Avery at 1 year

The night before Avery's 12 month pediatrician appt, I was nervous. For some odd reason, it didn't occur to me that she was getting SHOTS before her big birthday party, and that there's a chance she might have a fever on Saturday. Also what didn't occur to me that the upcoming shots in question included one of the most controversial vaccines right now - the MMR for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. I'm glad we stopped by our neighbor John and Elaine's house to get some free ice cream the night before, so that Elaine could remind me about all that stuff. haha

Ruh roh! Someone's getting shots today! Waiting in the outside lobby.

So after talking to John and Elaine, I went home and did as much research as i could online about this MMR vaccine. Apparently, there was a study of 12 autistic kids in England back in 1998, which found that their intestines had a strain of measles that only comes from vaccines. So he concluded that there might be evidence that connects the measles vaccine MMR to autism. Even as his research was torn apart by the government, I can't help but think about this. The facts are real:

"Since the measles vaccine came into widespread use in this country this disease has virtually disappeared, and it has prevented 100 deaths a year. But now, instead, several thousand normally developing children become autistic after receiving their MMR shot. Termed "regressive autism," it accounts for about 30 percent of the 10,000 to 20,000 children who are diagnosed with autism in this country each year." quoted from LewRockwell.com

Ok. You have to take this with a grain of salt, because there is no REAL connection between MMR and autism, at least, right now...

Also quoted from the same article:

"There were 482,000 cases of measles in the U.S in 1962, the year before a vaccine for this disease became available. Now, with all fifty states requiring that children be vaccinated against measles in order to attend school, there were only 56 cases of measles in a population of 290 million people in 2003.

These facts are well known and proudly cited by vaccine proponents. What is less known, and doctors are not taught, is that the death rate for measles declined 97.7 percent during the first 60 years of the 20^th century. The mortality rate was 133 deaths per million people in the U.S. in 1900, and had dropped to 0.3 deaths per million by 1960. Measles caused less than 100 deaths a year in the U.S. before there was a vaccine for this disease (in 1963)."

I realize there is alot of controversy, but what i think is this. Measles is not a truly life-threatening disease. In fact, I think its really only as threatening as say the common flu. On the other hand, as a mom, if there's ANY possible connection to autism, then I have to think about this. Yeah, the official ruling is that there is no connection. But how do I know whether the so-called "officials" are not affiliated with the vaccine industry, or they are more concerned with the overall public health, rather than the health of my child? And Measles is not even that serious of a disease!

When I got pregnant and started to learn more about child-rearing and what not, what surprised me was how much flip-flopping there was. One generation would tell everyone to let their children sleep on their stomachs, for less gas and better head shape, and then they realized babies were dying in their sleep, and 20 years later, reverse that, don't sleep on their stomach, sleep only on their backs. Same thing with breastfeeding - no big deal before, saying that in many cases, formula was more nutritious than breastmilk, then there was a big push by formula-makers marketing to moms who want the "freedom" from breastfeeding, until they realized that breastmilk was actually the most perfect food for your child. So now everyone is pressured to breastfeed. Humans have been around for a long time, but there are still many mysteries that are yet unsolved. So you really DON'T know about anything, even if everyone else seems to be doing it. Vaccines have only been around for a couple generations, and incidentally, autism has been on the rise in the last couple decades too. Maybe there's some other element that is causing autism, who knows? All I know is, I'm not about to take the chance that someone is WRONG. To me, it just really doesn't make sense to flood a tiny baby's developing body with so many vaccines.
You're gonna do what?

So I decided to delay the MMR vaccine on Wednesday. But I did let the doctor give her the chicken pox vaccine, which was pretty dumb. Who CARES about chicken pox?! ALL of us got that, why do you need to get vaccinated for that? Stupid.

You know what? I'm going to start saying NO to vaccines!* Except the serious stuff, like polio. Cuz no one wants to get polio.

Fun Facts: Avery at 12 months

Weight: 20 lbs 11oz 50% percentile
Height: 30 in 75% percentile
Head: 18.5 in 90% percentile

She only gained half a pound and grew half an inch. We gotta fatten this kid up!

*until she has to go to day care. Then she'll have to take the stupid vaccines...