Babies born October 2007 #27

[Willow]

The MMR vaccine 'had' been linked to Autism, although, the Dr who first made this claim has now said he falsified the results and the claim has been discredited. Even though there is no concrete evidence to prove this claim, many parents swear that the vaccine caused their childs Autism.

Ok, thanks Ange - had read all of this stuff and discussed it with his peaed. Must admit, the word 'Autism' pushes massive panic buttons with me. I'm not sure why. Probably a big reason is I stumbled across an article that linked big heads to Autism - as you know, L has quite a noggin'. But honestly, what I've read isn't quite concrete enough for me not to immunise him.

Viv - I know what you mean about mumps etc, just my spin on the rubella vax though: When prg with L (and a total nutcase I freely add due to previous loss) I had a scare after being in contact with an unimmunised little boy who 'reportedly' had rubella. Apparently it's quite uncommon and this diagnoses was questioned by my ob. Anyhoo - I had my rubella booster in high school like most girlies but my immunisation was at the borderline level when tested, so I was just immune according to the numbers.

The rubella virus has a devastating affect on unborn babies, especially in the first 12 weeks (I think, would have to check that again to be sure) and in a lot of cases the baby would not survive once born (with serious defects such as brain damage and heart defects common) and termination is often recommended. Up until about 20 weeks, it causes much milder defects like deafness, blindness etc. but still pretty serious.

Now, I'm probably pretty sensitised to this issue, but I could not live with myself if I knew that my little boy passed on a virus to an unprotected mother (who like me had done everything to protect herself and her unborn child by having the vax) and it resulted in her baby's death.

So...to conclude, I will always be giving him the rubella vax. Not sure if you can do that one separately though.

Hate this stuff, scares the beejusus outta me and I struggle with knowing what the best course of action is for the little fella.

So, that was my 2c worth and now I need to go and collect my DD from preschool before she gets locked in - you guys read about that??!!

**ETA: Just wanted to also say Kim - sorry you feel that way but I agree with Ange, baby bud threads are to share milestones, celebrate the good times and commiserate the not so good - which I have noticed you don't really talk about. All of your posts say how great the girls are going, how well they sleep day and night and how well they feed, so I don't really see the problem? It's a cliche, but all babies really are different. L is one of the youngest but has been rolling everywhere since 4 months, crawling since 6, is halfway to pulling himself up, sits unsupported, says 'mama', 'dada', 'nana', 'bubbub' , sleeps like a trooper during the day (now!), is a happy little fella who rarely whinges or complains BUTsleeping through the night is not his forte just yet - but so what? What does any of that really mean? You can't have everything. Doesn't make him a 'bad' baby in my eyes and I'm not rushing out to exchange him for the model you got just so he'll sleep through - kwim?