Child vaccination dilemma

This is a topic I on which I really appreciate your thoughts and your experience.

Before I saw Jim Carey and his wife on the Oprah show about their son's autism and how they think the disease is related to the child vaccination programs, I had never given the issue much thought. I vaguely remember having seen a similar item on TV before. That was days after Monkey had his vaccinations. And after Googling, I figured I was too late anyway.

I forgot about it and hided in ignorance. Ignorance can be bliss like that.

But Roo had to get her fourth batch of vaccines a couple of weeks ago. And right before that, I saw another item featuring Jim Carey's wife on television.

We decided to Google the subject again - this time BEFORE the vaccines - and tried to find more information.

First we surfed to Green Our Vaccines, the organization Jim and his wife support. I found it to be a lot about autism and less about the questions I wanted to find an answer for.

Organizations like Green our vaccines warn against the use of mercury and vaccine cocktails (not your regular Screwdriver, you get the point).

In The Netherlands there is no mercury in the vaccines, so that's one less worry. But they do combine a few vaccines and give them at once. Often repeating this 'cocktail' vaccine two, three or FOUR times. In the first year of a child's life.

Although it does kind of makes sense that combining vaccines could hurt a child; what do we know, we are not doctors, so we trust our childrens' health to the people who tell us what to do.

So we Googled some more and found quite a lot of information, but it's kind of hard to filter it, as the people and organizations that write about the topic vary from:

EXTREMELY religious people who believe a child should not be vaccinated because we (the people) shouldn't interfere with God's plan (those people may find any medicine should be avoided too, for the same reasons.)

to

conspiracy thinkers who think the vaccine program is a way of the government to drug us and to make us pay more tax money (is there more to take? :)

to

pharmacy companies who have the patent WORLD WIDE on some of the child vaccines, who say it is not a conspiracy. (but you don't have to be a genius to figure out it's perhaps not a conspiracy, but it is a gold mine for those companies!)

to

alternative doctors and medical practitioners who are against vaccines (or at least the cocktails) and promote more natural ways of preventing disease

to

people who believe God is a tree and we are his twigs and we should all sleep with our heads faced East because that will bring us in contact with earth and we all should drink organic tea while dancing in our cotton clothes and dance to ACOUSTIC music while we do not vaccinate our children and God forbid spend time in a room with something metal in it and WiFi because WiFi is the devil and we should not drink soda pop because it messes with the climate and than it will rain even more since the microwave has already disturbed earth's balance and than ...

OK you get the point.

Googling can be VERY confusing.

But there are also NORMAL people questioning the vaccine programs. They scream less loud, and are a tad more difficult to find.

Which almost made me question us questioning the whole issue.

If I still make sense, please let me know. I am confusing myself.

After we talked with my brother and sister in law about it, we found out they had the same worries. That came as a surprise, because we didn't think they would question a vaccination program issued by the government.

They did some research, but went with the vaccines, because they lack medical knowledge (like 95% of us). They also told us about friends they have, who refused the normal vaccine cocktails, and organized their own vaccination program, leaving more time between each vaccine given. Normal, intelligent people. Not belonging to one of the categories above or whatever stigma you want to put on them. NORMAL.

I like to think we're normal intelligent people too. So I guess we are not that strange to question child vaccination programs. People question child vaccination programs.

What did we do with little Roo?

Because we took too little time to research and LACK medical knowledge.

But for the next batch of vaccinations, we are going to do a little more research and find out how we can avoid the vaccination cocktails and spread them over a longer period instead.

You see, we are not AGAINST vaccinations. But I believe it may be wise to spread out the vaccines. But at this point, I just don't know for sure.

I'll keep you posted on that.

Want more information?

A CNN article about the topic

Jenny McCarthy on Larry King

The Vaccine-Autism Story: Trust Your Government, or Be a Patriot and Get on Google

Green our vaccines

A negative view on Green our vaccines, but it may be wise to read different angles on the topic

Moms against mercury

Sometimes being a parent, means trusting other people with your child. And that's difficult.

Because I want only want the best for my little Roo.

What's your take on all this?

The moms vs. the people (or what they think)

The one thing that really gets to me about socializing as a parent, is the arrogance and judgmental attitudes of people towards parents they meet, talk with or just barely pass by in a crowded street.

When the baby is crying: "She must be hungry"
When the toddler is screaming to her mom: "The kid is out of control. Mom: you're a bad parent"
When the toddler refuses to eat one day: "The weaning must have gone wrong. Mom: you're a bad parent"
When the toddler refuses to sleep: "She never learned to sleep in her own bed. Mom: you're a bad parent"

And the list goes on and on.

I am seriously appalled by the conclusions people make after one single meeting with a kid. Or really anyone how isn't either one of the parents.

It's like sports championships: some people watching a sports game from the comfort of their homes are convinced they know better than the sports coach on the field. But the fact that sports is so much more than what surfaces on the television, is often ignored.

We've had quite a few different takes on parenting than is common in The Netherlands. So I am used to the looks and judgmental comments and gossip. For one, we learned Monkey sign language.

"SIGN language? WHY? He will be lazy and NEVER SPEAK!!!"

Than we made the 'weird' decision to only cook organic and home cook every meal

"Oh common! EVERYONE uses ready made baby food. Organic or not. You're overprotective. You're teaching him to be a fussy eater. A little pesticide has never hurt anyone."

And the fact that grandma comes to take care of Monkey and Roo instead of daycare...

"They will never socialize! You might as well send them off to the jungle and let them be raised by a bear like Mowgly. "

Than there's the fact that the average mom in The Netherlands breastfeeds her baby ONE month... With 8.5 months I am this very weird tree hugger hippy mom kind of person.

"You have got to learn them to be independent! Otherwise she'll want to breastfeed until she's 30! She will never learn to drink on her own!"

And I haven't even started to tell people that we won't be sending Monkey to preschool until he is at least 3 to 3.5 years old (2.5 years is common here).

"I don't think I heard you right.. 3 years you said? You might as well pre register him to an education and socialization camp!"

But every single parenting decision mentioned above has made, and still makes my children happy. They make my family happy. The make me happy. I am not saying they are perfect or even the best decision, they are just one possible way of raising our kids. OUR way of raising our kids.

And I hereby give the finger stick my tongue out to every person out there not respecting that.

"(THAT child has no manners!! Sticking his tongue out like that!)"