Jenny McCarthy's new book

[casey's mom]

Anyone reconsidering the typical vaccination schedule? I am after reading Louder than words by Jenny McCarthy whose son has Autism. Her speculation is the vaccines over loaded her sons system when his immune system was low and contributed to his autism diagnosis. Thoughts? I'm considering holding off on the MMR shot until 3 years of age

[Student46]

Also, if a child still becomes sick with the disease after being treated with a vaccine, then it's very likely that the child has an immune disorder.  A vaccine is often times a deactivated version of the pathogen (bacteria, fungi...), and in order for the body to build up an immunity, it practices by fighting the inactivated pathogen.  Therefore, when the actual bacteria shows up, the immune system is quick to respond because it already knows how to fight the infection.

This is in response to a quote taken from this forum: "My son had his shots and also contracted Whooping cough, measles and rubella...so much for safe and EFFECTIVE..that is when I woke up...I wondered why did he get the shots only to contract the diseases FROM the shots?"

Also, if your son has all these infections, and is proved to not have an immune system disorder, then he must be exposed to harmful pathogens on a daily basis to receive all of those infections.

[Student46]

Hello,
I'm just going to be the devil's advocate I guess.  I'm a student and a male so I definitely cannot relate to any mothers out there.  Please take what I say with a grain of salt, as I am certainly not an expert.  I hope that I do not offend anyone, I'm just trying to educate myself.

There's a lot of discussion about seizures being paired with vaccinations.  I know that seizures can be caused by very high fevers, and I have also seen that vaccinations are capable of causing fevers.  However, I have not found any credible sources that suggest that seizures cause autism.  This website, http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm is a great source for autism.

Although there is a great deal of skepticism involving vaccinations, there is still no concrete proof correlating it with autism.  I just wanted to point out, because a couple people referred to websites to support their claims, that you need to be careful with you resources.  Anyone can make a website and it's more often than not incorrect information.  I'd try to look at websites with a .edu (college/university websites) or .gov (government website) suffix.

Good luck!

[happymommy518]

It's all about the immune system everyone.  Should you choose not to have the shots, it's very important to keep your childs immune system strong and healthy through nutrition, sleep etc.  Blood tests have shown children that have not been vaccinated, and they have all of the necessary antibodies which they came into contact, but because they're immune systems were strong they were able to not get sick from the illness, rather, produce antibodies, which for some illnesses, gives them lifetime immunity as opposed to 65-95% effective vaccines.  And for the mother who thinks that opposing vaccines is child abuse, i say, giving them is child abuse.  if you know the damages that are even possible from the vaccines, why would you put your child at risk?  why not take a little more time, some extra mommy work and research to keep your children healthy, and learn about the symptoms of the diseases should you need to treat them.  it's like many have stated in the past, you're playing "russian roulette"  with your children.  All in all, I agree that this decision is a unique one for every mother, and not every child is going to react the same way to the shots.  So if you're doing the shots, wait as long as possible, choose what's necessary, space them out, and keep your child's immune system as strong as possible.  The "gut" diet that Jenny McCarthy refers to is exactly because having too much yeast in our system's does compromise our immunity.  Good luck to all mothers out there!

[jgreeley]

My son had all his shots on scheduel up till he was18 months which was when he had his first seizure. After that I had it so he got 1 shot at a time and even breaking the shots down he still had another seizure. And I mean not a 30 second seizure he was seizing on and off for an hour. So he is 2 now and no more seizures and the doctors all think im crazy. He was born with a fever, his whole first year n a half he was sick all the time. Since he hasnt had shots hes been healthy. Makes you wonder huh?

[jj821]

Jenny would be more believable if she didn't have such a financial interest in selling her books.  She would also be more believable if the scientific evidence supported her.

I am just glad that my immunized child is unlikely to get diseases of the last century.

[vaccineproblems]

You stated that India is a polio endemic country, and implied that it is due to lack of vaccines.  I would surmise it is because they don't have clean water, good waste management, knowledge of handwashing and quarantine.  In many underdeveloped countries, they use the local lakes for drinking water, cooking water and WASTE.  Water wells, sewer systems, soap, and education regarding handwashing and quarantine, in addition to good nutrition, would help fight against disease more than vaccines ever could!  According to Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, many of the diseases in America, i.e. polio, were on their way out before vaccines for each disease were required, due to water sanitation, waste management, handwashing and quarantine.  

My daughter became allergic to her milk-based formula less than two days after her four month shots, so we switched her to soy formula.  Her second day of rice cereal, she threw it all up.  I was constantly refeeding her until her 18-month allergy test which revealed she was allergic to peanut, nuts, dairy, eggs (we knew), beef, chicken, pork, mustard, garlic, carrots, and even rice, which the allergist said to disregard the rice, but our experience confirmed it.  She has had all of her shots and she is eight years old, but upon learning of the formaldehyde, antifreeze, aluminum, ether, mercury, monkey kidney tissue, chicken embryos, animal blood in vaccines, I have decided to never again give her any more shots.  In the Parents Magazine February 2000 issue, Karyn Seroussi wrote "How I Cured My Son's Autism".  Great article!