If you decide not to vaccinate your child and they make my unvaccinated child sick that's my problem not yours. And if my unvaccinated child comes into contact with your vaccinated child your kid is covered because of your choices, a is well in your world.
I'm writing this not to preach or try to convert you to my way of thinking, I'm writing this because it's a lesson learned and a journey traveled and sometimes I like to offload things rather than keep everything locked up in various compartments in my brain.
When I talk about our choice not to vaccinate at the prescribed time I get a lot of shock and judgement. I used to spend a lot of time defending our choice until I realised that in most cases I was the only person making an informed decision about vaccinations. Most people were just being spoon fed tiny amounts of information about medications and statistics they didn't really understand and dutifully followed the vaccination timeline set out by their health visitor. Most parents, especially new parents wouldn't think to question vaccinations. I didn't. When dylan was born I knew nothing about them except that I was told that he had to have his first lot at 6 weeks.
Had, that was a lie. He didn't have to have them at all, but no one tells you that.
So off I trotted and dylan was vaccinated right on schedule and in honesty apart from a nagging fever he was fine. I didn't feel fine, I was scared and anxious that if he had a bad reaction I wouldn't notice warning signs because I didn't know him yet. I felt guilty that I couldn't even try to explain to him what was going on and angry that someone else was telling me what to do with my son.
It wasn't until I met a mother who was choosing not to vaccinate that I began to question my choices.
Soon after I realised that I hadn't made a choice. We make choices based on being given information but I hadn't been given any so I went looking for some.
I won't bored you with information you can find easily online. No one needs me to tout off statistics or theories that they can find themselves if they want to.
But what I realised after doing some research was that I was happier waiting.
I realised that as a parent I felt that it suited us better to wait until Dylan's immune system had matured as much as possible. It was better for us to wait until he could communicate any discomfort he may feel post vaccinations. It was better for us that I waited because in that time allergies may present themselves and knowing my child's allergies felt important if I were going to give him anything in the form of vaccinations or medication he may need should he have a bad reaction.
And so as his next lot of vaccinations loomed I spoke to my doctor and he was open, understanding and accepting of my choice. Dylan's vaccinations are now up to date. We decided that he should have them done by the time he started school so they are. It's quite simple. It's a choice.
With isla again it has been a choice. A choice based on information that is available.
With her arrival I spoke to our doctor again and once again we decided to wait.
Last week I received a phone call asking to attend a routine check up for isla and we had that today. Once again today we discussed vaccinations and I was able to make a choice based on information both old and new.
Today we decided to start Isla's vaccinations. There has been a rise in cases of measles and whooping cough in and around the city so the risk to an unvaccinated child has increased and I don't want my daughter to fall into that category.
Information gives you the ability to make a choice and we've been so lucky to have a doctors practice who accepts our decision and gives us new information when it arose.
A little earlier than planned isla started her course of immunisations but I'm happy with our choice.
As with everything it's about keeping my children happy and healthy and this is what works for us.
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