10.02.2010

I Do What Is Best For Zen or The Vaccine Question

Breast feeding on demand for two years is absolutely best for my baby. It has everything his growing body needs, it comforts him, he knows I am here for him 100%.

Cloth diapers are absolutely best for my baby. They are clean, easy to use, soft on his bum, chemical free, and I know every single person who has touched them since the last time I washed them.

Co-Sleeping is absolutely best for my baby. He hears my heart beat and knows I am there for him. If he gets hungry we just get closer and he can root his way right to my breast. Co-sleeping absolutely prevents SIDS. If you are drunk or smoking or super tired you could roll over on your baby, good thing I don't drink or smoke and I take naps.

Baby wearing absolutely best for my baby. He doesn't cry when I wear him, which means I don't have to stay up and walk the floor with a sad baby. I know where he is all the time, either on my front or my back. I'm helping his neck and shoulder muscles develop. In fact, he will probably, sit, stand and walk sooner than his bucket baby peers. He might not, but that's up to him. I can nurse in public without nosey jerks noticing and still play with Kaya while holding him.

Keeping my son intact is absolutely best for my baby. I didn't mutilate his genitalia during his first week of life. Isn't that the best reason not to anything?

There are conclusive studies on how all these things are the best things you can do for any infant but there are studies on both sides of the vaccine debate that are right-ish. The thing is, if I read only anti-vac studies there is enough information there for me to say ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN NOT! But if I read only pro-vac studies there is enough for me to say HELLS YES!!! This is something I just don't know how to solve. I can shave my head, knit a frog, and nurse my son all in the same day, but I just can't decided if I should vaccinate him or not...

1 comment:

dplambjr said...

I admit that I am biased -- being in the medical field I see & hear about kids who are neurologically devastated or even die because they weren't vaccinated. I read the public health data that shows the large scale on which vaccines have &... continue to work in preventing outbreaks and even virtually eradicating disease altogether. I do realize that vaccines are not without risk, that the raw numbers of associated complications seem large -- but that's b/c there are a large number of people being vaccinated, and the prevalence of complications from vaccine use are actually infinitesimally small. Furthermore, if we did not vaccinate, the incidence of otherwise preventable disease would be pandemic -- just look at parts of the world where vaccines are not so readily available (http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/6/06-031526/en/). There is also the consideration that, when a parent does not vaccinate their child, they are not only putting their own child in danger but other people as well -- particularly infants and both transplant & cancer patients (http://www.slate.com/id/2232977/). Anyways, that's the little info I got; if you want to talk more or have any questions, please feel free to let me know.