One Size Does NOT Fit All Medical Care

First of all, thank you for your prayers for Mark. Last I heard, he was doing well.

Secondly, I have had an uber productive day! I did a lot of organizing, throwing away of papers, and cleaning toilets. This afternoon and evening I spent most of my time working on some research.

Let me first say, that this is a very personal decision. The following is simply my opinion, and I make no judgement on others and their choices. With that, I have been researching vaccinations. I feel as though our medical care has become one size fits all. And I have a big problem with that. So I went through the CDC's vaccination recommendations, researched each illness and vaccination, and evaluated the risk factors that we are currently aware of for our child.

Here is a good example. The hepatitis B vaccination. The Hep B vaccination is recommended to be given a birth, another given at either 1 or 2 months, and another at 24 weeks. There is also a combo vaccine where they will get an additional dose at 4 months. Now let's look at Hepatitis B. It is passed through blood, semen, or other body fluids. Usually contracted from sexual content, sharing needles, accidental needle prick, from mother to child at birth. I was vaccinated for Hepatitis B in high school, so unless my baby comes out using intravenous drugs, then I'm not sure how they would contract Hepatitis B as an infant or toddler. Now that is for my baby. I know there are many babies born to mothers who are drugs users and could easily come in contact with Hepatitis B. Those babies most certainly do need to be protected. But the risk level for my baby is quite slim. This is one vaccination that will be put off for a while.

Another example is the Rotavirus. The greatest complication of rotavirus is severe diarrhea which can lead to severe dehydration, of course untreated could very well lead to death. Luckily we have access to emergency care. As soon as I'd notice by baby having diarrhea, I'd be on the watch for early signs of dehydration. If that happened, we'd be in the ER and fluids would be given through an IV if necessary. I don't see where this would merit a vaccine in my child. Some children, however, who are in daycare are at greater risk of contracting Rotavirus and severe diarrhea or dehydration may not be noticed as quickly.

I'm not going to share the schedule I have decided upon since it is specific to our child. But I will say that we are nixing a few and delaying a few. We will also be opting out of the Vitamin K shots routinely given at birth. I will be supplementing myself and passing on lower and more gradual levels of vitamin K through nursing.

My only purpose in this post is to encourage people to look at their own situations and risk factors and not accept one size fits all medical care for themselves or for their children.