I spent many hours today with a pen over my ear, my nose in a book, my laptop in front of me... scribbling on one sheet of paper all kinds of notes and questions.
The focus of my studies? Infant vaccinations.
Controversy has grown in the last few years and as a new parent I want to educate myself as we make decisions for our child.
The main concerns are the possible side-effects of vaccines (of which autism is center stage at the moment), the necessity of certain vaccines, the ingredients in some vaccines (questionable ones including animal cells, mercury and aluminum), and the timing of vaccines.
The general conclusion that I came to at the end of the day is that ideally all the vaccines would be given... but spread over a few years instead of the first 18 months. However, our situation is unique and will probably mean my boy will have a more rigorous vaccine schedule than I would like.
It's such a dilemma though, because if you choose not to vaccinate y0ur child, you are taking a risk that he could catch something serious. But if you do vaccinate your child, you are risking those rare but dangerous side effects that do occasionally happen. Either way I hate thinking about it!
Or as my husband so eloquently mentioned..."Damned if you do, damned if you don't."
Anyway, all this conjures up such feelings of responsibility and worry and love for my little son. I'm a parent responsible for the life of this precious boy. This is serious stuff.
If you'd like to study for yourself... I highly recommend Dr. Sear's The Vaccine Book. It gives a very informative and non-bias view on the entire topic. Read for yourself. I was certainly educated and enlightened.
