Guest Mom Susan: Making the Right Choice

Guest blogger Susan Wells is the mom to two girls, ages 5 and 8. She is an active mom who hikes, photographs, crafts, lives green, volunteers and explores with her children. She works as a blogger and social media strategist for Steve Spangler Science, a Colorado company dedicated to helping teachers and parents get children excited about science. Susan is also the City Editor for Savvy Source and blogs at TwoHandsTwoFeet.com.

My oldest daughter was born in 2001 amidst the debate that “vaccinations cause autism.” I felt inundated with many claims and stories about the dangers of vaccinations. I began to question my rock solid beliefs that inoculations are a necessity in childhood.

The sheer number of shots a baby begins to receive at two months and continues through two years is unsettling to any new parent. Top that off with claims that the shots could be toxic and parents have a hard time understanding the right path to take.

The torment that both my daughter and I had to endure at each appointment was draining. Nurses handed me packets of information on devastating diseases along with a pages of possible side effects. I had to agree to let the nurses inject her sweet baby legs with what I hoped to be life saving vaccine and not a toxic mixture that would cause her problems down the road. I had to decide, which was worse, the shot or the chance she would come down with one of the life-threatening diseases.

I chose the shot every time.

Back then I was confused about the safety of vaccinations and outside of my doctor, I wasn’t sure where to turn for accurate information. Now that I have found the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition, I have a powerful resource to look to when questions arise about immunizations. I only wish I had a resource like CCIC back in the early days to help me sort it all out.

My daughter had some of the more mild side effects from the injections. She developed large welts where the shots were injected. She had fevers for two days following the shots. The first few injections were tough, but we learned to anticipate and treat the symptoms. I reminded myself over and over that a welt for a week or two was better than a hospital stay and a 101 fever was better than a 104 fever.

The immunizations gave me peace of mind that my baby would stay healthy and protected.

I have done my research and continue to do my research on immunizations. I keep my daughters protected from the potentially life-threatening diseases that are controlled through vaccines.

When H1N1 began making the rounds, I anxiously waited for the vaccine to become available to protect my children. I stayed up on the latest research and news about the safety of the vaccine. I read the CCIC website and I stayed connected to my doctor’s office. And my daughters both received the vaccine when it became available.

Throughout the last decade a lot of misinformation and publicity has surrounded the safety of vaccinations. It has catapulted a trusted and necessary part of childhood into an international debate about the safety of vaccinations.

The claims against vaccinations have led to state legislatures adding provisions that make it easier for parents to opt out of vaccinations on philosophical or religious grounds. With some parents opting out, the occurrence of diseases like measles is on the rise.

Getting your children vaccinated can be a traumatic time for both parent and child, but it is key to keeping your children healthy. I held my breath during those shots but I have never looked back. I believe it was the right decision.

My advice; do the research before you take your baby to the doctor. Organizations like the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition and talking with your pediatrician will help put your mind at ease and help you make the right choice in immunizing your child.

Herd Immunity: We’re all in this together!

I love the community I live in. I choose Colorado because of the mountains, the four seasons of outdoor fun, the friendly people and fresh air. I raise kids, work and volunteer in my community. I feel a sense of responsibility to the people in my community.

Whether attending a school board meeting, joining in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, attending worship on Sundays or going to the club for a workout, I am aware of my community what it gives me and my family and how we give back. I look around at the playgrounds, kids clubs, schools, church nurseries, sports complexes and bike trails and think “I’m glad I live here and can be a part of it.” These people are my family, friends, and neighbors, it’s my herd. Being a member of a herd has it privileges and responsibilities.

One of these responsibilities is to help protect the herd’s safety. I can do this by choosing to vaccinate my children. My children have a strong immune system; they have no allergies to medications or vaccine ingredients, and appear to respond well to vaccines. By protecting them with vaccines, I protect others in my herd that are too young to get vaccines , have severe allergies to vaccine ingredients, have a medical condition that prevents them from getting vaccinated, or that small number of kids who are unable to build immunity even when they get vaccinated.

A child who cannot get immunity through vaccines relies on us to protect them. They rely on the herd to protect them! If my child is immune to measles, she can’t infect a child who is too young to vaccinate. But if my daughter never got the vaccine, she can not only get measles herself, she can spread it to others who are not immune. She could spread measles to my medically fragile nephew or to my colleague’s premature daughter with compromised respiratory system and asthmatic complications or to my neighbor’s new born who at five weeks won’t be eligible for his first set of shots for three more weeks! My herd is vulnerable.

Herd immunity only works well when those who can do vaccinate! It has been proven time and again that once healthy people choose to stop vaccinating disease rates go up.

Although vaccines have been very successful in preventing disease, we have not eliminated these nasty illnesses. Without the protection of a highly immunized population, disease will begin to rise. Risk remains.

Think about your community, who needs protecting? What choices can you make to ensure protection?

Guest Mom JoAnn: Getting Poke’d

Welcome a lighthearted approach to vaccines from Guest Mom JoAnn Rasmussen

JoAnn Rasmussen writes at The Casual Perfectionist and is also the assistant editor at Mile High Mamas, the Denver Post’s parenting blog and online community.  JoAnn and her husband have a four-year old daughter named Claire.

JoAnn is a self-proclaimed perfectionist, but doesn’t consider herself to be the stuffy, up-tight kind. She’s more of a casual perfectionist, hence the name of her website. She tries her hardest to focus on the positive, learn from the negative, and laugh at both. In fact, she is a firm believer in the notion that if you haven’t laughed today, you weren’t really paying attention.

I’ll never forget Claire’s first trip to the doctor’s office for a shot she would actually remember.  It was October 2007, right in the midst of flu shot season, and I wasn’t sure how things would go.  At 22-months old, Claire was exponentially more mobile than she was last time.  We’d always been really lucky when it came to shots, so I was hoping this time would be no different.

When Claire was a baby, I never hesitated in getting her fully vaccinated on the schedule that our pediatrician had recommended.  As a mother, it tugged at my heart to see the momentary flash of pain in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by her beautiful smile, and I knew it was worth it.

I was so thankful to have access to these vaccines.  The thought of protecting my child from the deadly diseases that had plagued my relatives only a generation before was worth it.  Knowing that by getting my child vaccinated, she wouldn’t contract and pass along one of those preventable diseases to someone younger or unprotected was worth it.

Still, this was going to be the first time she’d actually remember getting a vaccine, and I wanted it to go well.

That morning, I set the scene.  “Guess where we get to go today! We get to go to the doctor’s office, and he’s going to give you a flu shot. He’s going to give you a shot in the arm. And, it will feel like a poke!” I said as I lightly pinched her upper arm. “Momma’s going to get a flu shot too, and she’s going to get a poke in the arm, just like Claire!”

“The doctor’s gonna poke my arm!” she said excitedly. “The doctor’s gonna poke Momma’s arm!” She didn’t understand that there could be pain involved with a poke in the arm, but I let her run with it. Any chance to go on an adventure was exciting, and I was hoping to use that excitement to my advantage.

When we got to the office, she didn’t want to wait for me to fill out the paperwork, and she headed down the hallway with one of the little chairs. “I’m gonna go see the doctor! He’s gonna poke my arm!” she yelled as she pushed the chair through the doorway.  Luckily, I was able to retrieve her before she got too far.

Claire’s excitement was nearly as contagious as the toys over on the “sick kid” side of the waiting room, and this was quite entertaining for the receptionists. They certainly didn’t see this every day.

Because this was a “Flu Shot Clinic,” there were lots of people in line with us.  “The doctor’s gonna poke my arm!” Claire told a little girl waiting in line in front of us.  Claire didn’t understand why this was so upsetting to the little girl who now had a look of shocked panic on her face. “Oh yes. We’re really excited about getting our flu shots,” I said to the little girl and her mother. What else could I do?

Then, it was our turn. The nurse called, “Next!” and Claire dragged me into the room. “Hurry, Momma! Hurry! The doctor’s gonna poke my arm!”

I got my shot first, and then it was Claire’s turn. It took three seconds, and she didn’t even flinch! She was all smiles and even thanked the nurse. The nurse gave her a big yellow smiley face sticker. As Claire was clutching her newest prized possession she said, “The doctor poke’d my arm! The doctor poke’d Momma’s arm! I got a sticker!!”

Over the years, our experience has remained the same, and I am glad that the hardest part about getting a vaccine is containing our excitement while waiting in line.

Vaccines: Not just for Kids!

As National Infant Immunization Week wrapped in April, I couldn’t help but wonder how many parents thought about their immunizations.

Did you know that another way to protect your child was to be sure your Tdap – which stand for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) – vaccine  is up to date? That’s right! Parents need vaccines, too! Why? It’s important to vaccinate the whole family because anyone can be carriers of the disease and expose our children.

Parents should get vaccinated with Tdap every 5 to 10 years to protect themselves and their children against these diseases. Women who are planning to get pregnant can get vaccinated right before pregnancy or right after birth to protect their new babies.

Not only did my husband and I both get our Tdap boosters, but we insisted that our child care providers be vaccinated, too.

Yes, it was important to me that they follow her schedule – we worked hard to get on the sleep schedule. Yes, it was important that the center be clean, well lit, ventilated, and developmentally appropriate for my baby. Thankfully, we got all that.

I wanted to know, that the staff members caring for my yet-to-be-fully immunized baby were vaccinated. I’m glad to say we got that too!

Whooping cough is making a come back. Cases of pertussis have steadily risen since the 1980s, and in 2008 there were more than 13,000 cases of whooping cough, 18 of which were fatal. According to a 2003 study published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, tragically, 90% of pertussis-associated deaths have been among babies less than a year old.

Babies less than 6 months old are particularity vulnerable because they cannot be fully immunized for pertussis until they are four years old. In fact half of the babies with pertussis are infected by their parents.

Immunization coverage is not just for kids! Parents, get your Tdap booster and encourage your expectant friends, first-time grandparents, and care givers to be sure they have their too!

Guest Dad Josh: Vaccination, Against All Odds

Welcome our first guest Dad post! Thank you to Josh for lending his voice to this issue and being one awesome father.

Josh Tyson lives in Denver with his wife, Nicole, and their sons, Elias and Arius. He chronicles the media they (cautiously) share with their boys at thekidsarewatching.com and is a member of New Age Dad, the nation’s premier rock band of dads, toddlers, babies and dogs. Josh is a regular contributor to the New York Times’ Motherlode blog and is currently working on some children’s books.

My wife and I have always been skeptical of the classic American approach to well being. We don’t pop pain tablets when we have headaches and when we have colds we drink heaps of herbal tea in lieu of narcotic syrups. I sincerely doubt that either of us will ever experiment with antidepressants and putting one of our kids on something like Ritalin is out of the question.

Nicole pushed both of our boys into this world without meds and started breastfeeding them right away. We didn’t have them circumcised and weren’t thrilled about subjecting them to a battery of needles in the first few years of their lives.
In the months leading up to the birth of our first, the hasty conspiracy theorist in me was tempted to write off vaccination as another shortsighted way for Big Medicine to line their pockets, but the more research we did, the more confident we became that vaccination was the best choice for our family.

Nicole has a cousin with severe autism, so the concerns posed by famous people and concerned parents out of the limelight were not taken lightly. In the end, however, we decided that there wasn’t significant evidence to link vaccines to autism and that the risks of not vaccinating were far greater than the minimal risks posed by the catalog of recommended vaccines.

We also took into account that we want to travel with our boys, and there are plenty of global destinations we are interested in where diseases like polio haven’t been totally eradicated. Then there was the issue of civic duty. A big part of the reason that vaccines have been so effective in keeping the populace here free of nasty things like measles and mumps is that the vast majority of us are vaccinated against them.

What sealed the deal for us was the fact that every doctor we talked to had vaccinated their kids, or planned to when they had them. Out skepticism of certain elements of western medicine has always been taken with a grain of salt—namely that we aren’t doctors and what we know about the inner-workings of human body is scant compared with somebody who has trudged through eight years of medical school.

So while we’ll continue to keep our medicine cabinets bare, we’ll do so with extra piece of mind.

Taking the “ouch” out of vaccines

I must admit, getting their shots is not my kids’ idea of a good time. No matter how much park time we had before, no matter what promises of tasty treats would be bestowed upon them after, it just isn’t appealing.

But I have been able to make it more tolerable by making it a game and telling them how important it is for their health.

I will tell my girls, “We are going for our pokes today! Remember how we get a poke in our arm or leg and it stings for a bit but it helps protect us from icky germs and bad things?” Then I take my finger and give their arm a little poke. They giggle and we’re both more prepared for the shot.

My oldest, Claire, was a champ from the beginning. Even as an infant she surprised me by stoically accepting her fate, looking the nurse straight in the eye as she drew the vaccine into the needle. She also amazed me at how quickly and easily she was comforted and calmed afterwards.

The secret to my success? I empowered her with the knowledge of what to expect during the shot, and the information she needed to feel in control.

When her little sister came along, Claire was in the role of the “big sister” and REALLY found purpose. She helps me by explaining to her little sister, Grace, what “pokes” are and why they are necessary. She even goes as far as volunteering to go first just to prove it wasn’t that bad and that she wasn’t afraid.

Now Grace, well…I haven’t been that lucky. Even with practicing “pokes” on her stuffed animals, watching her older sister not shed a tear, and being promised full sugar snacks in the car, this one didn’t buy it. She hides, refuses, goes for the door, and screams “NO!” I’ve even tried giving her a pain reliever and fever reducer before the shot to prevent discomfort, but that had little effect.

So I went in search of information to see what I could do to ease both the anxiety and the pain of a “poke.” Here’s what I learned can help:

• Nursing - Allowing a baby to suckle the breast, bottle or pacifier can help manage pain as well as be a distraction.
• Take a Deep Breath – The best thing you can do for your baby is stay calm before and during the doctor appointment. Babies can pick up on your stress and get scared. During the shot, distract your baby with cooing, touching and smiling. By you being a strong, happy parent your baby will reflect your mood.
• Pain Relievers – There has been some controversy on whether pain relievers can diminish the effectiveness of vaccines, so ask your doctor before your vaccine visit if they recommend giving pain relievers.
• Order in which vaccines are administered – It is suggested in studies that the less painful shot be given first. Studies have found that this should be Diphtheria, polio, pertussis, tenanus (Dtap) and haemophilus (HIB) before the vaccine for pneumococcal.
• Play – Children use play to understand situations, encourage them to take a favorite stuffed animal or doll so they can “practice” giving a shot. Point out how well the animal does in sitting still and getting a band-aid.
• Sibling Power – Enlisting an older sibling to go first and show how getting a shot “should be done.” Of course, this only works if you have a brave kiddo – a screaming big sis will probably scare the little one a bit.
• Give a Little Cough – For older children (or adults for that matter), have them give a strong cough right when shot is being inserted. Researchers don’t know if it’s just a simple distraction or actually reduces pain, but it’s seems effective.

Check out this great resource for things to consider before during and after the immunization visit.

I’m curious, what have you found works to keep your kid calm? Does your screaming baby make you not want to vaccinate?