Yesterday was our 6 month 'well baby check' ...

[Guest guest]

.... and I successfully navigated it without my daughter having any

vaccinations! They never asked me to sign anything either, just wrote

'declined' on the space where I would have had to sign permission for the

vaccines. The nurse did that part, never asked why I was

declining the shots, and then left us to wait for the doctor. Having read

someone's advice to avoid debate, my plan was to just leave the subject

alone. Well, the doctor came in and we went through the checkup just fine -

then he said " I see you are not vaccinating today? "

at the end of our visit, almost as an afterthought. Darn it.

So there I was, trying to get my baby dressed as she fussed and cried and

now he wants to have a little debate. I mostly tried to deflect instead of

debate; I told him we had discussed the subject in our house, read up on it,

and just weren't comfortable with the risks involved. He told me that the

link between vaccines and autism had 'pretty much been disproven'; I left it

alone. He told me that all his own kids were fully vaccinated; I left it

alone. He told me that the 'benefits far outweigh the risks' and that

struck a bad note for me. I told him that the benefits don't outweigh the

risks for the parents whose children have been damaged by or died from

vaccines, and how could we take that risk? When he mentioned that there was

no mercury in the shots, I told him there were a host of other chemicals in

the shots that I didn't want injected into my daughter - and I swear he

rolled his eyes. He asked me if I realized she could become sick with one

of these diseases and I told him that they seemed pretty benign to me,

compared to the vaccines - that I'd had chicken pox as a child and was none

the worse for it. He told me that 100 people had died last year from

chicken pox.

So that was how it went for a few minutes, back and forth with neither of us

really looking at each other. He told me that perhaps I felt protected by

all the others who did vaccinate, but if everyone did what I was doing, what

would happen? I bit my tongue. He said that parents who were worried about

reactions generally started vaccines at 9 months when the babies are a bit

older, so we could start them at her next visit. I told him we could

discuss it some more, but at this point I didn't think it was going to

happen; I think he chose not to hear me because he mumbled some more about

starting at 9 months, and then said goodbye and left the room.

After I left the appointment, I got a chance to read the little hand out

sheet he gave me on 'my six month old' - wow. He wants me to start

making sure I make her formula with tap water so she gets enough flouride,

amongst other random bits of advice.

*sigh* I gotta find a new doctor before her 9 month check.