Alternative Vaccine Schedule - Portland,OR

The Vaccine Book by Dr. William Sears is a very well balanced book that might be a good one to read.

First, I just want to praise you for investigating-taking an active role in understanding and researching is the most important thing-regardless of what you choose for your child.

We initially decided to delay and figured we wanted to do an alternative schedule-let our family doctor know, she was fine with it and has been pretty good about not pressuring. Once we dove into the research-online, Dr. Sears book (I've read it about 4 times!)-we've decided to skip pretty much everything. We didn't come to this decision lightly and it is an ongoing discussion of what new material and news comes out.

There's about 4-5 shots that are arguably irrelevant after about 1 year....mostly because they guard against things short term 3-5 years and are mostly to protect infants from things that are deadly to infants, but not necessarily to older kids. (ie rota virus, Hib, pertussis)

We won't do any combo shots, nothing containing animal or human matter, and never more than 1 shot at a time. What we've tentatively decided for now is that our son will have tetanus and polio somewhere between age 4-6 before entering kindergarten. As part of our plan to not vaccinate-I have breastfed since birth and continue to at 26 months, my son takes a multi vitamin, and is not allowed in daycare settings. (I realize these are choices that not everyone can make) He does belong to a playgroup where many of the other parents do alternative schedules or no vaccination-he is not isolated from other children by any means.

For us, the risks outweigh the benefits to most all the shots. Since I stay home full time, breastfeed, we live a pretty healthy active lifestyle. And because I have an autoimmune disorder and have had a vaccine reaction and my husband I both have severe allergies, food sensitivities, and asthma-we looked at all factors for potential reactions in our son and felt that it was best to skip. If factors were different, we might have chosen differently.

Good luck with your decision-I'm like an encyclopedia on this topic if you have any further questions/concerns and want to PM me!

I would not vaccinate for measles or chicken pox. I would for pertussis as a separate vaccine, I would not vaccinate for polio unless it was the dead virus not the live one. No one gets polio anymore except from the live virus. That is about 80 cases a year from the vaccine.
No smallpox your kids can do that if they are going to a third world country where it still exists.
Tetanus as needed. Let the children get Rubella. That way the immunity is life long.

I delayed and chose mine based on the Dr Sears vaccine book. I forget exactly what I did now, but i think there is a sample alternative schedule in there. I started them older (after 2-the book doesn't say to do that, I just chose to) and spread them out and left out some. I know for sure we never did chicken pox. My daughter got them when she was 18 months old in France. Now that we're back here where people vaccinate for it, I wish I could get my other two to catch it naturally somehow...we dont' do flu. There were a couple others that are not necessary I will save until school age or travel.

I HIGHLY recommend the Dr. Sears Vaccine book. It gives you the pros and cons to everything so that you can make your own decision. i do an alternative schedule where I hold off on Hep B until older, spread out the vaccines so he is only getting one shot at a time, also waiting on the MMR until older etc.
But again I think if you read that book you would be more comfortable with making your choices!

We chose to vaccinate our infants for DPT, Hib and Pc (pneumococcal) but did not more than 2 shots at a time with at least a month in between shots (longer if they were sick). We only did one with aluminum each visit (the Dr. Sears book details amounts of aluminum in each). We also did rotovirus for my youngest not knowing if she would be in daycare, but I wish we hadn't.

We will not vaccinate for chicken pox (will do a titer when they are teenagers and do it then if needed), Hep A (almost always a harmless virus- wouldn't even know it's what the kid had but the natural immunity is lifelong) or Hep B (makes me angry that they even give this to infants - it is only transmitted through blood and body fluids and my babies aren't shooting drugs or having sex!). We will start the MMR with my 3.5 year old later this spring when all of the colds and coughs have run their course.

I would also highly recommend the Dr. Sears Vaccine Book - it's a great resource.

There is a fascinating, informative, and compassionate discussion of this on the Seattle M. Doc (google seattlemamadoc) blog. A number of threads discuss vaccinations in general but also discuss using alternative schedules. Yes, it is pro-vaccine (she is a pediatrician), but there is probably a lot of information that you will find informative. And she's a mom of little ones, and really tries to frame her posts from that perspective as well.

Because of the numerous outbreaks of pertussis (and the potentially devastating consequences), I would certainly recommend getting that one.

I did tetanus as we live very rurally. She has had 2 of those and is now 3yrs old. I also did one pertussis vaccine which had to come with the Diptheria. I am happy with the decision and have no plans for future vaccines at this time.

Updated

I did tetanus as we live very rurally. She has had 2 of those and is now 3yrs old. I also did one pertussis vaccine which had to come with the Diptheria. I am happy with the decision and have no plans for future vaccines at this time.

I wouldn't get flu shots, chicken pox, hep, hib, prevnar, pertussis, measles, or rubella. Or gardasil! I've gotten some really good information from a book called the sanctity of human blood, the doctor's website is www.thedoctorwithin.com. It goes over each individual disease, likelihood of catching it, etc..Good for you!

I've delayed the vaccines!!! One at a time..My daughter was vaccinated on schedule but it was a controversial topic 5 years ago and has only intensified so when number two and three were born I simply opted to take it painstakingly slow....Our pediatrician was fine with it and has not been pushy at all! My kids have not had any adverse reactions and if my sons' did then I would know which one caused the problem. My middle guy just got his first MMR shot at almost three years old. My daughter got the chicken pox vaccine at age 5...Good for you! Do what is best for your kids either way you are not wrong.

We did a modified Sears schedule. The current recommendations are for many more vaccinations than just 10 ago earlier and I didn't want so many at once. So for the first year or so we were going every month or so for a new vax. Many were just nurse's visits. We got polio about on time because we live in a very diverse area and discussed the pros and cons with the doctor. We got MMR slightly before her 1st birthday for a trip (because they don't make MMR separate anymore). Since she's not in school or daycare and it's not like a week is really going to make a difference, we are waiting til she's in school to get a booster - the county will likely make us re-do anyway because it was 1 week early. :P

Our pediatrician was really good about it and set up a schedule per our concerns and needs and said a lot of parents were doing similar. I was impressed that she would do that, considering we're on an HMO, but no one gave us trouble about it. Our daycare didn't care. They just needed her to have certain shots at some point and as long as she was under a doctor's approved schedule (the dr filled out the forms for us), it was no problem.

I did not do the flu shot this year for either of us.

Any advice if the clinic doesn't offer separate doses?

We delayed my baby's shots. So far he has gotten everything for his age except the MMR. We spaced them out so he gets only 1-2 shots at a time. Doesn't matter if we have to visit the clinic more often. The pediatrician is not sympathetic though and is in fact pushy. Only way we got to delay the MMR was we said okay and then when the nurse came I said no, just the chicken pox for now. He is perfectly healthy.

I am not anti-vaccine though. We just want to space them out so if there's an allergic reaction of some kind, it'd be easier to pinpoint the source.

You can find Sears' schedule if you google it. You could also get it from the library. We couldn't follow it to the letter because the clinic doesn't give separate doses.