Rotavirus Vaccine - Childhood Vaccine Series

http://mamanatural.com What is the vaccine? This vaccine protects against Rotavirus. The rotavirus vaccine is a 3 dose series and is usually given at the 2, 4 and 6 month doctor visits. It is also the only oral vaccine for infants.

What is the disease?
Rotavirus is an intestinal virus that results in diarrhea and vomiting. It is transmitted from the saliva or feces of an infected person. It takes a strong solution to kill this virus thus it is common in daycare settings where there are ample diaper changes and shared toys. Symptoms of this virus are similar to the stomach flu but the diarrhea is more frequent and foul smelling.

Is it serious?
There is no medication to combat rotavirus. Many infants do fine at home as long as they stay hydrated. Once admitted in the hospital, many are given IVs to replace loss fluids from the diarrhea and vomiting.

Is it common?
Approximately 2 million people, predominately infants and children, catch this virus every year and are hospitalized for dehydration and other complaints. While about 50,000 children are hospitalized each year for rotavirus, only 20-70 children die due to severe dehydration.

Is the vaccine controversial?
The viruses are whole and live when administered so that the body can produce antibodies to fight of virus. There are some questionable ingredients, namely, monkey kidney cells (used to grow virus), fetal cow blood (again, to help grow virus), and the use of live, genetically altered organisms.

Mama Natural's take:
Since rotavirus is essentially a bad case of the stomach flu, and infant mortalities are rare, we decided not to give Griffin this vaccine. However, we might have considered it if Griffin was in daycare at a very young age as it is more serious in baby's under 1 year.

Category:

Education

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• Rotavirus
• vaccine
• childhood vaccines
• schedule
• delay
• autism
• Educational
• disease
• Rotavirus Vaccine
• baby
• toddler
• children
• reaction
• gastroenteritis
• diarrhea
• RotaTeq
• Rotarix
• porcine circovirus
• symptoms

[emilyrebekah1]

Thank you again for this series... I added a stipulation for no Hep-B shot in my birth plan, and well, here is another vaccine I'm going to decline. I appreciate your research, your simple, up front presentation, and your thoughts on both sides. Kudos, mama!

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@emilyrebekah1 Thanks Emily! XO.

[queerly]

I had rotavirus at age 24. let me just say its NOT just a "really bad stomach ache". i was in the hospital 3 nights. if it hit me that bad, i couldnt even imagine how it would be for a baby.

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@queerly Thanks for sharing your experience. It helps to hear all sides.

[EmkKuhs]

I never heard of this one. I just checked my sons immunization chart and it doesn't look like he will be getting this either.

On a complete side note, are you hoping to breastfeed Griffen up to his second birthday? I would love if you could do an updated breastfeeding video. Not only are they encouraging for those of us who want to breastfeed beyond the recommended 1 year, but I'd love to see how its working with having introduced your baby to solid foods already.

[MamaNaturalBlog]

@EmkKuhs Hi hon, yes, I'm still breastfeeding. Great idea. I'm going to do a video on it pronto. It's true that there's not much out there about bf beyond 1 year old.

[fuzzypeach5]

at first I was all for getting the vaccine then I read the leaflet and talked to my dr about it and he said that it isn't a vaccine against it it just helps to minimize the chances and that they could still get the virus.... Also he told me that yes they may get it and the first time is usually the worst but if they do get it again it isn't usually as bad and the body can fight it better... Honestly I would rather my children build their immune systems on their own than synthetically built

[Hadra568]

This went through a daycare I used to work at. Rotavirus spreads like wildfire in school or daycare.

[kaegansmama]

Both of my boys have had Rotavirus (confirmed with rotavirus antigen tests). It was actually scary, because keeping them hydrated when they are vomiting that much is really hard. I was breast feeding my youngest when he got it so he was latched on pretty much 24/7 for a week straight. He refused to drink/eat anything else. Really, I think if I hadn't been nursing him he would have ended up in the hospital with an IV. I discovered this is a zoonotic illness, I think our cat had it first!!!

[redelozier]

Oh....as I was drawing up flu shots this morning, I noticed that on the package insert (which I FEEL EVERYONE should read) ingredients listed were: formaldehyde, mercury (thimerasol-preservative), Octylphenol Ethoxylate (found in everyday industrial cleaners) and more others that I could not prenounce. FYI

[redelozier]

I agree....we decided against. No daycare, breastfeed till one year. I am also a Pediatric Nurse, and I DO NOT and WILL NOT give my children this vaccine. As well as many others on the market. However, to each his own and make sure you do your own research and make the best decision for you and your own family. Keep it up MamaNatural, loving the videos :)

Blessings