About a month ago I took Erica in for her 6 month check up. The pediatrician informed me that there is an outbreak of measles in the Tucson area and he recommended that Erica get her MMR shot now instead of at one year. Now, I had heard rumors of a connection between autism and the MMR shot, so I asked the doctor about it.
He explained that studies have been done, but nothing confirmed. Supposedly, someone was paid off to support this false connection. He also explained that autism is one category in a larger sphere of mental disabilities and that the rate of autism has increased, but the sphere of mental disabilities remained the same. Thus, the definition of autism is simply broader now.
I had previously done some Internet research on my own (so who knows how reliable that is) and read that from about 2000-2006(?) or sometime, there was some ingredient in the MMR shot that might be correlated with autism. However, this ingredient is no longer in the shots. The pediatrician informed me that it was a miniscule amonut and in no way could cause autism. Although the Internet said that the important people in the medical field met in secret to try and keep this information secret. Hmmm?
Finally, he told me that measles can be fatal and cause brain damage. Ultimately, I decided to go with the shot. Thoughts from everyone?
As a side note, ever since that shot, Erica has become behaviorally difficult. She is much more fussy and needy. Maybe it is simply coincidence and it has to do with her teething or something that happens when a kid turns 6 months. Maybe I'm just noticing more. Who knows.
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I have struggled with the same dilemma. I even put off getting Luke's MMR shot, but I've decided to go get it anyway. No one can prove that autism is caused by immunizations, but people can prove that measles can be deadly, so there you go.
As far as the weird side effects from immunizations, those are definitely real. Lots of kids break out with some sort of symptoms of the thing they are getting immunized from.
Hey guys. There really is no connection between autism and the MMR vaccine. There was one study in 1998 suggesting a potential association, but literally dozens of studies (if not more) since then have found no causative relationship. Go to Pubmed.com (research database) and do a search for "mmr autism" then sort the results by date. You will get almost 200 journal articles, several of which explore the media fascination with mmr and autism.
It's good to be skeptical when your kids' health is at stake, but this one we can put to rest I think.
It is always good to question and not do everything blindly, But I am a sceptic and I still don't belive immunizations causes Autisim. I bet her new found "independence" is just her bsing a very smart baby and having new parents. I think they know we don't know what we are doing. Anywho, tylenol and benydryl at bedtime is what my doctor said for this teething/sleeping/6month ordeal they go thru.
Erica is fine. She is just smart and getting teeth.
I had the same worries and came to the same conclusion. Give her some Advil it will help if it is from the shots - they after effects can last a while.
4 kids with the MMR shot and they are ornry and cranky at 6 months and pretty much a lot after that, too. I do think they are mental some days, but do not believe too much in the autism/MMR connection - I think it's coincidence more than anything, but won't fight a mom who believes it either.
Nanc, I feel you on this issue. It is so hard to make decisions like this when I feel like I am no expert on any of the variables involved. Yet the information I constantly find is that the villianized ingredient in immunizations, the one that is said to cause Autism, was removed, yet the incidents of Autism has only risen since. That to me is enough to say that it isn't the cause.Yet moving forward with the immunization decision was still hard.
When researching this issue several years ago for an article I was writing, the director for the Center for Disease Control in Utah Valley said perhaps the biggest reasons to immunize our kids is not for their sake, because if they got measles, mumps or rubella, they would probably survive with little problem. He said we actually must immunize our kids so that outbreaks are prevented where vulnerable people (children under 6 months, pregnant women, kids with genetic disorders preventing them from getting immunized)would be likely to die because our kids had spread it. When I considered the fact that when Ian was a newborn, I didn't have to worry about someone in the elevator exposing him to rubella, I decided it was probably best to immunize him where there was no strong reason not to.
That was too long. I think about this topic too much. It was awesome seeing Erica on Skype last night. When I told Ian about it, he was mad that I didn't wake him up. :)
This is the first I've heard of this and I must admit I'm glad of it. I feel I already worry about Eve enough and most of it is about things totally out of my control.. Good luck Nancy! I'm sure little Erika is going to be just fine.
I've tried to research this topic myself and I feel like I don't know what to believe. It's hard to know who to trust these days. When Dallin got his 6 month shots, 3 days later he made this really high pitched scream. Let's just say somebody close to us tried to insist he was having a shot reaction and wanted us to rush to the ER. ?! And say what? That my baby made one unusual scream? I researched it myself and learned that while a high pitched scream IS a symptom, it would be prolonged and within 24 to 48 hours of immunization. Most reactions included nervous system issues, going limp, etc. I admit it scares me to get the shots. But I believe it's better than the actual diseases. Also, anything could be casuing autism. Our water, microwave dinners...I've even heard that ultrasounds themselves might be casuing autism. In the end go with your gut. I trust a mom's initial instinct over the doctor any day.
Nanc, thanks for posting about this. I have not done any research about anything, but feel completely freaked out about shooting germs into my kid. Of course, I have come to the conclusion that I have no choice, but it freaks me out none the less. Thanks for posting and thanks everyone else for your reassuring comments.
Nanc - good topic of discussion. I have thought about it a lot and also done on-line research. In the end, I trust my pediatrician - I trust modern medicine and we have vaxed on schedule.
It doesn't mean that I'm not always a tiny bit worried and that it isn't in the back of my mind. Autism is frightening and of course no parent wants to do anything that could potentially expose their child to such a disease.
I do have to say that it was almost impossible for me to find a fair assesment of the vax controversy doing on-line research. The closest I could find was Dr. Sears, who does offer a delayed schedule if you are interested.
hugs
j.
we stressed about getting our girls shots too. dan knows someone at work who swears his kid got autism from the mmr shot, so we put off our girls as long as we could, but they still got the vaccine. we were talking about it last night though with the measles outbreak going around here, and we would have made the same decision as you and done what the doctor recommended.
I used to be very critical of people who don't give their kids shots. That has all changed because my precious little nephew Mason has autism. So you can imagine when my brother and his wife were having another baby boy, they made the decision not to for now. I can't judge anymore, we love Mason dearly, but life sure is challenging for them. I think that making that decision is a lot different if you already have a child that has autism.
This is not a hard question if you have a child with Autism. You KNOW there is a conncetion.
Working with kids with Autism and going to many Autism seminars...I'll be honest, MOST of the time I'm skeptical because MOST of our kids have Autism through genetics. BUT- there are cases that can't be explained and that occurred around the time the child got the mmr. So I'm not discounting that idea at all and I freaked out when Weston was getting his. But for people to say an absolute NO or YES either way is wrong. It isn't 100% proven either way.
I think in your case, where there was a measles outbreak, it was smart to go with the shot. it's so hard being a parent sometimes! Just FYI for those parents who think they 'don't have a choice'...the choice is COMPLETELY yours!!! You do NOT have to vaccinate your kids until they go to school, so until then, it IS your choice. THis was a really interesting post for me Nance, thanks. I really enjoyed reading what everyone thought about it. I guess, ultimately, we just have to be prayerful in rearing our kids and know that Heavenly Father will help us out. Good luck!
Love ya
Autism is a genetic neurological disorder. Vaccines do not cause autism, but they can sometimes trigger the disease if you are a carrier. There are other things that can be triggers as well, vaccines are just one of them.
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