mmr

[jackie0]

Anyone know much about the MMR and that controversy?  I'm worried about taking it for my lil' 18-month old.  But the Surgery are reminding me that his immunisations aren't up to date.

Also, are there any side-effects like DPT?

[butterfly76]

I have just been looking this up because I have decided to give my daughter seperate jabs. I have decided to keep it seperate I know I have to pay but I don't want to risk anything no matter how small the chance. I have spoken to a couple of places and they charge approx �370 for all the 3 jabs you can find your nearest place that do it under www.jabs.org.uk some good info there too.

[spudqueen]

Both my children had the MMR as to be honest I was more worried about the side effects from having measles, mumps or ruebella than any side effects from the vaccination. Measles can be a VERY dangerous disease that can cause deafness, blindness, brain damage or even death.

I know that the MMR has been linked to autism, but also please remember that more children are now being diagnosed as being autistic as they are moving the 'goal posts' and including children who only a few years ago would not have been included and it used to be only the most severely autistic children who were included.

[Otrere]

A friend of mine told me she worked with autistic children and less than half of them had the MMR jab.

My daughter had the MMR jab at 13 months and has been fine.

Check out this website:

http://www.mmrthefacts.nhs.uk/

[netibiza]

I agree with spudgreen - of course we are all worried about our children.  My nephew is autistic and has NEVER had the MMR jab.  There is more risk of the diseases themselves than in the jab.

[crisgal]

there are some good answers to this one in an earlier post. Search for mmr and it's the one that's titled mmr-safe?

[dirtyharriet]

I have an autistic specrum disorder child but I can assure it was NOTHING to do with MMR jabs, I knew he was different to his brother within days of his birth.

[Eeeek]

After much deliberation my daughter had the single vaccine with no side effects at all. My friend also has a son with autism and, as dirtyharriet has said, she knew from birth that he was different to her other kids. Good Luck whatever you decide, i know how tough the decision is :-)

[Hammer]

The link between the two has been discredited. It was a study of a small number of children who all had autism, and co-incidentally had all had the MMR, it was not a study of children who had the MMR to see how many of them had developed autism.

It was a bit like saying a lot of autistic children wear shoes, therefore wearing shoes may cause autism.

[RevShirls]

Hi jackie, I really think it is important that your wee one should have the MMR jab. As Hammer points out, the scare about the MMR was caused by research (now discredited) that erroneously linked MMR with autism. The authors of the report have since admitted the flaw in their research but plenty of damage has been done because of it. There have been outbreaks of measles in Scotland and Ireland recently because parents have refused the vaccine and a couple of babies nearly died as a result.

I come from Scotland but live in Sweden now. My husband is an expert in the field of risk psychology and has been involved in this whole debate about MMR and autism. It is a difficult process to encourage parents to have this vaccine for their children because of the scare caused by this report. Our wee girl had the MMR vaccine a few months ago when she was 18 months. The only side-effects she had were that the area of the injection was a wee bit tender afterwards and she was tired. We were told that she might be a little feverish but to give her the Swedish equivalent of Kalpol. She was absolutely fine. All the best to you and your wee one. x

[Sheppy]

My brother-in-law is a doctor, he couldnt believe we were having doubts about the mmr for our two children and convinced us they should have it done.

[kick3m0n]

Our wee guy had his MMR a few months ago.  I didn't have any doubts about giving him it.  As previously pointed out, the research that caused the initial scare was largely a  nonsense.  I come from a scientific research background (specialising in adverse affects of drugs) and the study was flawed on so many levels that most in the know who read it could not believe the controversay it caused. As has also been pointed out, the risk from any of these diseases is far greater to your child than the single jab.  With the individual jabs, your child is not completely immunised until the final one, therefore exposed to the risk for longer than with the MMR. Similarly, if they develop fever following vaccinations, they may go through this 3 times, rather than once.

[acw]

Also, there are lots of parents who HAVEN'T given their children MMR, which means those three disease may come back.  Which makes it all the more important that your child is protected.  I was done in 1983/4 - and I'm still fine now.  Medicine has advanced a lot since then and so the jab will be even safer.  If your little one could tell you - they'd ask for one nasty needle not three!

[kick3m0n]

p.s. ACW makes a good point about folk not immunisaing their kids.  We have had a fairly prolonged outbreak of mumps in the area where I live, and thankfully most kids have had their jabs, so those most affected are adults.   I do know of one wee boy who had not been immunised, and he was very very ill.

[jackie0]

Thank you all, I've booked an appointment to have him vaccinated.  He's just turned 19 mths now.