Over the past couple of days, I have come fact-to-face with several extremely important parental decisions that have completely turned my household upside down. Decisions about everything from whether or not to continue vaccinating to circumcision have suddenly landed at my feet – and I am terrified of making the wrong choice. As I sat in the doctor’s office today, discussing whether or not to circumcise my five year old son due to some problems he has been having after spending several hours on the phone trying to determine if my baby’s latest dose of vaccinations had caused an allergic reaction, I got to wondering what everyone else thinks about these “hot button” topics.
When it comes to childhood vaccinations, I have always been a strong proponent. Many of the arguments against vaccinations have been discredited over the years, and after working in a pediatric clinic and seeing some extremely sick babies with completely preventable diseases such as whooping cough and rubella, I fully believe that vaccinations are a good option for most children. However, several hours after my daughter received a set of vaccinations yesterday, she began having a difficult time breathing and developed a horrible cough. After many tense moments on the phone with the doctor, we concluded that her symptoms were probably from croup, rather than from an allergic reaction, but it was certainly scary for awhile.
As for other parenting decisions, such as co-sleeping, circumcision, breastfeeding, and crying-it-out, I’ve always maintained that it’s a parent’s choice, and as long as baby, mommy and daddy, and the doctor are on the same page then whatever decision has been made is a good decision. But my experiences over the past several days have made me curious – what do parents think about all of these topics? I would love to hear your thoughts on vaccinations, breastfeeding, circumcision, homeschooling – whatever. Maybe hearing from other moms out there will help my husband and I come to peace with our choices for our children, or find ways to make better choices next time!
2 COMMENTS
Twingle Mommy
13 years agoI vaccinate my kids for the same reasons that the doctor's reccomend them. I know that many parents believe there is a link between Autism and shots, but it has been widely discredited. And if there is a link, I would much rather have a child with Autism than a child that died from a preventable diesese.
I can't sleep with my kids in the room let alone in my bed. I'm an insomniac and I cannot sleep as it is. But most moms can sleep just fine with their kids in the room. Breastfeeding is up to you, just please stop before your kid can talk. I will judge you if you breastfeed your four year old.
We circumcised our son partly because Daddy is and partly because a good friend had to be circumcised at 18 due to repeated infections. He made me promise to circumcise any unborn sons I may have one day as infants since it hurt so much. I'll never forget how much pain he was in and he was so mad at his parents for waiting until he was old enough to decide for himself.
I think you parent your children in the way that works best for you and your spouse. It's impossible to make all the right decisions, but your decisions need to feel right to you. At then end of the day if I feel like I made the right decision then it was the right decision. And what is right for me, may not be right for anyone else and that's OK.
The Teachers Wife
13 years agoIt sure is a hard decision to make when even the "professionals" can't agree on an answer! My oldest son developed a week-long high fever then had a serious seizure after his MMR & Dtap round of vaccines. I had NEVER questioned vaccines till then. And to be honest it wasn't till 2 years later when we correlated the fever/seizure w/the vaccines. So when baby #2 was 16 months and ready for his round of shots I started getting REALLY nervous. My thoughts for my kids, is that I will vaccinate them, but I will NOT let them have more than 2 vaccines at a time. Having 3-5 shots at a time is too much for their little bodies. My oldest now is on the autistic spectrum with a sensory disorder. Bc of the shots? I don't know, but we can't change what happened. I now make sure all of my kids vaccines are spread out! Doctors now-a-days are prescription happy so I just do my research and am very careful with my choices. Ultimately I as the parent make the final decision- and I have to live with that decision.