Started interviewing Peds today, and a Chicken Pox question...

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

We are expecting our first child on September 25th and do not plan to

vax at all. Today I began the daunting task of interviewing

pediatricians and was pleasantly surprised with my very first visit.

I will admit that I have been very nervous about these upcoming

interviews as I expected some hardcore opposition to my position on

the matter. It didn't help that the information packet they gave me

to look over while I waited consisted of tons of information about

the importance of childhood vaccines, most of it authored by none

other than Dr. Offit (ugh). Although I did wait for almost 45

minutes to see both of the Drs at the practice, I was pleased to hear

them both say that they would be willing to respect a parent's choice

to delay vaccinating or to not vaccinate altogether. Both of them

responded with " This is your child and you have to raise her, so we

will respect the choices that you make as a parent " . I was able to

interview them separately, and neither of them seemed pushy at all.

Both of them openly admitted they were not familiar with Dr. Sears

delayed schedule, so they could not give me an opinion one way or the

other (I decided to start with the question of a delayed schedule to

feel out how they would respond to not vaxing at all). The male Dr

in the practice asked if I was having a boy or girl, and when I said

girl he then openly admitted that he does not recommend the HPV

vaccine at all due to it being so new with the long term affects

being as yet unknown. He also mentioned some of the " possible "

adverse reactions to the shot. I just smiled knowingly and nodded my

head. He asked me if I was a nurse because I seemed very educated on

the subject and I told him no, but that I had done tons of research

on the subject and was very passionate about it. They are both

proponents of breastfeeding and agreed with me that it is by far one

of the best ways to develop natural immunities.

Overall I was very pleased with this visit, given that I expected to

walk out of there with another closed-minded ped scratched off my

list. I do have four other consultations with different peds this

week, but these two are definitely the front runners so far.

Needless to say, I am VERY happy with this outcome!

Now on to my question. My sister called me on the way home from the

dr to let me know that her two older boys (ages 3 and 4) have chicken

pox. BOTH of these children were vaccinated against chicken pox, so

I couldn't resist telling her " I told you so " . And of course I

pointed out that not only were the boys exposed to the dangers of the

vaccine, but that the vaccine didn't offer them protection anyway.

Fortunately, I think she is beginning to see the light. Anyway, her

daughter is just three months old and has not had any vaccinations at

all. She called me because she is afraid of how her daughter will be

affected if/when she contracts the pox. I told her not to worry

about the boys and that this was a blessing because natural pox will

most likely provide them with true immunity. I would assume the same

is true for her daughter, but was wondering how hard this is going to

be on her little system. She is formula fed, but again has not had

any vaccinations to harm her immune system. So far she has been a

totally healthy baby. My sister said she ran a slight fever last

night (101.4), but she took my advice on not giving her anything for

it and it was gone by this am. The baby does not yet have any of the

bumps but she says the boys are covered in them. I'm really not sure

what to tell her about this. Any ideas are much appreciated.

Thanks!

le in MS