The vaccine debate

Today Brad and I took Sawyer for her 2 month check up. She weighed in at 11 lbs 5 oz, which is a 3 lb weight gain from the last visit. She grew 3 inches and now is a whopping 22 inches long! I was a little anxious for this appointment for a couple reasons. One was her weight gain. I just never know how her weight gain is going because we don't have a scale at home. I am always a little nervous that nursing is going to be enough, but thus far we have been successful. Secondly, is the all controversial vaccinations. I have been reading a book called The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears. A friend of mine that is also pregnant recommended the book to me. She found the book (unfortunately ; 0 ) in the quarterly Biolan magazine. The book is extremely informative and not bias. It is a quick read and I highly recommend it. Anyhow, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends that a two months infants receives the Polio, HIB (which causes meningitis), Pneumococcal ( which cause pneumonia and meningitis), Rotavirus ( which causes diarrhea and vomiting) and lastly DTaP (which is Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis) vaccines. That is a lot! That would have been 3 shots and one oral vaccination. So I went to our appointment semi-ready to tell the doctor what I wanted to do about Sawyer's vaccinations. Based on my research the Polio, Rotavirus and Pneumococcal are all vaccines that can be avoided. Polio has not shown up in the U.S in 25 years. Check that one off the list. Rotavirus and Pneumococcal are up in the air for me. Sawyer is at low risk for catching both because she is breast fed and not in day care. Pneumococcal is rare but is most common in infants and children. Rotavirus is almost certainly going to come in contact with Sawyer it just depends how bad she reacts to it. You may be asking, "So what's the big deal?" Well it is the ingredients that go into each vaccine that make the big stink. Most vaccines are made with aluminum and other controversial ingredients. It is highly recommend to not get more then two vaccines at one time that contain aluminum. Some of the other ingredients are cow fetus serum, monkey kidney cell and formaldehyde to list a few. Interesting right?

So I decided just to get Sawyer vaccinated for DTaP. The only vaccine that she really needed was the P in the DTaP, but the Pertussis is not made without the D and T. It has been very interesting to research about all the different vaccines and way they are recommended by doctors and the CDC.

The one shot went well and Sawyer only cried for a minute...she is tough like her mom, not her dad who almost fainted watching Sawyer get the shot.. jk. Above is a picture of Sawyer at her 1 month appointment in her gown. It is kinda funny that they ask a baby to wear a gown, but she looked very cute even though her face displays unhappiness.