when were you enlightened?

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I was wondering if those of you that have the time and would care to, would be

willing to share your story of what made you question and research vaccines or

stop vaccinating. For me, initially it was out of fear from all the stories I

would read about babies having reactions and dying. My sister doesn't vaccinate

her children (she has 6), so when I had my first baby, I started reading. I was

just gonna put them off until she turned 2,but once she did, I still couldn't

bring myself to do it. (I was still afraid) but I could never really defend my

reasons until I joined this group 2 months ago. I would just always say that I

had read too many horror stories. Well, people that vaccinate their children and

seem fine, that isn't a good enough reason, and I always felt kind of stupid

giving that answer. Now, I feel like I have so much more knowledge just from

what I have learned here in the last couple of months, and it is true what they

say, that knowledge is power. What I don't understand is how it seems like such

an obvious choice to me, but yet there are still so many moms that I personally

know that vaccinate even after what I share with them. You would think it would

at least get them thinking, reading, studying, etc. I am not saying that I care

more about my kids because of my choice to not vaccinate, but it just doesn't

make sense to me. I know a lot of their thinking(including my husband) is that

doctors have gone to school for " so many years " , and they know more than we do,

and why would they do something to put our child's health at risk, etc. My

husband even said to me " do you really think Dr. Ashman(our ped.) cares more

about money than she does about our kids? " Well, I think she is a nice lady and

I'm sure she sincerely believes in vaccines, and I doubt it is about money with

her, but I don't believe that she has done extensive research (if any at all) on

vaccines, because I think if she had, she would not be recommending them. And,

do I believe that she cares about my kids? To an extent, sure,probably about as

much as she cares about anyone she sees once or twice a year, but she doesn't

love them, and she's not gonna think about what is best for them from the same

perspective that I as their mother does. So many people think it's crazy to

question a doctor, that they know what's best. Well, I think it's crazy NOT to

question them. They are still human, they're not God(although many of them think

they are!)They do not have all the answers, and they make LOTS of mistakes!

I also think a lot of moms are oblivious to any reactions their children may

have or have had, because I didn't realize until I joined this group that such

things as asthma, allergies, etc. is a side effect. They just think that it is

something they developed on their own (or probably inherited). That is

definitely one thing I would love to hear, is what made any of you who had that

sort of effect connect them with vaccines? Because I don't think I would have

been smart or intuitive enough to notice a correlation. One of my friends whose

daughter just had the chicken pox vaccine(which she was totally bully'd

into...but that's another story) has developed echzema. I told her there was a

connection b/t that and vaccines, but she kind of brushed it off with a casual

" oh, really? " She knows how I feel about vaccines....

Anyways, thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing your stories.

~