Post by Shelley (whistlingtrain) on Jan 16, 2007 18:01:17 GMT -5
Ok, I didn't know what to title this one. :-)
When I was pregnant with my first baby Della, I did a lot of research on vaccinating babies and ultimately decided not to do any, at least not until they were 2 years old. I had to look pretty hard to find a doctor, especially a pedicatrician, that would let me even think about skipping vaccines. I just found out that he is retiring and won't be practicing any more. His officemates don't share his open-mindedness, so I'm wondering what to do.
My kids are hardly ever sick. Especially Della--she rarely even catches a cold. She's the one that got to play in the dirt her first summer while I did farm work. I think she's had a bout of throwing up one time, and had one bad croupy cold. She's almost 5 and goes to preschool. My son (Cosmo, just turned 3) was born in the fall, so he didn't get the dirt luxury. He was nearly a year old before he got to romp in the mud. He gets colds more often, and he had one bout of stomach flu with the rest of us. But, never an ear infection, ever. Both of them nursed as much as they want, FYI. Well, I started to cut Cosmo off at 2, but I digress...
I haven't taken them for checkups since they were little babies. They have had Tetanus vaccinations, because that's the one that made the most sense for our lifestyle, and the one that has actually been proven to work.
So, here's my question: do you think healthy kids need doctor checkups? Should I make a big effort to find a new doctor? My old pediatrician said there was no reason to do all the checkups unless we were following the vaccination schedule, so I didn't really worry about it. Luckily we are in a state that allows us to opt out of the mandate, as long as we voluntarily remove our kids from school in an outbreak. Who wouldn't take their kids out of school in a measles outbreak? Who would send their kids to school with diptheria? Anyway, just wondering what you all think about it.
Shelley
When I was pregnant with my first baby Della, I did a lot of research on vaccinating babies and ultimately decided not to do any, at least not until they were 2 years old. I had to look pretty hard to find a doctor, especially a pedicatrician, that would let me even think about skipping vaccines. I just found out that he is retiring and won't be practicing any more. His officemates don't share his open-mindedness, so I'm wondering what to do.
My kids are hardly ever sick. Especially Della--she rarely even catches a cold. She's the one that got to play in the dirt her first summer while I did farm work. I think she's had a bout of throwing up one time, and had one bad croupy cold. She's almost 5 and goes to preschool. My son (Cosmo, just turned 3) was born in the fall, so he didn't get the dirt luxury. He was nearly a year old before he got to romp in the mud. He gets colds more often, and he had one bout of stomach flu with the rest of us. But, never an ear infection, ever. Both of them nursed as much as they want, FYI. Well, I started to cut Cosmo off at 2, but I digress...
I haven't taken them for checkups since they were little babies. They have had Tetanus vaccinations, because that's the one that made the most sense for our lifestyle, and the one that has actually been proven to work.
So, here's my question: do you think healthy kids need doctor checkups? Should I make a big effort to find a new doctor? My old pediatrician said there was no reason to do all the checkups unless we were following the vaccination schedule, so I didn't really worry about it. Luckily we are in a state that allows us to opt out of the mandate, as long as we voluntarily remove our kids from school in an outbreak. Who wouldn't take their kids out of school in a measles outbreak? Who would send their kids to school with diptheria? Anyway, just wondering what you all think about it.
Shelley