Just a little poke...

I have been meaning to write about the vaccine dilemma I've been having this time around. When Isaac was born I questioned the routine immunizations. I read a lot and though a lot. The best book I came across was The Vaccine Book by Dr. Bob Sears. It was straightforward and provided the pros and cons of each disease and it's corresponding vaccine. In the end, I decided to do the 2, 4, and 6 months vaccinations as per the recommended schedule. I delayed the MMR and chickenpox...and in fact, Isaac has still not received those vaccines and I don't plan on him to get them for a long time yet. Here in Canada the vaccine schedule contains way less vaccines than in the U.S.A. So he only received 2 vaccines at each appointment. The DTaP is combined with HIB and Polio in a vaccine called Pentacel. The other one is the Pc vaccine, called Prevnar. Both of these contain aluminum (which is what I was concerned about), but for some reason I felt OK about it with Isaac and he got all his vaccines up until 6 months. Thankfully, he did not appear to have any reactions or long-term effects.

And I say appear on purpose because a lot of the reading I have done and the information I have gathered points to the possibility that perhaps we don't have the whole picture when it comes to vaccines (or at least some vaccines). The truth is that children do sometimes get reactions. Some are considered mild, as in a rash, redness at the injection site or perhaps are a bit cranky or irritable. Other reactions are more concerning, such as lethargy and possible neurological effects. This is were it starts to bother me. More concerning is the fact that because there are no long-term studies looking at a vaccinated group against a non-vaccinated group of children, we just don't know how many children or which children get serious reactions or suffer long-term injuries from vaccines. Yes, it's true that these reactions are rare, but they do happen. Not to mention that there is a also the possibility that some vaccines may be related to certain autoimmune diseases.

Oi! As if being a parent wasn't hard enough!

In my internal debate, the rare possibility of a side-effect from vaccines was weighed against the possibility of my breastfed-not-in-daycare baby catching one of these illnesses. The chances are also very low that she will catch anything serious in her first six months (when diseases such as HIB, pertussis and Pc are most dangerous). However, I decided that I could not take the risk that she might get sick with something serious, that is also preventable. So I decided to vaccinate her in the same way I did for Isaac.

But this time around I followed Dr. Bob Sears' suggestion to only give one aluminum containing vaccine at a time. When I asked our family doctor about this she said she had not heard about aluminum being a concern.  But I know there are many studies discussing and linking neurological damage to injected aluminum. So I still opted to only give her the Pentacel and next month we will give her the Prevnar...and continue to do one per month until she gets all her doses. The MMR will also wait till she's older. Our doctor didn't object, though I could tell she was being very placating. Oh well. I am glad I stood my ground and didn't feel pressured to go against what I wanted. She did give me a very convincing and reassuring talk about the safety of vaccines, but if she hadn't heard or read about the concerns on aluminum how can I trust the assurance she has on their safety, when she might not have all the info? And that's the thing...doctors are not trained in medical school to question vaccines. In fact, they don't really receive any information on how vaccines are made, or their possible adverse effects. So for me, asking my doc about it isn't all that reassuring.

After Elsa's first dose of Pentacel, she became very irritable and fussy. She didn't seem to want to nurse, she would latch on and pop off over and over at every feed. Tylenol didn't seem to help. Of course, I wondered if this might be related to the vaccine or teething or getting sick? Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. It's just impossible to know because we can't ask them how they are feeling and where it hurts. But I will say that my gut tells me it was from the vaccine.Also, it has now been 1 week and she's still teething, but that irritability and fussiness is gone. She is nursing better (even though she's still at the same stage of teething) and she isn't sick. She just wasn't herself this last week...and now she's back to her happy-go-lucky self. Now I am not sure how I feel about her next dose! Maybe I will wait a bit longer between doses to allow for her body to process the vaccine and its ingredients.

I wish they had a pertussis-only vaccine. It's really the only disease that worries me at this age. But alas, that vaccine does not exist yet.

Coincidentally {just how synchronicity seems to happen!!! And what finally prompted me to write this post!}, yesterday I came across this video. It's a new documentary on the vaccination debate. It's very well done, in my opinion.

Currently, it's streaming for free on Vimeo, but I'm not sure for how long. Anywhoo, here is the link: The Greater Good.


I am not writing this to start a fight on this issue, I just wanted to share my thought process on what I decided to do with my daughter. And maybe in doing so, provide some info to other parents. And I should clarify that I am not anti-vaccine. I do think that they have been important and have been part of the reason our children get sick less nowadays. But, I also think that there's more to the issue of simply vaccinating or not. I wish there was better data being collected to really solidify the safety {or non-safety} of vaccines. I think it's important for parents and doctors to be provided with information on this so they can make the decision that's right for the child.

Double whammie...poor Maddie

I was starting to worry about Maddie when for the third day in a row she said she couldn't hear and she kept asking for things to be repeated or the volume to be turned up on the T.V. Last Saturday Ken had looked in her ears and they were red, though not yet "infected", so we just thought they were red from swimming lessons that past Thursday and that things would resolve. Well, last night Ken looked again and the poor kiddo's ears were so inflamed and the ear drum of one of them was bulging with pus. Today, she was so cranky, tired and just not the happy little girl she normally is. We got in to see a new family doctor (Why a new doctor? Well I think that's a story for another post) and she confirmed that yes, she has a definitely has a bilateral ear infection. She said both ears look "nasty". So, of course out came the prescription pad: Amoxicillin for 10 days. A necessary evil.

Ken was my knight in shining armour and went to get groceries and to pick up the prescription. At the pharmacy he questioned the 10 days, because he had read the Canadian Pediatric guidelines and they had said 5 days. Our pharmacists is really good and she spent some time researching it while Ken got the groceries. Apparently, there's a whole set of criteria, all of which are not too clear. But Ken and her decided the best approach would be to give it for 5 days and if she was all better to stop, but if her ears were still red and she was having discomfort to give it for 7 days. I think the 10 days is a bit excessive. We debated whether or not to try the non-antibiotic route and I would have been more than happy to except that I remember having awful ear infections as a kid and never going to the doctor and being in awful pain and discomfort. If perhaps we had caught the infection earlier we would have opted for some natural remedies, but alas I think the infection is too yucky and would take longer to get better. So for now we take the traditional medicine route and supplement it with the alternative. I am giving her a high dose probiotic and will continue her on it for several weeks after she's done her treatment (she already gets probiotics every day but just a low, maintenance dose, now she will need a high dose to recolonize her flora).

Of course, I feel the mommy guilt trying to creep in. I hate giving antibiotics and I hate that my poor baby is in discomfort. But I also know that ear infections happen. So I am grateful it's just an ear infection and that she's not in more pain (although I have to say I'm surprised she's not because, man, her ears are so infected!). I just hope we are now done, done, done with all this sickness! Nobody wants to be sick in the summer!

Update April 30: Well, day 2 of treatment is underway and so far she seems much better and more like herself. She has been sleeping much better and back to wanting to do her regular activities. It's nice to see her happy again!