Vaccines, part 4 of 4
I have read with tremendous interest the experiences of many parents who commented on my two-part blog entry on vaccines. I could write a lot about this subject, and soon, I will have a much longer blog series to post, with a new book recommendation.
Please read the interesting experiences, and the book choices and web site picks of my readers who have educated themselves on this difficult and controversial topic. I am familiar with all the content they refer to, which was part of my own research.
Some of those who commented have spent a tremendous amount of time studying the vaccine issue. Especially please read Mary’s comments. All the facts she references you can learn more about reading the books several readers recommend.
Meantime, I remember something from when my children were little. When my third child was born, I became very underweight. I was under a lot of stress and not sleeping or eating. (Some people eat when their coping mechanisms are maxed. I do the opposite.) At 5’8″, I weighed 115 lbs. My baby was getting thinner and thinner despite the fact that I nursed her constantly. At 9 months old, she weighed 13 lbs. When I realized she needed supplementation, I found her to be allergic to everything: homemade formula, foods, everything I tried.
So I found breast milk donors. It’s a long story, but I found an amazing woman who was freezing an entire milk supply because her baby was in the NICU for about a year. I feel this woman, Ginger, saved my daughter’s life. I haven’t talked to her in years, but I told her I would do anything for her if she ever asked. She gave me a full supply of colostrum and then breast milk and my sickly, colicky, underweight baby began to recover and then thrive. She achieved a normal weight within two months!
I wanted to return the favor, pay it forward. When my 4th baby was born, I was at a healthy weight. I pumped and froze the milk, and looked for someone to help.
I learned of a woman whose 4-year old son was damaged by a vaccine. Her name was Kathryn and I invited her to my home and I learned her heartbreaking story. Her son was hitting all milestones and totally healthy until 18 months. He was vaccinated and immediately began to backslide in his development and show signs of autism.
She was desperate. She made popsicles of the breast milk I gave her, as part of a strategy to try to revive her once-healthy son.
She met regularly with a support group of local parents whose children were damaged by the same batch of vaccine her son had, which had an excessive level of mercury in it. (What is an acceptable level of mercury, you ask? I am stumped by the same question.) Doctors were referring parents into the support group! Bizarrely, the Vaccine Administration settled with them for only about $10,000!
This woman was one of the first people I helped, because I was early in my own journey towards a whole-foods diet and freedom from medical protocols. There were no 12 Steps to Whole Foods, of course, at that time. I sent her home with my big binder full of recipes, to copy.
“If you pay attention to your own health and do not see the ‘Doctor as God’ you can avoid serious errors in your own care. You will be advised to consult doctors only when you believe that you are truly ill. By restricting your medical encounters to those that are absolutely necessary you will be avoiding the risks inherent in most diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.” – Eugene Robbins, MD, Phd
I think medical doctors are wonderful, for serious emergencies. Those should be limited to one or two in a lifetime, though!
I think we run counter to logic when we use injectable chemicals, and drugs, and killed or half-killed bacteria and call it immunization or “prevention.” (Many of the diseases supposedly eradicated by vaccines were disappearing before the vaccine. “Booster shots” have exactly zero proof that they provide lifetime immunity–it’s pure marketing.)
True prevention comes from logical, simple, daily lifestyle choices.
Thanks Robyn!!! I have been debating this topic for several years now. My oldest daughter had all her vaccinations on schedule (about 11 years aga), but would get sick with an ear infection and bronchitis or croup right after her vaccinations. Unfortunately, I was in my early 20′s and did not know enough to question the vaccinations. I had my 2nd baby 8 years later, and had her vaccinations on schedule for the first year. The only time she was sick was after a vaccination. My final straw was when she received her one year vaccination and the next day had a fever over 104 degrees, and I called the doctor and the nurse told me it couldn’t possibly be a result of the vaccination and to give her tylenol and call if it doesn’t go away after five days. I was furious, and started doing my own research and decided it was indeed caused by the vaccinations. That first year my daughter (even though exclusively breastfed) had strep, bladder infection, RSV, and bronchitis. I did not get any immunization after her one year shots, and she has rarely been sick and has not had to be on anti-biotics since (she is now 4 1/2 yrs old). I would like to note this is also when I started moving my family towards an organic food. My had my 3rd baby a year and a half, and after debating during my whole pregnancy I decided not to have him immunized for the first year. He has never been sick, not with an ear infection, RSV, flu. He hasn’t seen a doctor since he was two months old. Now that he’s a year, I am still debating on the pros and cons of vaccinations and praying I make the right decision. I will have decided not to vaccinate my daughter any further due to her adverse reacations to the vaccines when she was a baby. I am still debating with my son whether to vaccinate selectively or not. I do not believe kids need the chicken pox or hepatiits vaccines when they are not high risk. I had a severe case of the Chicken Pox when I was 8 and although miserable for a few days, I survived just fine. My siblings that caught it from me hardly got ill at all. Several of my nieces and nephews that have had the Chicken Pox vaccine have had the shingles during their elementary years, and I think the vaccine may have something to do with it, and shingles sound much worse than the vaccine.
Thank you Mary for all your information, I found it all extremely helpful and I look forward to reading up on all the recommended reading many of the readers posted.
Rich, I hope you do not have any daughters. Although, I debate on the vaccination relating to terrible communicable diseases, I would NEVER consider the vaccinations for the HPV virus, when it can be avoided by safe sex or abstinence, and regular check ups with your doctor, and most importantly a healthy diet.
Nathan, you should speak to some of the parents or victims of vaccinations gone wrong, before you dare to judge others on their decisions for the children they would die to protect. Everyone has the right to question what is injected into thier childeren, especially if it is toxic and may harm them. I am sure if you were one of the victims given life long disabilities or had a child that required 24 hour care for the rest of his/her life due to a vaccination, that you may have regretted the decision to get them immunized. No one owe’s you or anyone else who choose to get immunized anything, considering there is not proof the immunizations are the reasons for the decline in these diseases. Also, you are quoting plagues and diseases that were during a time when little was known about health, nutrition, bacteria, viruses, and no indoor plumbing or sanitary living conditions. Not too mention the 90% increase in autism, ADHD, asthma, allergies, childhood arthritis and learning disabilities since vaccinations became mandatory in 1986. Do your research before judging others so strongly, and trying to take credit for our kids not getting any of these diseases.
Delores, while you had your pertissius outbreak, did you take a poll of how many of them had never been vaccinated and compare it to the patients who were being treated for pertissius that had been vaccinated? I know several people who contracted pertissius this last year that had been vaccinated and still contracted it anyways. Don’t judge those of us who want to protect our children by doing all the research possible before we make a decision. I believe the pertissius outbreaks would be a lot less, if not less severe if these people were educated on healthy eating habits. Maybe you should be handing out flyers on healthier eating, illness prevention, instead of just forcing vaccinations on people.
After all my research I do think that people who have neurological illness’s in their family, such as parkinsons disease, seizures etc have a higher risk of their child getting a neurological disorder from vaccinations. I also think it depresses our childrens immune system putting them at higher risk for strep, flue, pneumonia, meningitis (that has also increased the past 20 years), and other dangerous diseases. So it seems to me we are just weakening their immune system to fight off other diseases that could be just as life threatening or debilitating.
For now I will keep researching, and keep feeding my children organically and green smoothies and building their immune systems naturally. I am one of the mothers who choose to breastfeed past a year and not give many solid until my baby is 18 months. My baby does drink green smoothie and a few finger foods. I do not want to ween my baby to dairy mild or soy milk, does anyone have any suggestions of healthier options to ween my baby too? My first baby I weened to dairy, my second to soy, but I do not believe those to be the healthiest options anymore and I am looking for ideas for my baby boy.