As a new mom six years ago, I poured over books, talked to other moms, and had lengthy conversations with my pediatrician. I finally decided to give my daughter some of the vaccinations. I created my own schedule and gave one shot monthly. Living in Vermont, we are able to make many choices with our schedules and are given the option of using the philosophical exemption of sending our children to kindergarten with or without MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) This law helps us have a choice and freedom. Many health professionals question if this is good or bad.
Fast- forward and we are now facing a looming measles epidemic. I have found myself re-facing all of my initial concerns. I can say that in this time I have become wiser and more educated. I have attended seminars given by doctors, talked to mothers that happen to be doctors, read very informative sites about autism and vaccinations, and did the unthinkable, talked to my husband.
The first time, I hadn’t had any of these avenues at my fingertips. The latter was my greatest strength or nemesis. My husband approached the topic one night at dinner. He had concerns and wanted us to consider this vaccination for the health of our children and for those that couldn’t have them.
My mom had just given me a similar nudging early in the day on our daily phone conversation. The topic was MMR. Neither of my kids had received it and we were now faced with the measles closing in on us, geographically speaking. I reached out to Kelley, my partner and health coach. I needed sites that could show me the facts for this vaccination, not fluff or opinion, but pure hard facts.
Informative Vaccination Websites:
- http://www.livestrong.com/
- http://www.cdc.gov/
- http://www.nih.gov/
- http://www.webmd.com/
- http://www.askdrsears.com
- http://americanpregnancy.org/
After many heated discussions and tears on my end, I called our family pediatrician and made the appointment to have the vaccine administered. I was scared and prayed that I was making the correct decision. I guess it came down to this one hard question.
Did I want them to get the measles?
No, I didn’t. The measles could be very painful and have the possibilities of leading to meningitis.
Vaccinations can often be repercussions of fear. It’s weighing the fear of getting the disease and getting very sick with the slim possibility of death or acquiring vaccination damage. Which are we more fearful of?
My children are strong, healthy, and older (6 years and 3 years). I decided that their systems and guts are healthy and developed enough that they will be able to handle the vaccination better. This was the base for my decision.
During investigation, I came across a great article that helped soothe my nerves. It talked about using homeopathic medicine in the case of vaccination damage.
The article touched on the different approaches to western medicine verse eastern homeopathic medicine.
Click Here to learn more from Homeopathic Doctors.
