Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Vaccination Concerns: Just a Mom Thing?
So on my last post, we were speaking purely from the maternal perspective, mentioning "mommy guilt" and discussing whether or not we--as women and mothers--underestimate our importance in decision-making for the health of our families. But what about Dads? My husband is sympathetic to my concerns, wary of new vaccines, but even more than me, perhaps, he supports the old standbys. So what do other husbands say? If husbands are more in favor of the vaccines, why? Just curious!
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6 comments:
My husband was never vaccinated (religious reasons) and so he's more fine with not vaccinating than I am.
I share Jen's feelings in that I would feel horrible if my kids were ever harmed by a vaccinate-able disease. But because the chances of them being harmed by the vaccination are higher--we've chosen to skip certain vacs.
Agreed. Well that's interesting--thanks! Which vacs have you chosen to skip?
Okay, I re-read your comment on the last one. Did you refuse selectively or just by "batch"--that is, refusing all on the particular time schedule?
batch. I think they probably should have mmr and pertussis at somepoint but I don't like the idea of giving them shot after shot when they're babies and not likely to be around any of these diseases since they're not in daycare or anything...
No, I don't think it's a mom thing. It's probably a certain parent thing. My mother-in-law expressed her concerns about the vaccines. I researched and decided accordingly. I follow the scheduled vaccines. Baby's fine.
There is a term I came across not too long ago called "intensive mothering." I'm interested in it and think it is related to the question you pose in this post.
But my impression is that even though only certain moms (admittedly those with a tendency to be earthy, granola types)are wary of vaccines, it is my impression that more moms than dads are wary, even among fathers who *are* involved and *do* take an interest in and attend doctor's visit (as my husband does, but the so-called father figure in our household when I was growing up did not. So I'm not asking "Is this a MOM--as in all moms--thing," but if this registers as a greater concern among mothers (assuming it is a concern) than fathers.
My first two have had all or nearly all of the scheduled vaccines, but that still means my first has had fewer than my second at the same age, and that the third will have even more. When you observe this over a decade or more (counting siblings), you start to notice that the thing is spiraling out of control. And I do know that I am more troubled by the "what ifs" than a lot of people, and I am skeptical, yadda yadda.
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