ControverSunday: Vaccinating your kids.
Listing our various parenting practices all together might give you a picture of an overall style or philosophy that seems Sears-ian, La Lechean, Attachment, Natural, Child-Led, Generally Crunchy, what-have-you. But one of the happy consequences of ControverSundays (on the various blogs who host it) is to show that while the Internet or modern parenting manuals might have you believe otherwise, what choices you make (and oh! the choices you will make!) do not fall into a simple binary of good/bad parenting nor do they all fall neatly into a ready-made parenting “camp.” This is probably obvious to everyone, but I am also guilty of making assumptions and predictions based on one thing I see another parent doing, and witness a lot of others on the Internets generalizing from one marker to another.
For instance, I have found that some of my acquaintance are surprised that we cloth-diaper and breastfeed and c0-slept (for a time) but we had our son circumcised. And we didn’t delay nor forgo any vaccinations.
Being surprised at any one of these choices is not an issue–I readily accept your bewilderment or even censure at the circ thing, in particular. I’ll just say: I agree with you that circumcision is medically unnecessary and in fact, strange. I gave the decision away (and without guilt or reservation, for once) and Henry was cut. The End.
But being surprised that a parent would breastfeed a toddler and also sleep train, or cloth-diaper and also formula-feed, this seems quite wrong. Thinking about any of these practices as incompatible, or as necessarily going hand-in-hand, is beyond me. I assume we do what we do for a complicated array of reasons, not because we each belong to some sort of political parenting party.
So back to the matter at hand this week: Vaccinations. It has been surprising, to some, that we are Vax-Happy-Needle-Junkies when it comes to the tiny tot, given the fact that we practiced Elimination Communication for a time and don’t let Henry watch TV. But I don’t find it so, because, well, I’m me and I live inside my head.
I am well aware that any (which is to say, every) medical intervention carries a risk; you start messing with “nature” and there are going to be side-effects. Take for instance the shit that happens as a consequence of hormones in our food, or the impact of the Western diet (mainly processed food) on our overall health. If you’ve ever had a secondary infection after finishing a round of antibiotics, you know well what I’m talking about (and isn’t it just awesome to get a yeast infection the minute you’re done dealing with a bladder infection? Might as well, right?).
Vaccination or medication in general is a mixed-bag. And some of the things these drug therapies are made out of freak my shit right out, (for more of a discussion of this issue see amoment2think‘s post). Perpetua has well covered concerns I also share about drug companies and the for-profit nature of vaccinations, scare tactics, etc.
But I believe in the benefit of certain medical interventions regardless of the rare side effects. I have never personally bought the connection between any particular vaccine and any particular neural developmental disorder. I am not a scientist, or a doctor, or even that well informed of a citizen, but my assessment of the potential hazards of vaccines tend toward the acute and limited.
So my only worry each time Henry has had a round of shots is that he might have an allergy or averse reaction. He has run a fever and produced shocking projectile vomit after shots. He survived.
I think there is definitely room to re-evaluate the standard vaccine schedule in the US for kids under one. I suspect that there are differing opinions in the medical field about vaccine order and spacing and combination. I’m not uncritically accepting things as they are, believing that the AAP must know what’s “best” for me/my child.
But I trust them well enough. And at the end of the day, I think vaccinating is good citizenship. I believe it’s neighborly. I don’t want my kid to get your kid sick. (See, again, Perpetua on “herd immunity.”)
To the other side: Parents who don’t vaccinate their children similarly don’t do so for a variety of reasons, not limited to fears of the autism connection. That connection has not only been overblown (and falsified) but it has unfortunately occluded the many other reasons people choose to not vaccinate themselves or their children. Each vaccine carries its own ingredients list and controversy. There is a healthy amount of suspicion in parenting circles and beyond; being wary of big-pharma is not conspiracy-theorist-thinking. It’s just pretty sane.
That said: we vaccinate. On the typical schedule, with no alterations. I do understand delayed or alternately spaced vaccinations. I want to understand the position that doesn’t vaccinate, though I don’t hold to it myself. If pressed? I think not vaccinating is the wrong position. I don’t think it’s a simple choice between “all good” and “all bad”–but given two options, vaccinate or do not vaccinate, I think not vaccinating is a bad choice. (There, controversy, have at thee!)
Now: I want to separate those who do not vaccinate for sane, thought out reasons and those who do not vaccinate because it is on the side of the column with other natural/slow/attachment/what have you parenting practices. This decision cannot be made because it seems to correlate with other decisions. It needs to be made on its own terms.
While there is no one opinion on the issue, I do think there is a dangerous current driving the decisions of a (hopefully) limited few. This is something I find most difficult to understand–the fashion for not vaxing. When I see a “NO VAX” badge next to someone’s avatar on a message board, in combination with a cringe-worthy animated gif of a smiley-faced cartoon woman filling up a bottle via a cartoon breastpump, holding a picket sign that says “NO CIRC,” hanging up little animated cloth diapers on a 16-bit clothesline, I have to wonder why important decisions–decisions that spread well beyond parenting–have become like so many online bumper stickers. I become more than a little suspicious of the motivation for that person’s decisions.
I went hunting after some examples of the above and stopped when I found this little beauty. I’m not going to lie; I may have to put it in the signature of every professional email I send from here on out:
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See these blogs that have so far participated:
Our Lady of Perpetual Breadcrumbs: Vaccination Nation
lilly: Vaccinations, why I do.
The Mothering Life: Vaccinations!
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Grab the code and get writing!
<a href=”http://mmeperpetua.wordpress.com”> <img src=”http://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae45/accidentsss/ControverSundays.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”badges”/></a>
Okay, I have way to much to say about this.
1) Awesome
2) I totally agree about the “political parenting party”… this is a topic I find soooo sooo fascinating.
3) The antibiotic thing really gets me because if any doctor worth their salt knew even a smidgen about natural medicine they would tell you to take a probiotic right after a round of antibiotics least you not get that secondary infection. When I was in university I suffered 5 years straight of on and off sinus infections until I discovered that little nugget of knowledge. I wish doctors would play nice with the natural health community.
4) I think just about every decision should be made on its own merits, rather then because it goes along with any particular parenting belief system.
5) Wow you Americans like your bumper stickers and buttons. Canadians don’t seem to wear their parenting decisions on their sleeves like this, at least as far as I have seen. Weird. I mean, go for it that’s what someone wants to do. But weird.
Nice!
I was going to start participating in the controversundays today, but I was afraid to start with the vax topic. And, I think the reason why is because you are SO right about it being a “trendy” topic. I find that I am in the minority too often on this topic.
We, too, vaccinate, and on the recommended schedule. I am so overwhelmed by the conflicting research on the ingredients, side-effects, etc. Add to that the fact that I am totally on board with the “herd immunity” thing. When I heard that a baby was infected with measles by a kid who wasn’t immunized, I felt angry. angry that MY baby might be at risk because she’s too young for the shot, and someone else chose not to vaccinate. But, at the same time, we can’t tell anyone what to do with their own child, so it’s confusing.
Anyway, this was a great post!
Maybe you can join in on another round? If you have ideas of topics you would like to cover, you should post a comment at Perpetua’s. It would be nice to find topics with a wider range of positions, maybe, since this one is mostly “we do” or “we don’t.”
It is confusing–in this case I feel like we CAN tell people what to do with their child because it’s a public health issue (so what to do with themselves, their children, everyone). That said, it’s their CHILDREN. If there is a chance of harm, you can hardly expect people to jump on board all the time. I try to see how that chance of harm (dubious as I am) could really turn someone away. Hmm. Shrug.
That boob thing is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.
You’re bringing up a point that I didn’t really think about: that some people might feel pressured to not vaccinate simply because it “lines up” with their other positions, like breastfeeding and attachment parenting.
I wonder, too, about how to define the “well-thought-out” position. My doula, for example, thinks about vaccinations all the time. She is homeschooling her kids because they aren’t vaccinated, so she is very committed to her stance. However, her resources are abso-fucking-lutely crazy pseudo-science. (Ooh, judgy). She has a ton of them, and can quote to you every additive and every big-pharma-cringe-worthy aspect of vaccinations, but none of her research is “credible,” if we choose to define credible as “published in a major medical journal.”
But then I start going down the “Who owns the journals, and who funds the research?” and my brain explodes.
Wait–that’s already *my* signature for all professional email.
Ack. That was my line. I guess it’s funnier if it’s yours, though.
Ah, great point. I feel less like I have to ‘align’ my parenting choices with a certain camp because I have a group of friends who are a very mixed bag. But I do understand that some people might feel judged.
I have friends who are of the no-vax, home-birth, breastfeeding*, cloth-diapering variety. But their politics are VERY conservative. It’s bizarre. And they are totally non-judgy regarding my choices, and vice versa.
(*I think breastfeeding is more common here in Canada where we typically get a year for maternity leave, but I’m not sure on the stats. It’s anecdotal evidence but the only friends I have who didn’t breastfeed did so because they physically could not.)
I don’t have a real blog, so I figure I’ll chime in my thoughts here for what they’re worth. You make an excellent point about the “political parenting party,” as a pp said. I hadn’t really thought about it like that, as we just do what we feel is best, but I’m sure that *others* view us as fervent members of some parenting club depending on what is up for discussion. For example, my in-laws are quite perplexed by our uncut, exclusively breastfed, alternatively vaccinated son. However, I wasn’t about to touch cloth diapers with a 20 foot pole, stay-home-environmentally-”aware” mommy though I may be. And our kid was sleeping in his crib in his room at 10 days old, which was as soon as I could heft my healing self into our gigantic bed instead of sleeping on the couch. I don’t feel pressure to prescribe to any parenting philosophy as a whole, but it makes me sad to feel that our society has gone so far as to lay that kind of guilt on new parents.
On vaccinations: I don’t buy into herd immunity as much as I probably should as a “good citizen.” However, I see the point for certain *deadly* diseases…not so much for stuff like chicken pox. So we’re giving him most shots, just not the ones our doctor agrees might be a bit frivolous. And we’re spacing them so he receives no more than two at a time, so we can watch his reactions more closely and hopefully pin down any bad reactions to a specific shot & skip the boosters if necessary. We found Dr. Sears’ The Vaccine Book to be an extremely helpful and practical resource. It is *not* an anti-vax book, but he does offer alternative schedules for parents who are worried about specific issues, and makes good points for why some issues might – *might* – be worrisome.
Great recommendation on the book–I think the best thing to come out of these posts is actually to ferret out the middle ground. Too many of these “controversies” in modern parenting can appear black/white all or nothing kind of deals, leaving parents feeling disempowered, confused. I don’t have much trouble understanding alternate/delayed vax schedules, or–to an extent–selective non-vaxing. I’m trying to decide this week if we should get the chicken pox vaccine for Hank. Baby Daddy and I are both really torn.
I totally agree Accidents- I get frustrated with the “black or white” approach to parenting. Particularly by those bloggers whom build up the “other” side in the extreme so they can effectively knock them down. When, in reality, I think most parents end up taking the middle ground. And, in most cases, the middle ground is always the best.
Yeah yeah yeah, I’m jumping in a bit late. First, I wanted to comment that the gif you found is just about the most vile thing I’ve ever seen. I love it.
We’ve stopped vaxing — for now. I’m potentially open to starting again later. But for now, I’m a card-carrying member of the bad-neighbors club. I breastfeed, too. I fed my girls only organic baby food and use only organic or natural baby products…
And of course, all this crunchiness is negated by the landfill-clogging disposable diapers, the frozen waffles they eat every morning, the TV they watch (on occasion), the lead-filled toys from China….
You’re totally right about the parenting “camps.” Some folks seem to be more charged up with following “party lines” rather than parenting with compromise and flexibility.