New Member

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone. This is my first day with the group and I must admit I am a

bit overwhelmed with the number of e-mails when I saw 47 new messages! I

hope I can stay with you. I got this website from the www.mothering.com

discussion boards.

I am an at-home-mother to my 14 month old healthy son. In striving to be

the best mom I can be to him, I try to research everything before I make any

decisions. So far, my husband and I chose to leave our son intact (no

circumcision), I am still breastfeeding, family bed, homemade babyfood,

currently looking into cloth diapers, environmentally friendly household

products inc. shampoos, soaps, etc. My greatest stress has been with our

vaccination decisions.

When my son was 2 months old, I would not give him any shots b/c I felt he

was too young. At 3 months, I cancelled 2 Dr. appts. for shots. The

pediatrician called me at home and harrassed me. He said, " Your son is 3

months old and hasn't had any shots. I've seen pertussis and what it can do

to a child. Now, are you going to come in here tomorrow or not? " I felt my

stomach turn over and tears welling in my eyes as I looked at my tiny son

nursing in my arms. Fearing I may be responsible for killing him with

pertussis, I stupidly gave in and got the DTPA the next day. Later that day

he screamed a high pitched cry for 45 minutes. Nothing calmed him - not

even his bath which he loved. I was crying, sick to my stomach. I felt

betrayed by the Dr. I changed my Dr. to one that would let me vaccinate on

my own schedule.

So I guess I haven't learned my lesson. I have given him the DTPA 3x, Polio

2x, and HIB 3x- all shots separately, which I thought was better than giving

them all at once. I read that it is better not to overwhelm the immune

system. So I spread them out, too by at least a month or more. He hasn't

had any shots since September.

New York just " mandated " the chicken pox vaccine for school starting in 2003

or 2003, I believe.

My instincts tell me to stop now- my son is healthy (although who knows what

the future may bring b/c of the vaccines I already gave) and bright. But

when I brought up my reasons and tried to show my husband info., he said,

" If we don't give him the measles vaccine, he could get measles and go

blind. That's how they wiped out these diseases in the first place. More

children would die or be crippled from measles than would have a reaction

from a vaccine. " I try to tell him that the chances are slim of our son

getting measles anyway and that we don't know for sure the effects of

vaccines...asthma, ADHD, Autism, etc. " OK " he said, " We'll talk about it

tomorrow. " He's OK with not giving the Hep B and Chickenpox. We need to

make a united decision. It seems like everyones husbands agree with them.

Any suggestions on how to talk to mine?

I want to stop the vaccines and try to learn about Religious exemptions as I

do feel that we should not be putting something into our son's body that

might cause him ailments one day. This is the reason I did not want him

circumcised- I did not feel it was my decision to make in cutting off a part

of his body. However, I want to know what I can do to prevent my son from

getting the diseases naturally and how to treat him safely with natural

remedies. I don't think just " not vaccinating " is enough. Does anyone have

any advice? I am so confused sometimes, I feel that my head is going to

explode! Not to mention the reactions and debates that occur when the issue

of Vaccination comes up with friends or family. I don't have any close

friends that don't vaccinate but some that selectively do. Thank you for

your help.

Long Island, New York

_________________________________________________________________

Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com