On Friday I took Sebastian to the practice nurse to have his MMR vacine.
Having six children, born across three decades, I have seen much debate over this vaccine being used, following a study published in 1998 by Dr Andrew Wakefield, which suggested that it could cause autism but has since been discredited. Despite Abbey having a bad reaction to the vaccine, suffering febrile convulsions due to a very high temperature, I am reassured that the MMR is a safe and effective combined vaccine.
The MMR protects against three separate illnesses – measles, mumps and rubella (German measles) – in a single injection.
Measles, mumps and rubella are common, highly infectious conditions that can have serious, potentially fatal, complications, including meningitis, swelling of the brain (encephalitis), and deafness and I would rather experience a brief couple of weeks of discomfort for my children than the possibility of them getting one of these nasty diseases.
I was really surprised, however, that Sebastian had to have not, not two but three separate injections in his poor leg and did feel like an awful mum as he was used as a pin cushion and screamed the place down.
- Injection 1 was Hib / Meningitis
- Injection 2 was MMR
- Injection 3 was a Pneumococcal vaccine
I asked about the need for a third vaccine and was told that it is now routine for children under 2 to be given this pneumococcal infection can affect anyone, but is potentially more serious for babies and toddlers. I suppose it is good to get the injections all done at once, but I would have preferred him to have this third one at a different time. One in each leg is plenty for any small person to put up with!
So now we are watching out for the side effects.
We have already had a horrendous sleepless night with Sebby and I am aware that the side effects could go on for up to three weeks, and include:
- developing a mild form of measles that lasts for two to three days
- developing a mild form of mumps that lasts for a day or two
- high temperature
- swollen glands
- aches and pains
I have stocked up on Calpol and Nurofen but if you bump into us and think Sebby isn’t his usual sunny self, he has good reason to feel grumpy!
I appeal to all mums/dads – get all the recommended jabs done – there might be a couple of days of kids being a bit grumpy/sleepy but it’s worth 5it – im 47 now but when i was a kid about 4/5 i got rubella (german measles)then it was found out i was allergic to penicillin – i do urge all parents to do MMR
I appeal to all mums/dads – get all the recommended jabs done – there might be a couple of days of kids being a bit grumpy/sleepy but it’s worth 5it – im 47 now but when i was a kid about 4/5 i got rubella (german measles)then it was found out i was allergic to penicillin – i do urge all parents to do MMR
Ohhh, that’s not good. I hope your little boy will feel better soon and let’s hope there is no side effects.
I caught measles as a child a week before I due to the vaccination. I am now partially deaf in one year due to it. When I was at university we were on constant watch for mumps as we were part of the ‘missed generation’ who hadn’t been vaccinated. Several of the students did catch it and were quite ill and of course away from home. My late neighbour’s son was deaf and dumb as she contracted German Measles when she was pregnant with him. None of them are joke illnesses!
hope he gets over it soon xx
Aw bless them – it’s awful for them because they don’t understand that we’re doing it for their own good bless them x x
Aw like Sebby, thankfully he won’t remember it in years to come x
Poor boy, I hope he is back to his normal sunny self soon. I don’t think Baby had much of a reaction x
Bless him. they have to go through so much at such an early age! x
It’s a hard decision as a parent isn’t it? And like you said the recommendations are always changing! I hope your little one bounces back quickly. x
Having kids vaccinated is so very important.
Good post – because we rarely see childhood diseases now (due to the vaccination programme) people assume that they are just like a cold or at worst chicken pox. My Dr predicted the increase in mumps & measles due to the MMR scare.
I didn’t think twice about getting the MMR for my son back in the early 2000s. I know how important these vaccinations are. My mum always tells me how there was hoo-ha about the whooping cough vaccine in the 70s, which she did get me to have.
Hope your little man feels better soon – it’s not nice for them, but in the long run, as I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s better than one of the MMR diseases!
Vaccinations are so important, but I agree that it can be terrible to see our children given them and see them in distress from them. I hope Sebastian didn’t have too many side effects.