Parents Forum

Kaytee · 04-10-2007, 07:23 AM

Well today Nichole has her 15 month check up. I'm nervous. Ok so here is my background with this doctor thing.

When she was 2 months old I took her in for her wellness visit and to get her immunizations. I always was in favor of getting them, never had doubts ya know. Well then she got them and well things have changed. They injected my baby with 6 different diseases (now they require 7). I was nervous, but just as nervous as any first time mom seeing their baby get shots. Right I was helping her? WRONG!! She had a moderate/severe reaction. Within hours she was running a 104.8 fever and screaming non stop for hours upon hours. Within 8 hours she had broken out in hives all over her body. It was so scarey, I was so afraid she was going to have febrile seizures. Her doctor the lovely man that he is told me that it was coincidence and not the shots. MY butt, his little sheat he gave me said that this was considered a rare but serious reaction, heck she is a breasfed baby who doesn't go to daycare(nothing against formula or daycare). Hr told me he was still going to give all the vaccines on schedule. Well that wasn't happening. I started researching vaccines and well its a scarey thing out there. MOre kids have serious reactions then most people think. The govt even has a account thingy to pay off people whos kids are serious injured or killed by them. over a billion dollars a year in the US.
Anyway I have decided to space out her vaccines now, Only one at a time and no closer then 3 months apart. If she has a reaction again I want to know to what. And no MMR or Chicken piox till at least 2. Leaning toward CP at 2 and MMR at 3. So we found a doc that would agree to this and even said they would not give the DTaP again, the one that caused the severe reaction. Well we have been going there since she was 4 months old. She has only been sick one time and was better in 3 days.
Now we have a new doctor, the reason I am nervous. She is a lady that goes to my church and knows Nicholes background, but its still makes me nervous making sure this lady will agree with me ya know?
Ok well my book is getting really long so I better end this and you are a special person if you actually read this!!

Kaytee · 04-10-2007, 03:54 PM

well we are back from her apointment and it well great. She weighs 19lb 2oz. 29 1/2 inches long. They didn't do any vaccines and instead are sending her to see an allergist about them instead. YAY I am so happy I wish they would have done that months ago would have made my life easier.

Tom · 04-12-2007, 09:49 AM

Wow scary is right! I'm glad to hear that everything turned out OK and also glad you brought this up Kaytee. When the time comes I will definitely have to do some research on this. I've heard a little information from both schools of thought before but I don't know enough to make any personal decisions.

Kaytee · 04-12-2007, 10:34 AM

I would suggest being very cautious on where you get your info on it. Its hard to find unbiased opinions, everything is either anti-vax or pro-vax. I had a very difficult time researching it. One of the best books to get on the subject is Stephanie Caves "What your doctor won't tell you about childhood vaccination" It is by a doctor who does vaccinate but she breaks it down in a way that allows you as the parent to make the best choice for your child.

Tom · 04-12-2007, 10:55 AM

Excellent - thanks! You hit the nail on the head - I was already anticipating getting biased information. You're saving me lots of work here Kaytee...

Kaytee · 04-12-2007, 11:37 AM

lol That's what I am here for. I have to admit that I can be a bit on the crazy side of some parenting issues. And vaxing is one of them. Along with carseat safety, breastfeeding and debating them is the best of fun!!!!

Tom · 04-12-2007, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaytee

I have to admit that I can be a bit on the crazy side of some parenting issues. And vaxing is one of them. Along with carseat safety, breastfeeding and debating them is the best of fun!!!!

So ... there isn't a ton of debate about what's ideally best about breastfeeding, right? (if you can you should?) Vaxing we touched on ... what do you have to say about carseats?

Kaytee · 04-12-2007, 04:42 PM

Well you would think that breastfeeding is a no brainer, but its not, very few women actually intend to exclusively nurse their child for what ever reason. Some its bad information given to them, other times it's more of a why breastfeed when you can use formula? I hope your wife chooses to breastfeed, she will not regret it if she does. Tell her to learn all she can about it now before the baby comes so she is prepared. www.kellymom.com is a wonderful site for it.

About car seats, well most parents think its okay to turn their child front facing at the MINIMUM of 20lbs and one year. This is a minimum, it is so much safer for them to remain rear facing until the max of the car seat. Most go to 33-35 lbs. The best way to explain it is that when a child is front facing to soon and are in an accident there spinal cords are ripped out of the base of the neck like a plug that is being pulled by wires out of the wall. Alot of parents will say well my child wants to see everything around them not just the back of the seat, well my childs safety is more important then what they want to see. Other parents will say things like well my kids legs are squished up and touch the back of the cars seat. There are no documented cases of children breaking their legs while rear facing, but countless cases of babies that are paralized due to being front facing to soon. Hers a web site that talks about extended rear facing, there are many more out there as well.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx

Tom · 04-13-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaytee

I hope your wife chooses to breastfeed

She's definitely going to try!

Thanks for the link, I'm going to refer her to the site.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaytee

well my childs safety is more important then what they want to see.

Yikes. I'm glad you brought this to my attention.

Any advice on particular car seats that are safe or what to look for in a car seat?

Kaytee · 04-13-2007, 10:27 AM

don't get me started!! lol j/k. If you want a infant seat, most people do then I would go with a Snugright are suppose to be good, stay away from Gracco, i have heard they are not very good. Check out www.carseatdata.org/, it will tell you what car seats will fit best in your car. Not all fit well in each car. I only used my infant seat for about 4 months, then moved to a convertable car seat. She hated the infant seats, would scream and arch her back every time we tried to put her in one. I don't know much about infant seats, so.. thats all I got, but there is plenty of info out there on it. Check out consumer reports too.
As far as convertable seats go, Britax are the best by far. They are pricey though. They have continually been given high reagards as far as safety is concerned. Nichole is in a Britax Marathon it goes up to 33lbs rear facing and up to 60lbs front. If you need a less expensive model, I have heard good things about Cosco seats. Things you want to look for when getting a seat is 1st- it fits your car, check to make sure before buying. Babies r us will allow you to take the models out to your car to install them 2 don't get an overhead sheild one (not that you have to worry about that with an infant they are just in front facing seats) they can cause serious head injury in an accident, they are trying to pass a law to outlaw them. 3. 5 point harness is the safest no matter what. I would advise not getting anything but a 5 point harness. EPS foam is also a great safety feature. Let me know if there are any seats yo are looking at and I can research them for you.

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