Monday, November 7, 2011

just sayin'

I think that the AAP would have a lot more success in getting educated parents to vaccinate their children on schedule if they actually, you know, educated them on what each vaccination was for, what the benefits were, and what the slight to moderate risks could be.

I took Audrey in for the second of her shots today since I decided to spread them out between her 2 month visit and do the remaining ones at 3 months.  Today she got HIB and Prevnar shots. Guess how much the pediatrician and the nurse told me about what the shot was meant to prevent, and what to possibly expect afterward?  You got it -- NOTHING.  And yet the AAP community wonders why educated parents don't want to just inject their children with whatever they are expected to because it's on the CDC schedule.

I left the office with a handout on each vaccination that is given to you only after the shots are administered.  Wouldn't it be better to do this before?  I am not against doing these vaccinations. I believe that most of them (not all, but most) are important based on the research I am doing on my own. It would just be really nice if the doctors would respect a parent enough to educate them on it instead of asking for us to blindly follow and watch our children cry on the table as the needle punctures their skin...to know why we are doing that would be a great first step, don't you think?

3 comments:

  1. Jen-- I think my pedi does a great job explaining all that. She basically goes over most of the handout with me, asks if I have any questions, then gives the authorization for the nurse to administer (after my signature/inital for each shot that I understand what she went over..) Maybe you can suggest a little "tweak" in procedures @ your pedi?

    P.S. Glad to hear that Friday ended up better after J had a nice long nap! I got my BBC "Month 17, week 4" newsletter today and immediately thought of you b/c it was talking about the frequency of toddler meltdowns at this stage! :)

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  2. I agree. I've used two different pediatricians, and neither, and none of their nurses, have ever gone over shots. Yet my older son is 2!

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  3. Katie- Glad to hear you have a good ped! I did have a dr. for Juliet when we first moved back to CA who was good about taking the time to talk to me about vax and other stuff, but he retired and I haven't found anyone who really takes much time beyond what's necessary for checkups. And yes, things went pretty well overall with Juliet all weekend, which was nice!

    crfinster- Glad I'm not the only one experiencing this!

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