concerned mom needs advice from all

[adrienne]

hi everyone...i live in boston and on the news recently there have been a couple of stories regarding outbreaks of measles and rubella. my daughter (almost 2) has not been vaccinated against either of these. it goes strongly against my intuition to vaccinate her although she was vaccinated 3 times in her first year for polio, hep b, etc (i was not at that time tuning into my mother bear intuition!). but the fear-based media has worked its way into my brain!
what does everyone think?
are measles, mumps and rubella the type of diseases that are easily dealt with in our stage of modern medicine? i would love to know if the folks who got these diseases were vaccinated against them. i know vaccination does not mean you are definitely immune but if you get them once you are immune for life! i know some of these diseases can be harmful to a fetus and that is scary. i know i have options as to how to vaccinate her if i choose to (ie one at a time, less actual amounts of the vaccination, spreading them out over longer periods of time).
i appreciate everyones imput and i know there is no easy, exact perfect answer.
thanks!!!

[chilove]

Hello there,

I am not a mom yet, but I know I will never vaccinate my child. I don't vaccinate my pets and they are fine! :-) Do some more research about how horrible vaccines are for the body and you will strengthen your reserve to not vaccinate. Disease is caused by toxicity in the body, not by bacteria or viruses.

All the best,

Audrey

[lane]

adrienne,
in short, i would say to go with your intuition....always. i get into trouble everytime i choose to ignore my gut feeling- whether it is coming from my own soul or spiritual guides.
i did quite a bit of research on all of the "diseases" that children are vaccinated for before my daughter was born- carefully weighing the negative possiblities of each disease against each vaccine, and decided to only vaccinate against tetanus and hib (and really only these because the only pediatrician in town wouldn't see our child unless we made this compromise.) i don't feel that measles and rubella would cause terrible harm to a healthy person, and actually i read somewhere a couple of years ago (sorry i can't direct you to a source) that more people catch these two (and mumps) who have been vaccinated against them than those who have not.
good luck with your decision and feel good about whatever you choose,
cc

[rawandama]

You're going to make the decision that is best for you and your child.
Here's what I found about measles:
"If your child has been diagnosed with measles, it's important to closely monitor him or her for fever and other symptoms to spot any complications. In some cases, measles can lead to other health problems, such as croup, and infections like bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, conjunctivitis (pinkeye), myocarditis, and encephalitis. Measles also can make the body more susceptible to ear infections or other health problems caused by bacteria."

Remember though, it's in SOME cases, most cases the measles just run its course and it takes about 2 weeks total from the time your child gets sick to the time he/she can go out and play again.

Mumps isn't quite so nice...
"Mumps can lead to inflammation and swelling of the brain and other organs, although this is not common. Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) are both rare complications of mumps. Symptoms appear in the first week after the parotid glands begin to swell and may include: high fever, stiff neck, headache, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, convulsions, and other signs of brain involvement.

Mumps in adolescent and adult males may also result in the development of orchitis, an inflammation of the testicles. Usually one testicle becomes swollen and painful about 7 to 10 days after the parotids swell. This is accompanied by a high fever, shaking chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain that can sometimes be mistaken for appendicitis if the right testicle is affected. After 3 to 7 days, testicular pain and swelling subside, usually at about the same time that the fever passes. In some cases, both testicles are involved. Even with involvement of both testicles, sterility is only a rare complication of orchitis."

Mumps is rare in younger kids--usually occurs between 5 and 14 years of age.

"Rubella is usually a mild illness, especially in children and typically requires little special care at home. Monitor your child's temperature, and call your child's doctor if the fever climbs too high."

So, that's the scary stuff. You'll have to weigh the risks and consequences. I never got my son vaccinated, although the nurses harrassed me about it enough! The thing to remember is that one day your little girl will probably be a mom and if she gets these illnesses as a pregnant adult it could have devastating results on her baby...but by that time she will (hopefully) be old enough to make the decision to have herself vaccinated or not. I feel that my son will make the choice when he is old enough...but I am homeschooling my kids too!

Like I said, you'll make the best decision based on your circumstances!!

[Sheryl]

www.thinktwice.com has some amazing articles on the flip side of vaccinations... it's worth having a read through (I spent hours on it last night).

Cheers,
Sheryl

[adrienne]

thanks everyone for your responses. this is a difficult topic but i really do have to stick with my intuition on this one. our daughter is very healthy and the idea of injecting her with those vaccines is very scary...scarier to me than her 'catching' one of them (b/c i feel her immune system is very strong and like someone who posted above said more people who are vaccinated get these diseases than who are not)
i wish the caring of our children (lots of raw, no vaccinating etc)did not go so far against conventional thought...parenthood is hard enough! *sigh*
more comments are welcome, i really appreciate all of them :)

[Ariella]

i would follow the advice others have given you and research it out to the best of your ability so you will feel confident in your choices.

that being said, recently about a month ago, my daughter came down with 3 day measles (roseola - there is also another name for it) i am 100% raw, she is all raw and still mostly nurses actually. anyway, so it can come on people with healthy immune systems. it really did not have much harm though. she ran a fever for 2 days which i thought was because she was teething, then she broke out with spots on her neck the next day and that spread all over her body. but at the end of day 3 all spots were totally gone. it really did not affect her other than she was just more clingy! but that was it. we didn't do anything special for her, it just ran its course and then it was gone. my son (4) who has never had it and is high raw did not get it though.

Anyhow! do your research and do what is right for you and your family!!

Ariella

JUICE PLUS+
www.juiceplus.com/+dj73561

my journal: www.ethicalcentral.com/main

[Raw Faith]

I don't know where you live but I would find a raw doctor; or a doctor that sits on a fence post on this topic and ask your question.