I went with the standard recommended schedule - but here that's never more than two shots at a session. Five seems pretty nasty.

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Why are you asking US if we can talk about it without getting pissed off. YOU are the one who lit the match on the last one. I don't read your articles anymore but I just had to bite on that little innocent statement you made. Reason 325877896325 I am over you.

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Our babies are only a few weeks apart so I've been researching the same thing. I'm following Dr. Sears' guidelines in The Vaccine Book. Basically, the baby gets all of the vaccines, but they're spread out a little more so there isn't a huge dose of some of the bad things (like Aluminum) all at the same time. At the first visit he got Rotavirus (which was actually oral, no shot yay!) and DTAP. Then a month later he got Hep and Prevnar (or something like that, I forget and am too lazy to go look this up for accuracy). I'm not sure this would be the way to go for you though, because it makes for a LOT of doctor appointments. I couldn't handle him getting 5 shots at once though. /shudder

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For my daughter, we went with the recommended schedule. Part of that was because the daycare I use requires children to be up to date on immunizations. Have you reviewed the vaccination schedule published on the CDC's website? (www.cdc.gov) Some of the immunizations have age ranges that are appropriate. That allows a bit of flexibility if you prefer to try and space them out somewhat.

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When it comes to the 1st year round of vaccines, I intend to get them when advised all @ once, no spacing. BUT when it comes to the more controversial vaccines (MMR) when she gets older, I am going to space them out because my brother has Autism. I want to play it safe. I think it's too much too soon nowadays, but don't want my baby to not have the protection. Spacing them out should be an option, hope I can find a pediatrician that is understanding.

I wanted to smack the piss out of the one we saw @ 2 months. She was ugly + argued with me about asking questions about the mercury/nasty stuff in the vaccs. She got all loud + snippy + kept chanting, "Vaccines are proven NOT to cause Autism" I still think I should fax her over the thousands of articles that say otherwise. IT IS NOT PROVEN! They still don't know. . . bitch. I should not be made to feel like a pain in the rear or stupid when I'm asking questions regarding my child's heath.

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Eric got his shots when he was supposed to, I think. Since the Dr. scheduled the next appts.

I remember the appt. when he got like 8 shots in both legs. He cried, I cried, and his binkey went flying across the exam room.

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I went with the schedule for both of my children. It sucked seeing them get the shots but I'd rather have the minor discomfort of the shot versus the scary disease it helps to prevent. I love your column I look forward to reading it (all topics)

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We went with whatever the military schedule was for infant shots for all three kids, even the premie twins.

I was more worried about passing out from seeing the needle than from adverse reactions by the kids. So far, no reactions. I will say there is one shot I skip every year, and that's the flu shot. I'm allergic, but I hate dragging all the kids in to get them this specific shot - hubby is the only one who's ever really had one (except for my initial flu shot in boot camp, when we all discovered my wonderful allergy).

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I went with the recommended schedule -- the risks of not vaccinating just outweighed the (mostly alleged) risks of vaccinating in my mind. I don't know what my stance is on delaying vaccines; I think when we have our second child I'll probably follow the schedule again because I have a sort of "get it over with" mentality.

Also, for the record, I am a big fan of combined vaccines. When your kid can get five vaccinations with only two pokes, that is a win. Not that two pokes are easy, but... easier than five, for sure.

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My son has been a month behind with all his shots (2mo shots @ 3 mos, etc.) because our Dr. didn't have an appt open when he was 2 mos. So, no, they probably won't kick you out.
My Dr never gave more than 2 shots per visit. If he's gonna have 5, I might consider spacing them. That seems like a lot to me.
My son is about to have his 12 mos shots next month (when he's 13 months, heh), and I'm a little anxious to say the least. At his last appt when I mentioned to the nurse that I might want to space his shots, she asked that I call and "remind" them before his appt. I guess they want to prepare themselves for the crazy hippie lady who's going to demand to see the ingredients label of their mixtures. Whatever. I love our pediatrician, and I chose to see him because I've always felt we're on the same page. I don't think we'll have a problem discussing and spacing my son's shots.
That said, I think the ideal situation when dealing with vaccinations is self-education on the parents' side and good communication and, if necessary, compromise between those parents and their pediatrician. Good luck!

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We went the standard route until the MMR. I had decided to wait on Measles until later but my Dr couldn't accomidate us and told me to go to another Dr. As it turned out no one would give us the shots even if it was a referral, we had to be patients.
After an exhausting search I ended up changing Peds make this happen.

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We chose to hold off until 18 months for most everything-- except pneumococcal and Hib which we started at 6 months. Our physician (who is with a huge University hospital system where people are usually extremely pro-vaccine) recommended those two earlier rather than later for efficacy, but was completely comfortable with us waiting on everything else. In fact, she suggested that for several of them it was fine to wait until our daughter went to school. That said, I work from home and so she doesn't go to daycare. Thus far she's had an amazing immune system. I'm still breastfeeding which, everyone says they go hand in hand, but I think there are a lot of other factors involved. If our situation were different- if she were in daycare or had a compromised immune system I might have gone about it differently. But for us and our doctor, this works. I was worried about bringing up our desire to wait with our doctor and was pleasantly surprised at her reaction and support, so I always encourage people to talk to their doctor and create a schedule everyone is comfortable with.

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My son got three shots at 2 months, then we stopped. I did some research after those shots and decided not to continue. We have had a few people give us a bit of grief about it, but surprisingly little opposition. Most people just say ok when we say we don't do them. I don't feel that the vaccinations are safe (whether they cause autism or not), I don't think they're necessary when we can easily handle medically the side effects of these illnesses (not so much the side effects of the shots like brain swelling and cognitive disorders), and I don't think they're really all that effective. No one has ever looked to see if they really work, or if these diseases are being controlled by better health and hiegene and/or the diseases are now being called something else. That happens more than you'd think - a doctor diagnoses a kid with having a disease very similar to one he's been vaxed for and says "He can't have that! He got the shot! It must be a weird form of this other disease."

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