Immunizations for Henry

My friend Liza asked me to share how we came up with our decision on vaccinations, so here goes nothing. I'll start by saying that I am a firm believer in going to the doctor, and I do not want my child to get sick. That said, I was hesitant from the beginning about the effects of dosing a baby with so many strong vaccines at one time. My mother-in-law felt the same way, and she urged us to consider spacing the shots out and refusing the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth.

I know that Dr. Sears has a book about vaccinations that many people have found very useful, but I did not get around to reading it. Instead, I read online about the Hepatitis B vaccine and talked to my OB about it. He said that he and his wife had refused it for their son simply because it is unnecessary for a baby to have the shot. I had planned to refuse it at birth and to get Hank vaccinated for Hep B once he was a little older since this form of Hepatitis is only spread through sex or needle use. I also quizzed potential pediatrician offices about whether or not they were flexible with a modified vaccination schedule before choosing his doctor.


Once Henry was here though, the logistics of spreading the vaccinations out did not make much sense to me. For starters, most of the shots are grouped (like the Measles Mumps Rubella), so there is no getting around having those at the same time. Then there is the idea of taking a well infant into an office full of other sick kiddos. Finally, we realized that his two month shots could not be given even a day before he was officially two months old, which left us with only a few days before he was to start daycare. Colin and I both agreed at last that the pros of spreading the shots out did not outweigh the cons, so we went ahead and have Henry on the typical vaccination schedule. Minus the Hepatitis B shot, of course. Now we are behind two rounds of that and have to figure out a way to get those squeezed in, which I am not looking forward to.

I comfort myself with the fact that doctors give these immunizations on a schedule for a reason and almost all of us followed this schedule and did just fine. Parenthood comes with so many huge decisions, and Colin and I are just trying to do the best thing for our little man.

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