Dear Parents,

Like me, you would do anything for your child. Like me, you can’t imagine a world without them and you would do anything you can to keep them from harm’s way. Maybe like me, you stood in wonder next to her crib and cried with joy the week you brought her home amazed and blessed with the gift of parenthood. You may have even thought naively (before you had your second…third…fourth) that you could not love anything or anyone more than this child – your child.

What I came to realize is that parenthood has its blessings and its burdens. It is the ultimate challenge of making the best decisions you can with the knowledge, skills and resources you have at your disposal at the time. I admit I’ve made mistakes. What parent hasn’t? I just hope I leaned from them, that I show myself compassion for having made them and that my daughters forgive me for them. I hope they know I do the best I can with the information I have at the time. I hope they can appreciate my process for making my decisions and the risks I am willing or not willing to take on their behalf.

The burden of decision-making and risk taking in the world of parenthood is the ultimate ante. The stakes are high. There are no rules of engagement…you’re on 24/7. Maybe like me you know the Calvary isn’t coming, at least not today (the grandparents live several states away). The funny thing is so many decisions come from your gut. Deep inside there is a response, a feeling, a knowing that you either know the answer or you don’t. When you hesitate you look around and seek out advice or information from friends, on the web, your parents, maybe your healthcare provider, someone you trust.

You look for confirmation of what your gut is telling you. Maybe, like me, you ask questions, talk about experiences. Maybe, like me, you look to incorporate the latest research and science about a particular topic whether it is immunizations, soy formula or sleep schedules.

Choosing to vaccinate is one of those tough decisions. Made tougher still by conflicting advice, various beliefs, and the temporary discomfort of a needle poke, but rest assured you made the best decision. You can feel confident in that choice. Be confident that you made an informed decision backed by rigorous scientific methods. You made the best choice for your child’s health. Really, for ALL children’s health and I applaud you.

And you don’t stand alone. Over 80% of us parents have made that choice. It is a choice for health and well-being. Thank you parents! There are no instruction manuals, warranties, or guaranteed satisfaction when making parenting decisions but choosing vaccines is one you can feel confident and assumed was the right one.

Sincerely,

Melanie

I love the community I live in. I choose Colorado because of the mountains, the four seasons of outdoor fun, the friendly people and fresh air. I raise kids, work and volunteer in my community. I feel a sense of responsibility to the people in my community.

Whether attending a school board meeting, joining in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, attending worship on Sundays or going to the club for a workout, I am aware of my community what it gives me and my family and how we give back. I look around at the playgrounds, kids clubs, schools, church nurseries, sports complexes and bike trails and think “I’m glad I live here and can be a part of it.” These people are my family, friends, and neighbors, it’s my herd. Being a member of a herd has it privileges and responsibilities.

One of these responsibilities is to help protect the herd’s safety. I can do this by choosing to vaccinate my children. My children have a strong immune system; they have no allergies to medications or vaccine ingredients, and appear to respond well to vaccines. By protecting them with vaccines, I protect others in my herd that are too young to get vaccines , have severe allergies to vaccine ingredients, have a medical condition that prevents them from getting vaccinated, or that small number of kids who are unable to build immunity even when they get vaccinated.

A child who cannot get immunity through vaccines relies on us to protect them. They rely on the herd to protect them! If my child is immune to measles, she can’t infect a child who is too young to vaccinate. But if my daughter never got the vaccine, she can not only get measles herself, she can spread it to others who are not immune. She could spread measles to my medically fragile nephew or to my colleague’s premature daughter with compromised respiratory system and asthmatic complications or to my neighbor’s new born who at five weeks won’t be eligible for his first set of shots for three more weeks! My herd is vulnerable.

Herd immunity only works well when those who can do vaccinate! It has been proven time and again that once healthy people choose to stop vaccinating disease rates go up.

Although vaccines have been very successful in preventing disease, we have not eliminated these nasty illnesses. Without the protection of a highly immunized population, disease will begin to rise. Risk remains.

Think about your community, who needs protecting? What choices can you make to ensure protection?

As National Infant Immunization Week wrapped in April, I couldn’t help but wonder how many parents thought about their immunizations.

Did you know that another way to protect your child was to be sure your Tdap – which stand for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) – vaccine  is up to date? That’s right! Parents need vaccines, too! Why? It’s important to vaccinate the whole family because anyone can be carriers of the disease and expose our children.

Parents should get vaccinated with Tdap every 5 to 10 years to protect themselves and their children against these diseases. Women who are planning to get pregnant can get vaccinated right before pregnancy or right after birth to protect their new babies.

Not only did my husband and I both get our Tdap boosters, but we insisted that our child care providers be vaccinated, too.

Yes, it was important to me that they follow her schedule – we worked hard to get on the sleep schedule. Yes, it was important that the center be clean, well lit, ventilated, and developmentally appropriate for my baby. Thankfully, we got all that.

I wanted to know, that the staff members caring for my yet-to-be-fully immunized baby were vaccinated. I’m glad to say we got that too!

Whooping cough is making a come back. Cases of pertussis have steadily risen since the 1980s, and in 2008 there were more than 13,000 cases of whooping cough, 18 of which were fatal. According to a 2003 study published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, tragically, 90% of pertussis-associated deaths have been among babies less than a year old.

Babies less than 6 months old are particularity vulnerable because they cannot be fully immunized for pertussis until they are four years old. In fact half of the babies with pertussis are infected by their parents.

Immunization coverage is not just for kids! Parents, get your Tdap booster and encourage your expectant friends, first-time grandparents, and care givers to be sure they have their too!

Lactalbumin…hydrolysate…formaldehyde…aluminum:  ingredients used in the most common childhood vaccines which protect against diseases like poliomyelitis (polio for short), diphtheria, hepatitis A and B. If you have a vaccinated child between the ages of two months and eight years, your kiddo (like mine) has gotten at least one, if not several, of these.

When I read the ingredients listed in a vaccine, I recognize very few. The ones I do know, formaldehyde and aluminum, make me hesitate.

Formaldehyde takes me back to 8th grade biology class.  Who can forget the smell from the container of preservative where the frogs were kept before dissection?

And aluminum, haven’t I stopped using certain pots, pans and deodorant to avoid the long-term effects of exposure?  This is scary stuff. No wonder there is much being said, blogged, and tweeted about the safety of vaccine ingredients.

Vaccines are safe, yet the individual ingredients can be scary. I encourage parents to ask questions. Find out why a particular ingredient is used. Many of the elements I found scary in vaccines have a critical role in ensuring its safety and effectiveness.

Toxicity, or the degree to which something is poisonous, is defined by the presence of an ingredient, how it is used, when it is added to the process and if it is taken out. The simple fact that the ingredient is present DOES NOT make it harmful to humans.

Let’s look at two common examples of labeling compound elements as good or bad.  Vitamin C is on our “good for you” list. However, taken in large quantities it can lead to complications, overdose, and even death by kidney failure. Vitamin C, at certain levels, can be toxic.

Chlorine, a strong cleaning agent used to kill bacteria can cause severe burns if drank or inhaled, which I AM NOT recommending. However, when chlorine is combined with another element, sodium (a highly reactive element that explodes when it comes into contact with water), you have a safe compound: table salt.

There are rigorous studies by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on every newly recommended vaccine before it is approved for use by doctors. Vaccines must be tested first on their own merit for safety and effectiveness, then on how they interact with existing vaccines. This is to make sure there are no negative interactions among vaccines. Here is a link on evidence of this because I know that some parents doubt this fact.

The government is very careful and forthcoming about vaccine ingredients. I am confident that no one is attempting to poison our children.  There is no “hiding” what goes into vaccines. You can find all the ingredients used in childhood, adult and travel vaccines here.

Vaccines have a proven track record of being safe, being effective in preventing disease and in saving lives. This is proven time and time again.

BTW…Lactalbumin is cheese whey. Hydrolysate is a process used to create proteins that feed cells.  Formaldehyde is used to “kill” the live virus so the body can fight the weaken disease while building immunity. Aluminum is used to boost the vaccines effectiveness.

So what do you think about ingredients? Did this post put you at ease or just make you want to learn more?