Friday, April 11, 2008

To Vaccinate...Or Not?

Most parents are like I used to be: completely trusting of doctors, unquestioning of "tried and true" medical procedures, and...completely ignorant. I call these people the "mainstream." If I had to put them all in a box, they would: formula feed, vaccinate on schedule, give their baby medicine every time she sniffles, use disposable diapers, and clean their houses with bleach. Oh, and then the baby would get baby food from a jar, get vaccinated to attend school, and sustain himself on preservatives and artificial coloring for the next 12 years.
We'll forget about all the rest for a second and focus on vaccines, also known as immunizations. I do not call them "immunizations" since they have not been proven to provide immunity against disease. I've got lots of
information about childhood vaccines . This topic has come up again for me due to the recent mumps outbreak. This article states that the ones who GOT the mumps had even had both doses necessary to provide immunity. The answer? To add a THIRD dose! Then what? When will they stop?
This completely baffles me. It just does. I just spent a few minutes at the CDC website and I can see why people are confused. First, they are putting their trust in the CDC. But their information is well written and very easy to fall for. There's just something about it. But the more you learn about the CDC, the more you want to run away screaming.
I fully vaccinated my son through 24 months. He was 2 and my daughter was 6 months when I woke up to the insanity that we were living. The vaccinations stopped there. That is also when the "well baby" visits ended since my "well" babies would end up sick a few days after their visits. Imagine that!
Please do some serious research about vaccinations and don't just trust your doctor. Keep in mind that there are many doctors who don't vaccinate their own kids! You might get the cold shoulder from your pediatrician, but if you don't DO the well baby visits, they won't be able to give you a hard time. Take your baby to the doctor when she is sick, and they will treat her. My daughter was only seen when she was sick, and the topic of vaccines never even came up. (They can't vaccinate a sick child, either.) For what it's worth, moms know their babies better than a doctor that spends 10 minutes with a baby. If your baby is acting different or you just have that gut feeling that something is wrong, bring him in.
By the way, I'm pretty sure I didn't dream this, but one of the respected medical establishments (CDC? AMA? AAP? APA? XYZ? ;o) finally released a statement that the link between vaccines and autism is possible and they need to do more research. If you are more on the ball than I am, please send me any information pertaining to this. I'm sure I didn't dream it...my dreams are MUCH hotter than that!