Sutpid Question or Smart Solution?
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Sutpid Question or Smart Solution?
| Mon, 09-15-2008 - 9:17am |
So, I have made my decision on whether or not to vaccinate too many times, and I just can't settle.
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I have never read any article that gave me the impression that your antibodies created via vaccine will protect your baby. I have heard that my child is protected by my immune system in the beginning - but I thought it was my antibody's against the diseases I actually had natural antibodies for...not vaccine-created antibody.
Regardless, this protection wears off. Even babies who are not breastfed get some of this protection - but only in the very beginning. I don't think anyone knows "when" but at some point, the baby's immune system takes over and begins to strengthen.
Somewhere on this board is an interesting article about shingles and how normal exposure to chicken pox is actually beneficial to those who had CP as a child. It worries me that babies in the future will have no protection from their vaccinated Moms. That was the impression I got from reading the article. Try reading these and see what you understand it to mean:
http://insidevaccines.com/wordpress/2008/03/20/eradicate-chickenpox-sure-why-not/
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppvaccinedb/?msg=4139.1
I have not done any research on if the parent gets the vaccine - if the antibodies cross the placenta or are present in breastmilk. I've only looked at material on if the Mother acquired "natural" immunity by contracting the wild version of a disease.
That being said, there is a passage in the CDC Pink Book on measles that highlights that the level of antibodies that cross the placenta are MUCH higher for mother's that have had the WILD form of the disease. The transfer rate is lower for the vaccinate population.
"In addition, measles susceptibility of infants younger than 1 year of age may have increased. During the 1989–1991 measles resurgence, incidence rates for infants were more than twice as high as those in any other age group. The mothers of many infants who developed measles were young, and their measles immunity was most often due to vaccination rather than infection with wild virus. As a result, a smaller amount of antibody was transferred across the placenta to the fetus, compared with antibody transfer from mothers who had higher antibody titers resulting from wild-virus infection. The lower quantity of antibody resulted in immunity that waned more rapidly, making infants susceptible at a younger age than in the past." Soure: CDC Pink Book: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/meas.pdf
Another poster asked about BM and antibodies in this thread which had several responses:
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ppvaccinedb&msg=4251.17
Here are the guidelines from ACIP on vaccinating breastfeeding mothers:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/acip/downloads/preg-principles05-01-08.pdf
Do mom's vaccines protect her breastfed baby?
http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/vaccine-protection.html
(see links to additional information within that article also)
Hope this helps,
If you've already been vaccinated, it won't make any difference, except in the event the toxic substances found in the vaccine pass into your breastmilk--which I imagine is what you are trying to avoid by avoiding vaccinating.
If I understand correctly, your immunity passes via breastmilk as temporary immunity for your child. It's not like a vaccine where it lasts a lifetime, and I doubt medical science has any reliable way of determining the extent or duration of that immunity.
Mothers should go with their gut. I encourage you to trust your instincts. I did and I have 5 unvaccinated kids and another on the way--I have never for one moment had a single regret.