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Both my girls had Vit K and Hep B at birth.
1 Qu though.....if you delay the Hep B at birth and give it at 8 weeks....when do they get the next doses? (2m, 4m, 6m, 12m)??
DD1 got it at: birth, 2m, 4m, 12m
DD2 got it at: birth, 2m, 4m, and will be getting it at 6m (instead of 12 months as its built into the 6 month shots).
They are only 3 shots if you dont have the birth one.
If you are immunised against HepB as an adult there are only ever 3 shots. Unless of course you don't seroconvert and need a booster.
My daughter had both the hep B and IM vitamin K. My daughter ended up neutropenic at 4 weeks old(she had low neutrophils in her blood, netrophils help fight infections) so she was at high risk of an infection luckily I was breastfeeding and she had that for protection. The paediatrician suggested the neutrophilia was a reaction to the hep B vaccination. This time as we are not in a high risk group and I am immune to hep B, I will not get my new baby immunised until 2 months.
Just my experience and everyones situation is different. Good luck with whatever decision you make.
thanks heaps everyone - has given me some direction and ultimately it is a very individual choice, so will do a bit more reading and see what feel I get.
thanks again - love the wealth of knowledge that is BB!
Thanks Ange....also....if you dont give it at birth (as per the schedule) does that mean your immunistations arent 'up to date' according to medicare/FAO?
I think ill be saying no thanks to both this birth unless the birth isnt so great, then ill agree on Vit K
I don't think the birth one gets lodged on the schedule so it doesn't matter if you don't get it. I recently went to get my son some of the 2 month immunisations and as I was varying from the schedule they got me to sign the co-objecter form- but they got me to do this without even knowing if we had done the birth hep b or not.
Satya - re blood transfusions. I work at Australian Red Cross Blood Service (the source for blood for transfusion in Australia) and the chance of contracting Hepatitis B from a blood transfusion is extremely low. There are a large number of screening tests that are performed on EVERY blood transfusion and blood donors must complete a detailed questionnaire and undergo an interview every time they present to donate. There are many procedures and checkpoints during the production, testing and distribution process that reduce these risks greatly. I doubt that a transfusion risk would be why your doctor recommended the vaccination.....but then again you never know what the doctors are thinking!....
Wow, there's alot to think about. Due to all our allergies, and reading posts I am going to research further, but at this point can safely say we will not be getting Hep B at birth (if we have another baby).xo
PS Just something interesting I learnt last night at a seminar, Japan don't vaccinate their babies until after 2 years ( Ithink it was Japan, sorry if I've got the country wrong) AND they have the lowest infant mortality rate in the world....food for thought for sure ! xo
Have researched it a bit more and here is some info on Vit K:
Administration of Vitamin K to Newborns - from Ronnie Falc?o's Midwife Archives
My wife & I decided against vaccination after much research; a bad experience with our son; and our shock realisation we understood more (a *lot* more) about vaccination than several doctors and nurses. (Some of these we knew personally - and regularly give shots as part of their daily routine.)
I won't even begin to post what we learned here. But you might like to go to a search engine and search for: "Australian Vaccination Network" and look through their site.
May I be so bold as to suggest parents do their research *before* beginning vaccination, not after. Please make sure your choice is an informed one (whatever it is) and not a blind one. That way if/when something goes wrong, you'll be miles ahead of those people unwilling to admit any vaccine could cause any harm.
Vitamin K:
In my mind, the risk of Vitamin K deficiency outweighed the risk that might be caused by the Vitamin K itself. Although I do agree with the notion that ALL babies have low Vitamin K stores, so maybe that is normal and not to be seen as a deficiency. I just didn't want to run the risk or bleeding in the brain. I did choose the oral administration, though as I didn't want her jabbed jsut after birth if it wasn't necessary. Apparently the only reason why most doctors and midwives prefer the needle is because it is a one-off. With the oral dose there is a chance you forget about the boosters and then it's not working. My midwife came for home visits for 6 weeks after birth, so there was no risk of forgetting to go to the doctor for boosters.
HepB:
I decided against it. I know that me and DH are negative (I was tested for it when I first became pregnant). And as I wasn't planning on letting my newborn have sex or take intravenous blood, I didn't think she needed it. I actually discussed this with a few health professionals and they agreed that it wasn't necessary as DD was at low risk. If you don't have the dose at birth, you don't have to "catch up" you get enough doses of the vaccine, the birth one is additional, not part of HepB vaccination schedule. Apparently it is just to make sure they don't go home unprotected. Or as I have heard some health professionals say: to cover the baby in case of a needle stick injury at birth. I was furious when I heard that. So really, it is to cover their A#*% in case of an accident. It is absolutely ludicrous as a vaccine isn't effective immediately anyway. So if there was a needlestick injury just after birth, she'd still run the risk of contracting HepB.
I'm still undecided about the Varicella vaccination. But I have chosen to go with the recommended vaccination schedule so far (apart from the birth dose of HepB, of course). It is a very personal decision, but I think it should be a personal decision and it should be an informed one. So discussions like this are very healthy.
Does anyone else think it is morally very questionable to bribe parents to vaccinate their children by paying an immunisation allowance if you're up-to-date? Or by bribing doctors by paying them a "bonus" if their immunisation quota is over a certain percentage?
GregMonarche, thanks for the resource. And I just wanted to say, I admire how carefully you worded your post.
Sasa
Thanks... :)
When our second son was born, one nurse there asked about our a "no vaccinations" note on my wife's forms. Then she asked did we realise there was an oral version? We said, "Well... We guess that would be ok." (Since directly into the bloodstream is the more dangerous concern.) She left the room, re-entered, and a short time later another nurse walked in and up to son #2 who was lying in a plastic crib at the other side of the room. Less than a minute later, the second nurse "briskly" walked over to her and they muttered with their backs to us. Son #2 was in front of them, so out of view. I wasn't paying a lot of attention because I was more concerned about my wife, her having just given birth.
It was only recently (years later) that we pulled out 2nd son's "blue book" - and realised it states he received Vit K *injection*. Man alive, you've got to watch everything people do and defend your decisions at every step. You never know when someone is, or is not, listening to your wishes.
Since then we've learned the oral version is unnecessarily many times an adult dose - and unless the birth was stressful for bub, the risk of bleeding is virtually non-existant. If they reduced it to a more sensible potentancy, there would probably be less objection to it. But I guess it's easier to flood bub with an excessive dose (which they don't even check afterwards), than it is to give a lower dose and do a routine check a short time later to see if more is needed.
Some also suggest going along with nature by not cutting the cord until it stops pulsing - that the last "bit of goodness" may begin Vit K production. (Back when our 2nd son was born, they used to cut and the placenta and rush it off immediately - saying they kept it for DW for a short time - in case there were a problem. Something to do with bleeding as I recall. They also asked permission - once it was not needed by DW - that it go towards other medical purposes. "Packed with red blood cells" or similar was the reason they gave.) So I think the "don't-cut-the-cord"/"go-along-with-nature" idea has merit.
Then there is the fact that breast feeding soon after birth, colonises bub's gut with the correct flora to produce their own Vit K. Oh - and I remember reading, and being told by a nurse... If Vit K really is needed, it works fairly quickly once given. So you have to wonder why giving it blanket-style to an entire population - and in an excessive dose - is pushed so hard.
With "Immunisation (I really don't like using that word) Allowance", you can still claim it without vaccinating by getting a Conscientious Objection form from medicare, having it signed by your doctor, and then returning it to medicare (or perhaps it was Centrelink). But most folks wouldn't be aware of that. So yes, some call it a bribe - that reminds the forgetful - or swings the fence-sitters amongst us.
My local council gave me this form and organised it for me when I went there to get my son some of the shots but not all and was varying from the schedule. I've got to give them credit- they made it very easy and never made me feel I am doing the wrong thing.:
Both my kids were given Vit K and Hep B at birth, the biggest mistake I ever made!!!
We have a strong family history of allergies.I didn't realise this would be a factor when they were immunised. They both had severe jaundice and spent many days underlights. I kept getting their regular immunisations and my oldest developed serious gut issues, malabsorbtion and food intollerences. My youngest has anaphylactic allergies and chemical sensitivities as well as all the gut issues. We finally went to a specialist who told us they were allergic to the preservatives in the vaccines and this had caused damage to their guts and immune system.I am going to investigate homeopathic immunisation for my next one. If you have an allergy history think about it very carefully before proceeding.
Regards
Lisa B.