are all you need to worry about until the first birth day. Generally I don't encourage flu/COVID as the vaccines simply don't work very well. In higher risk populations I encourage flu.
Note that this is all my opinion after raising my 2 kids and being in primary care pediatrics since 1999.
Really appreciate this input. Thank you.
Quote:
Still I like my kids being able to walk so they got this one.
This made me lol
I got the dtap before our first kid was born, and while it's worth it, it was the worst reaction I've ever had to a vaccine. My upper arm got swollen and I was straight up knocked on my ass for the better part of a week. I think I'm in the minority here, so fingers crossed it doesn't happen to you.
SquirrellyDan said:
Can anyone recommend an unbiased write up on vaccines for infants? I'm not an anti vaxer but am skeptical about the need for Hep B for an infant and a few others. Most of the stuff I've found is not exactly biased but just seems to be written to persuade, not to inform. Love to hear input from folks who recently had a kid. Thanks in advance.
We read the actual inserts for vaccines, researched the risk factors for both adverse reactions as well as what would be vaccinated against. What our recourse would be if there was an adverse reaction, and worst cases for the other scenario if we declined. Then made a logical decision based on that data.
Regarding how you decide to space any vaccines that you don't plan to get within the CDC's scheduled time frame, another factor in the decision of which vaccines when is if the child will be in day care or not. If your child will be home rather than around other children, and you are willing to commit yourself to several "shots only" visits then I think you can vary from the published schedule with little risk.
I forgot about the new options for RSV. I'm not very familiar with the one moms get in the third trimester but it does seem pretty effective at infant protection. The monoclonal antibody, Beyfortus, appears to be remarkably effective and super safe. If your newborn will be under 8 months old in October I strongly recommend it.
RSV sucks!
RSV sucks!
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Quote:
Then made a logical decision based on that data.
Care sharing the results of these decisions?
Thankfully, we have a 3 year old and almost 20 month old that are healthy and thriving.
Didn't we all just learn to not trust everything the CDC recommends.
The newest of those vaccines KidDoc wonderfully reviewed is 19-20 years old. My 20 year old Aggie spent a night in the hospital with rotavirus induced dehydration just before that vaccine came out. The rest are old, well studied, and continuously monitored. Don't throw them out because of the COVID vaccine experience.
My wife is an OT and nutritionist. She recommends this for anyone that has questions about vaccines for kids.
https://www.myehialoha.org/product/vaccine-education-for-mama-bears/
https://www.myehialoha.org/product/vaccine-education-for-mama-bears/
This statement on their for profit website is a red flag for me.drewbie96 said:
My wife is an OT and nutritionist. She recommends this for anyone that has questions about vaccines for kids.
https://www.myehialoha.org/product/vaccine-education-for-mama-bears/
"Why vaccinating babies under 24 months is All Risk No Reward"
This is 100% false. I wish I lived in a fantasy land where RSV, whooping cough, measles, strep pneumo, or polio did not make kids under 24 months sick. Must be nice.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
i poked around their website. I'd steer very clear of anything they suggest, and that goes for things outside of vaccination info.
I thought the article on making your own Holy Water was interestingAggieOO said:
i poked around their website. I'd steer very clear of anything they suggest, and that goes for things outside of vaccination info.
i saw that. almost posted about it.
hey, at least the book is free!
hey, at least the book is free!
Parts for iron lungs are hard to come by these days. Another good reason to get it.TikkaShooter said:Quote:
Still I like my kids being able to walk so they got this one.
This made me lol
When i was training at Ben Taub back in the early 2000s we had a teen patient in an iron lung with a bad case of Guillian Burre. Safer and much more comfortable than a vent. She got better with plasmaphoresis.
Obviously an unusual case since I still remember it
Obviously an unusual case since I still remember it
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Benny the Jet Rodriguez
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You mention Guilliane Barre....any experience with PANDAS? I'm hearing more and more about this recently.
About 4 cases in 25 years. Strep does some weird stuff to your immune system.
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BQRyno said:
I got the dtap before our first kid was born, and while it's worth it, it was the worst reaction I've ever had to a vaccine. My upper arm got swollen and I was straight up knocked on my ass for the better part of a week. I think I'm in the minority here, so fingers crossed it doesn't happen to you.
Happened to me too. It was the acellular pertussis for me I think.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Speaking of which, I was exposed to pertussis again today, from an unvaccinated child. I can't get the booster anymore because of that said reaction.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Eh at least you can just do a course of azithro and prevent the whooping phase. Sucks though.rjhtamu said:
Speaking of which, I was exposed to pertussis again today, from an unvaccinated child. I can't get the booster anymore because of that said reaction.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
OP was looking for unbiased writeup. And any doctor trying to claim they are not in it to make a profit or doing it for the money, they are lying their f-ing ass off.
Please show me the w2 where i make money from vaccination. In fact I make more from the extra time I can bill for discussing the risk of vaccine refusal.drewbie96 said:
OP was looking for unbiased writeup. And any doctor trying to claim they are not in it to make a profit or doing it for the money, they are lying their f-ing ass off.
I'm guessing some private docs make money from vaccines but as an employed doc it had 0 impact.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
What an ignorant, offensive statement.drewbie96 said:
OP was looking for unbiased writeup. And any doctor trying to claim they are not in it to make a profit or doing it for the money, they are lying their f-ing ass off.
Anybody that works in any field is doing it for the money.
And you post a site selling a $149 access to all the reasons why vaccines are bad?drewbie96 said:
OP was looking for unbiased writeup. And any doctor trying to claim they are not in it to make a profit or doing it for the money, they are lying their f-ing ass off.
I really don't understand, do you think doctors should be working for free? The only people not working for money are already wealthy or have someone else footing all their bills.
Not at all, I was simply responding to kiddoc who was inferring that the information about vaccines on the website is invalid because they were charging a fee to access the information and cover some of their costs as if that is any different than any other doctor or anyone else working for a living.
This is ignorant
Can you be more specific?
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