HOW WE PROTECT OUR KIDS

Today, I want to talk about a topic that has becomesensitive and heated all around the parenting community but one that I feel is truly important to talk about. Vaccinations. Yes, we vaccinate our kids and I want to tell you why. I’ve partnered with I Vaccinate to share my story with you today, so I urge you to hangout and read on because we each have stories to share and this one I feel is worth the read.

When we first found out we were going to become parents our emotions ran high! Wow, we were really going to be adding new life to this world. Life that we are fully responsible to raising, teaching, educating and showing the world to them. We were going to be the first to teach them wrong from right, protect them from harm and do everything in our power to make them into good human beings. What an incredible job. With this exciting news came all kinds of wild overwhelming emotions and feelings. How were we going to do this? Were we ready? Could we really be good parents? What are the best things out there for our little dude that we need?

Some of these things just fell into place. You learn along the way how to parent and what you can and cannot do during pregnancy. While other things involve a little more work. So like the good student I have always been I started to do my research on anything and everything baby and pregnancy related.

Here’s a little side note, one thing you should know about me is I am a little hypochondriac…like I might diagnose myself or others more often than and should ????. With that being said, my personal journey of adulthood has taught me that the internet is and can be a scary place, especially when it comes to researching touchy subjects. You can find out all kinds of information, yet how reliable is the information you’re finding? The internet has become a wonderful place for people to voice their opinion and share their alternative facts that they claim to be true. Through life I’ve learned that you’ve got to use reliable sources and sites that have ‘real facts’ and ‘real research’ not just research that gets the answer you want to hear. Just because it says it has been researched doesn’t mean that it is true. When it comes to looking up medical information I’ve learned you need to rely on credible sources and medical journals to form educated decisions; and opinions.

One of the first things we looked into was vaccinations. The first question was clearly do we or don’t we vaccinate Enzo and why? I still remember thinking are we really going to stick needles into my very tiny baby as soon as he’s born. Is this the right decision? What are vaccine effects? Are vaccinations safe? My questions went on and on.

Here’s a little bit about the answers I uncovered to my questions. Are vaccinations safe? The answer to that question is yes, they are safe and yes there can be side effects as with any medication you are given. Although vaccinations go through years of clinical and research based studies before they are even come out for the public to use, all vaccinations contain antigens. Antigens tell the body to create antibodies in the immune system. Every single day we are exposed to thousands of antigens and a healthy human’s body fights off millions of antigens. So the thought of putting antigens into you little baby might seem crazy at first but in reality you’re truly helping them out. Let me just give you a small example: if your child is exposed to strep throat they have at least 25 to 50 antigens right there compared to their two month visit of vaccinations infants are exposed to 54 antigens helping to protect against 5 different illnesses, DTaP, IPV, HepB, Hib, and rotavirus vaccines.

Can you still get the disease once vaccinated? The answer to that question is yes your child could still get the disease. However, this is very uncommon.

Can you delay or spread out the vaccinations? Yes. While there is no evidence that delaying or spreading out any vaccinations make it safer than the CDC recommended schedule, you can do it.  But they do give you a time frame in which you can get vaccinations so if it’s just too much to have you’re little one poked that many times in one visit, you can spread it out. Although from my personal experience it’s just better to get everything out of the way at once. You only have to listen to one set of tears.

The next thing we looked into was links between SIDS and autism with Vaccinations. There is in fact a link between SIDS vaccines decreasing the risk of SIDS by 50%! Where there is absolutely no links whatsoever between vaccinations and autism. The amount of studies we read proving no links ever existed was beyond overwhelming. Take a look here.

We vaccinate both our boys because we have educated ourselves on everything! We rely on experts in the medical field to educate us with the research they’ve done and facts that they’ve discovered. I know this parenting gig isn’t the easiest. In fact it’s the hardest job I have ever taken on. But as a mom I wanted to share with you my overwhelming feelings towards keeping our community safe, and most importantly, keeping my crew safe. I can still remember bringing Enzo home from the hospital on a freezing cold January day in Chicago and feeling so incredibly grateful. Followed by all my worries and fears of life ahead.

I remember worrying about going back to work and being surrounded by hundreds of other children wanting to make sure I didn’t bring home what they had. I wanted to make sure I was protecting my little one the best I could. I know we all get to make this decision…we have the right to do that. I simply urge you to think about your community as a whole and how we can make life better for all. This is the best scenario I have read when it comes to vaccinations in a community.  Think about germs as rain and vaccinations as your raincoat. Even though you’ve got a raincoat on you can still get wet. But if you’ve got an umbrella too now you’re talking! We can stay dry. They are helping to keep everyone dry, or should I say safe. The people in our community that choose to not vaccinate, those are the people that when it rains, they want to rely on your umbrella to keep them dry. And that is simply not ok.

I will leave you with one last thing. Prior to writing this article I had a very strong and opinionated feeling about this topic. Since writing I feel stronger than ever before. Here are just a few more links to continue to educate yourself and others around you about your choice to vaccinate.

Are the ingredients in vaccinations safe?

Do doctors make money off vaccinations?

Are there still vaccinated diseases that spread today?

Do vaccinations cause my child to get the disease?

Isn’t breastfeeding enough to protect my child?

Why should I vaccinate…I had the chickenpox and I was ok?

Thank you I Vaccinate sponsoring this content.