My experience with not vaccinating my child
I have to admit that I'm really scared to post this. I actually have butterflies about it, but I'm going to press post. I know that this is a controversial subject that polarises people. I want to get my experience of not getting my child vaccinated out there so that others can see a perspective from a first time mum on the subject. So please, feel free to comment and discuss but please be kind.
I'm not vaccinated. I don't believe in vaccines. My 8 month old daughter is not vaccinated and she never will be (unless she decides to do so once she's an adult).
My siblings have all been vaccinated. I'm the youngest in my family and luckily my wonderful mother stood up to my father and for once she won an argument. This meant that I was able to avoid getting those horrible injections. I remember being the only child in my school who didn't get vaccinated. I had to sit and wait while my friends and other students got injected. A lot of them were returning to class with tears in their eyes. I'm forever grateful to mum for not making me go through that.
Fast forward to more recently when I was pregnant with my daughter. Since the day I had my pregnancy confirmed early last year I have had vaccines, flu shots and medical drugs pushed at me. I declined every single one, much to the dismay of my midwife and doctors. They were especially concerned about me because I'm not vaccinated. It's not something that I usually raise with people, but my midwife did a screen of my blood and she asked me if I was vaccinated because she saw that I was "at risk" for contracting illnesses as I don't have the antibodies. I was intrigued, but politely declined.
My baby is now 8 months old and I've been declining any kind of vaccines for my wee girl since the day she took her first breath. It's getting to a point where I feel bullied by my doctor and my well child nurse due to my decision not to vaccinate. Here in NZ we have to have our babies checked by a nurse periodically as your baby grows. The frequency of seeing the nurse decreases (thankfully). Every time I go I'm asked when I'll be getting her vaccinated. Every time my answer is the same..."I'm not."
The last appointment that I went to with the nurse was the worst one yet. So bad that I'm considering not going back. The nurse (she was a different nurse to my usual one) incorrectly assumed that my daughter was 'up to date' with her vaccines. I told her that we're not vaccinating her. The nurse tried to get into a debate with me about it trying to convince me to change my mind. There's been a story in the news here recently about a screening of the show Vaxxed that was interrupted by a doctor. The doctor took to the stage and told the audience that their presence "would cause babies to die".
You can see the article here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11862206
This news story was what my nurse wanted to debate with me and then she started asking me what I will do when they change the law to make vaccines compulsory for having your child attend daycare. I really didn't want to discuss it with her and I felt horrible being stuck in the room with her. I feel that she was crossing a line by badgering me about my choice not to vaccinate. I told her that it wouldn't be an issue for me either way because I'm staying home with my girl, so she won't be attending daycare. Once the nurse realised that I wasn't going to get into a debate with her she finally moved on and continued doing her job.
My doctor (who I avoid and was only there for a mandatory check up for my baby) lectured me about vaccines. Saying how I'm putting my baby at risk by not getting her vaccinated. She then went on to tell me a story about an 18 year old boy who had recently died from chickenpox. I mean, that's terrible but I couldn't understand why she was telling me this other than to try to scare me into getting vaccinated and getting my girl vaccinated. I had chickenpox as a child and I survived. The worst thing I got from it was a tiny wee scar from where I couldn't stop scratching a particular sore!
Is that what they do, the medical professionals? They can't legally force me to have my daughter vaccinated so they are preying on my fears to try to scare me into getting her vaccinated? It is scary. Hearing about little babies dying due to diseases. I don't want her to die. In fact, it would kill me if anything happened to her. Trust me, I'm not doing this as some kind of experiment. I genuinely don't want to have her pumped with chemicals.
We are back to eating organic fruits and vegetables, now that she's eating solid foods, to avoid her little organs getting overloaded with chemicals. Why would I then inject chemicals in?
Other mothers I know tell me how upset their children are after getting their shots and how they have to then give them more drugs (pain relief) to calm them down afterwards. It just seems so wrong to me and I can't and won't put my girl through that. If it makes me a social outcast then so be it.
It's a choice that is for my partner and I to make. It makes me annoyed that I'm having to defend my choice with every medical professional I cross paths with. I feel bullied and pressured. I'm a people pleaser by nature and usually would cave to pressure like this but I can't. It feels wrong to inject my beautiful little girl. It feels gross and I'm following my mothers instinct and not doing it. Ever.
I hope that over time I will get better at speaking up to the doctors and nurses. I don't want to feel attacked or belittled just because of my choice.
I really have seen a new side to our medical professionals since not following their rules. I can only wait and see what else happens on this journey.
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I am in total support of your decision. I went along with the vaccine schedule, believed what the doctors pushed that they were safe. There were little things that now looking back was signs that my youngest was having adverse reactions but I still didn't connect it till Vaxxed came out. But I have know since August 2, 2005 that it has all been a lie and that vaccines are not safe. On that day I took my son for his check up, and it was time for vaccines, this time he suffered neurological damage. My son was injured from vaccines. He hasn't had any since that day.
Oh that's so sad. That's one of the reasons that I posted. I wanted to get my point of view and experience out there to show that we have choices, even when feeling bullied by the medical professionals. I hope that your son recovers. Good on you for stopping the vaccines.
He is doing well, he just has to do things differently. He has Asperger's and Dysgraphia, we figured out how to work around it and he is excelling
Good to know that.wish you both well.
I am not going to call attention to the debate over vaccination safety. That is whole other shebang. I just wanted to mention a few things:
It is absolutely your decision to make. Good on you for standing up for what you believe in. It sucks that doctors make you feel the way you do. That is not how medical care should be. You should never be belittled.
I agree with your questioning the doctors but I really hope there is more to the story than just "not feeling right". This is a big decision - especially because you are making it for your daughter. I really hope you have evaluated vaccination further than just "chemicals are bad".
Keep up the great parenting. I only have some of my vaccinations and I am healthy as can be.
Thanks so much for commenting. Yes, I agree that no one should be made to feel the way I was in my last appointment. I felt she was being unprofessional. She could've just as easily discussed her medical reasons or recommendations and moved on. I think she approached the whole thing the wrong way.
It made me feel terrible and now I don't think I'll be going back there.
Yes, I have done research into this. My partner was pro-vaccines so I had to get some research behind me. I guess I could've been clearer in my post about how we came to our decision.
Thanks for commenting, I appreciate the feedback.
See if you can find a good D.O. in your area.
Sometimes they are more reasonable than most MDs..
meep
As someone who almost died as the result of vaccine injury, and took decades to resolve the damage, I would like to say thank you, and thanks to your mother for your decision in this matter. I'm sure your daughter and future children will thank you too.
That sounds awful. I'm sorry that you went through such issues due to vaccines. My sister had a bad reaction too and ended up in hospital. Now she's got MS, an autoimmune disease. I'm not saying that it's completely related, but I do wonder if she would have gotten MS if she was left alone to make her own antibodies.
I hope that you've recovered from your injuries now.
Good things have come out of it. I've learned more about it than I ever thought I would.
I am sorry to hear about your sister. This is one of the things that I have learned about vaccines and autoimmune disorders such as MS:
https://steemit.com/health/@lifeworship/multiple-sclerosis-is-it-really-incurable
Thanks so much for this post. I'm going to listen and also pass on to my sister. She's aware of Dr Wahls and has been following her eating style. So far her MS has not progressed any further. We are all hoping that it doesn't get any worse for her from here. She was diagnosed at 33 years of age. Far too young. Hopefully it can be reversed.
Thanks again for your post and comments. I really appreciate it.
If there is anything else I can do, please let me know.
I'm not a doctor, but I was able to reverse all of my autoimmune problems, and lymphoma and prostate cancer, several years ago. I have never been healthier than I am today.
Thank you for your post, I think it will help others who are struggling.
We share some similar thoughts. I don't put my kids on vaccinations for every year's flu vaccinations promoted by the government. However, I did follow the suggestions of doctors to vaccinate them according to the tracks for new born babies and infants (up to 4 years old).
The reason behind is that vaccination for new born babies are basically the same things over last decades, so they are proven and not changing every year. You won't feel like gambling.
But for the seasonal flu vaccination? As per the information given by various sources, it is nothing more than a wild guess from the manufacturers towards what's going to happen this year and press the button of their production line. They work with our government to get rid of their stocks, no guarantee on what produced can actually fight the flu happening at that time.
Therefore, I decided to allow my kids to tackle the flu all by themselves.
That's a good way to do things. Makes sense to me how you are tackling each vaccine on its merits. Thanks for commenting, it's nice to hear how other parents are getting through this.
Thank-you, thank-you for hitting the post button and sharing your story.
I too have 3 unvaccinated children.
I avoided a lot of the pressure that you are talking about though, because I never took my babies in to checkups like you are doing.
My midwives checked on baby and I for 6 weeks after birth and then we were done.
Are you sure that it is mandatory to go for these checkups?
If my baby/child is healthy, there is no need in my mind to go to doctors.
In the USA, well-baby checks are scheduled on the dates that vaccines are supposed to be administered.
Here where I live in Canada, there are no well-baby visits pressured on people, BUT parents are expected to go the Public Health Unit on dates that vaccines are to be administered. Of course, I had no reason to go.
Thanks for your support. I am looking into the checkups today. I had thought that it was compulsory, but now I'm not so sure.
If it's not then I don't think that I'll be returning.
I agree that if she's healthy then we don't need to have the checkups.
I'm still nervous about this post! I just don't want to be attacked as can happen on social media. However so far everyone has been really polite. Thanks for your comments.
You should tell them you will vaccinate ONLY if they can tell you ALL the ingredients in all the vaccines (see the list below)
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf
AND if they will sign this form (see below)
https://therefusers.com/if-your-doctor-insists-that-vaccines-are-safe-then-have-them-sign-this-form-dr-dave-mihalovic/
Believe me the pressure will stop because not one of them knows the ingredients of vaccines nor will they sign the form.
Eggzackly! And the ones that do know the ingredients won't give them to their children.
Thanks so much for this. I'll keep a copy handy because I think that will stop the pressure from them. Funnily enough, when I told my mum about the pressure I'm getting she told me to ask for details of what ingredients are in vaccines. Great minds....
I practiced medicine for 20 years and I do not know of any medical provider who can accurately state the ingredients nor will they sign that form and if they are unwilling to do the things you request you should not be expected to submit your precious child to treatment that they are uneducated about.
Thanks for sharing. I don't agree with anything you've said, but I'm sorry to hear you've been treated so badly because of your beliefs.
Good luck with your quest!
Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it even though you disagree. I wish that the nurse could behave the same way. Thanks!
I support your decision as a mother to make this choice, weigh the risks and make your best choice. As mothers we have to do that all of the time.
My son was born with a heart defect and had open heart surgery at 3 days old. (I hadn't started questioning Dr's yet) Well after he finally got out of the hospital, they wanted to start vaccinations. He had a terrible reaction and ended up back in the hospital.
Although I did choose a few vaccinations that had been around for many years with low risk. I was able to work with my physician and select the vaccinations that protected against the worst diseases with min. risks.
It was a decision that no government, no school and no other culture deserved a "Say" in. I am so happy in those days, I could make the decision, and the dr. could give his advice without fear of "consequences".
Not all vaccinations are the same, not all immune systems are the same and most importantly not all diseases are the same. My kids are grown, but I can not imagine living through the pressure that is put on people now.
People who throw around crazy stats about how many lives are at risk. Seem to forget many of us grew up and had chicken pox, mumps, measles, and all of our siblings did also, and most of the school. We survived and I don't know anyone who had life-long impacts. (I have a tiny scar on my forehead from a chicken pox scab)
Women who want to chant about their medical rights should be very cautious on this topic.
Anyway, I just wanted to offer my support in this difficult decision, but one you have an absolute right to make. IMO.
Thanks so much for your reply. It's definitely hard being a parent, well I'm finding all the things I was warned about easy, but these big decisions are tough. Even though we've decided not to vaccinate I'm still concerned that it might not be what's best.
Also, I find feeding her is stressful because she's so tiny, I don't want to feed her anything that may upset her tiny wee organs (e.g. Something that's been sprayed with pesticides) and can do her damage.
There's just so much information out there and I'm second guessing myself!
However, I feel confident for now that we've got this decision right.
It must've been terribly scary having your 3 day old baby in surgery and then just as bad having him back in hospital due to an allergic reaction. My sister spent time in hospital after an allergic reaction too so that's also in the back of my mind that something in my genes may have made my girl allergic too. I don't know if I am since I'm not vaccinated either.
One of the reasons we chose the midwife that we did is because she supports your decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate. My first son was not vaccinated either but we were shoved each and every vaccine option known to man. Then when he was 3 the pediatrician threatened to call Child Protective Services. We are the parents to 4 healthy non-vaxxed kids ages 10,6,3, and 1 month. There is a huge community of us out there and on steemit.
Nobody is saying that non vaccinated children will be unhealthy.
You are absolutely correct, Nobody is saying that non vaccinated children will be unhealthy. Or you may have accidentally typed reply on the wrong comment.
Thanks for your comments. It's good to know that there's a community out there. I don't have that where I live so feel a bit alienated.
If we do have another child I think I'll investigate for a new midwife too. Your one sounds good!
Congrats on seeing through the whole "safe and effective" narrative to realize there's more to the story.
I don't vaccinate my 5 year son he is one of the healthiest kids at his daycare and when he does get sick he's usually recovered 100% within the first two days. In fact my wife is the sickest person in our family and has had very serious reactions to the flu shot that she is forced to get because she works at a hospital. I believe she'd be much healthier if she found a different job that doesn't force vaccinate their employees.
Thanks for your response. It must be hard for your wife to get a shot knowing that she's going to have a reaction from it. I don't think that I could be that brave!
It's great to hear that your son is very healthy too. Sounds like his immune system is working well.