DS had the flu at 3 mths - should he get the shot now at 10 1/2 mths?

[lecach]

The dr. office just called and offered the flu shot for my 10 1/2 month old DS. I asked if it had mercury and they said yes. They said since he had the flu before he's at higher risk. He goes to daycare which is risky too. But I am afraid of the mercury. And anyway, they just guess at what flu strains will be out this year. There is no guarantee that the shot will protect against whatever flu is going around. I just dont know what to do. I am leaning towards not doing it......what do you all think.

PS DS is sick with a cough and a runny nose right now - I just think giving him the shot on top of that is not a good idea.

 

[JustineMarie]

I think that you should do what you feel is right for him. My daughter is 7 and she has BAD asthma so we get her the shot every year and have been doing so for the past 4 years. My youngest is 4 and has no asthma and I don't get the shot for her bc she is not high risk like my oldest.

 

[2poohbears]

The dr. office just called and offered the flu shot for my 10 1/2 month old DS. I asked if it had mercury and they said yes. They said since he had the flu before he's at higher risk. He goes to daycare which is risky too. But I am afraid of the mercury. And anyway, they just guess at what flu strains will be out this year. There is no guarantee that the shot will protect against whatever flu is going around. I just dont know what to do. I am leaning towards not doing it......what do you all think.

PS DS is sick with a cough and a runny nose right now - I just think giving him the shot on top of that is not a good idea.

They shouldn't give your child the flu shot right now if he currently has a cold. Mine had the shot last year because they were born premature, so until they reached age 2 they were high risk for more complications if they caught rsv or flu. They had no side-effects from the shot (you get 2 doses the first time you get the flu shot).
Here is some info on the flu shot: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/thimerosal.htm

I would read up on it, talk to your pediatrician, and if you are still uneasy about it, then you can chose not to have your child get the shot. I always feel better about my decisions once I've read all the info and talked with our pediatrician.

 

[lecach]

I just talked to the Dr. again - they said that they will be getting the shot without mercury but it hasnt arrived. And I will have to pay for it out of pocket. I said that was fine - $29 is not a big deal for peace of mind. So they will call me when it comes in. They said that as long as he doesnt have a fever its okay to give him the shot - but I just couldnt do that to the poor thing right now. Between cutting 4 teeth, having a runny nose and a cough, he's going thru enough.

 

[all4fun]

Glad you're getting the flu vaccine you want. My ds has had the flu shot both last year and the year before. He was also considered high risk because of being premature but according to the CDC all kids 23mos & under are. Their site says that children under two are more likely to be hospitalized if they catch the flu which is why they recommend that kids 6mos-23mos get the shot and caregivers of infants under 6mos also get vaccinated. At any rate, here's hoping for an illness-free winter!

 

[rt2dz]

I believe in vaccines. I did the research and interviewed people on both sides of the fence when I got pregnant the first time. I became convinced that to vaccinate is better than not to. Nothing against people who feel the opposite; it is just my opinion that vaccinating has more pros than not. And that goes for flu shots too.

Most pedi's don't use the mercury shots anymore where they don't have to. There has been a ton of (European based) research that shows mercury doesn't cause autism. Pollution and genetics probably play a bigger role in autism. It is probably much more concidental that the shots are given at a development time where autism is much more commonly diagnosed. Of course, take that with a grain of salt. Mercury isn't good for you anyhow. Avoid whenever possible, but I'd still do a flu shot. The flu can just cause so many complications.

Flu shots are also not a live virus, so they can not make you sick. Only live virus shots can make you sick. And any shot is safe to give provided you don't have a fever. A fever is a sign of infection, so it is to be avoided so your body can develop the antibodies from the shot. You don't want to overload your body and then get sick(er). Besides, it is just a two-second prick that doesn't hurt after a minute. Again, imho, better to go through with it than to wind up with a huge complication in a baby. I've got one that had RSV (not that the flu causes RSV) and we were in and out of the hospital for several months, and he developed asthma from that, so... I just don't like to go through the severly sick kid thing. Again, for me, just better safe than sorry.

 

[rchristiansen]

When my DD was a little over a year old she got the flu shot and I asked about the mercury too. The nurse had a good explanation as to why she would rather have the mercury in the shot than not: She explained that the ingredient used with the mercury is a preservative. She said she would rather have a shot with the preservative than taking the risk on a shot that could "go bad" without a preservative.

 

[mrsltg]

My older dd will be getting the flu shot for the first time because she got the flu in March of this year and her immunity is still considered weak. The flu she got was not one of the ones they were vaccinating for last year, but I want to minimize the risk as much as possible this year. DD was home sick for 2 weeks and then spent another 2 weeks recovering slowly. What a mess!

Erin

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Our little one got a mini-flu from the flu shot last year (all the symptoms 24 hrs after the shot, lasted for 24 hrs). This year we decided to skip it. Well, little one came down with flu on Monday. It was no worse than the mini-flu he got from the vaccine last year. I'm fine with our decision to skip the shot. It's not like we could have gotten it in time anyway; they just reveived the doses at our peds office this week.

 

[SueM in MN]

Most pedi's don't use the mercury shots anymore where they don't have to. There has been a ton of (European based) research that shows mercury doesn't cause autism. Pollution and genetics probably play a bigger role in autism. It is probably much more concidental that the shots are given at a development time where autism is much more commonly diagnosed. Of course, take that with a grain of salt. Mercury isn't good for you anyhow.

Thanks for the informative post.

One thing I have to add is that mercury compounds (the group that thimerosal is part of) have been used for a long time as preservatives. That's why it was in the vaccines and the amount of thimerosal in each dose was very tiny. Some vaccines (like MMR) were preservative free to start with.

One interesting thing to think about when thinking about relative risk, is that most people over the age of 35 were exposed to a lot of mercury, not just the small amounts used as preservatives in vaccines. One of the products we used when I was little (I'll admit to being over 35) was called Mercurochrome (another mercury compound - this one used as a disinfectant, not a preservative). And, not just a trace of mercury, Mercurochrome was up to 26% mercury.

We actually likes getting cuts and scrapes because that meant we got to use the Mercurochrome. It came in a bottle with a sort of dropper on it that you were supposed to use to drop the mercurochrome on the cut (nothing like putting mercury right into your bloodstream).
That's not what we did though.....

Of, course, we put it on the cut or scrape, but.......

it was a cool, orange color and we used it to paint designs on our arms or legs - at least until our moms stopped us. And, they knew to stop us because.........
they did the same thing when they were kids.

I didn't actually know any kids who didn't use mercurochrome. And our moms and dads had used it too. And their moms and dads.....and, (depending on how old they were), their moms and dads too. It started to be used in 1919.
Here's an
interesting link about what happened to Mercurochrome. And an encyclopedia entry about Mercurochrome.
So, if you concerned about the small amount of thimerosal that used to be in vaccines, think about the mercurochrome your parents used to paint themselves with. If you ask them, I'm sure you will make them smile.

 

[SueM in MN]

Some vaccines (like MMR) were preservative free to start with.

I should explain that MMR didn't need a preservative because of the way it is packaged. It comes in individual doses consisting of dried vaccine components in a bottle. An individual dose of diluent (the liquid part of the vaccine) is added to the dried to reconstitute it right before giving it.