i haven't heard of lead being put in shots but mercury i have heard of. you have the option of going to a ped. that gives mercury free shots and that is what we are doing. i would give a word of caution to the prevnar shot though. before you get it for your little one do your research!

From what I've read, the link between autism and vaccinations in tenuous at best - there's just not enough research out there to prove it through reasonable science. The study that started all the hubub followed *12* patients - not exactly a solid sample size. Both the American Medical Assn. and the Centers for Disease Control say that there is currently no conclusive evidence proving a link between the two, and a good deal of research that indicates there is no link between them - but they both encourage further study.

That said, I think Jayme makes a good point: if your doctor offers vaccinations that are mercury-free (some of them contain the preservative thimerosal, a mercury derivative), it seems reasonable that you might want to request them - even if autism isn't linked to them. Why introduce additional mercury into your child's body?

Anyway, there's a LOT of info on the web about this - type "autism vaccination" into a search engine and you'll get lots of hits. (Be cautious of the sources, though - this is a heated issue that sometimes generates strong but irrational or unfounded arguments.)

Here is a link that might be useful: AMA site on immunizations and autism

Hi.
I have read that signs of Autism don't appear until around the age after which infants receive the MMR. The fact that the signs of Autism coincide with immunizations is what is making parents blame it on the immunizations. The Autism would have become pronounced regardless of whether the child was immunized.

Jayme - what have you read about the prevnar shot?

i have a hard time wondering what to think about this autism/MMR thing simply because i have read the studies, the actual ones, not just stuff you find on the internet and there is not any difference in the incidence of autism in the vaccinated and unvaccinated population. and if there was a link you think it would be higher in the vaccinated population. i know alot of people think there is a link also with SIDS and DTaP but my clinic itself has had at least 2 SIDS cases that happened the morning they were to be vaccinated and if if it had happened just a day later it surely would have been blamed on the vaccine. my doctor has also had a baby have a seizure on the table right before his first shots- again just seconds later and it would have been blamed on the VAccine. like one expert says blaming vaccines on these disases/deaths is like saying that car accidents are caused by eating bread, because almost everyone that dies in a car accident can be shown to have eaten bread the day the day before. i can say however that vaccines do make me nervous, and i didn't give them without doing my research. i didn't do prevnar either- i don't think it was worth it because i thought the adverse reactions outweighed the benefits and it would have meant 4 shots which i thought was too many.

Babies are not born with fully developed functional brains. They are still growing, and doing some basic hardwiring for _years_. One example of how this kind of thing works to a person's advantage is with early recognition, detection and treatment of 'lazy eye.' Simply wearing an eyepatch and forcing the 'lazy' eye to carry the neurological load can and will 'normalize' it neurologically. That alone can treat most people who have that problem as young children.

Another example where it's relatively easy to see developmental brain and functional differences is pre and post puberty.

Babies grow into noticing 'others' over time. They grow into being 'interactive' over time. By the time they are about 2 they've usually learned the word and concept 'mine' and how to express their anger and they still will sometimes have overemotional meltdowns and tantrums. Between the ages of 2 and 3 and getting older it's easier to see if developmental lags are undeniable. At any time during all the early developmental stages, different vaccinations might be given or might be standard. It is a normal human sort of tendency, when there appears to be a huge shift in 'normal' or the behavior of an infant that there must be a cause. Vaccines are blamed probably because that seems, to the concerned parent like it was the only difference their baby had between 'before' and 'after.' In that context it makes sense.

In the context of brain function and development, it makes less sense. This introduces other variables including genetic underpinnings, and any kind of unrecognized ongoing process which might be causing symptoms. Rett syndrome is a known genetic condition which causes the symptom of apparent and diagnosable Austism. Fragile X syndrome is also a known genetic condition which causes the symptom of apparent and diagnosable Autism. William's syndrome is also a known genetic condition which can cause the symptom of apparent and diagnosable Autism. That's just off the top, there are probably many more. Most of these are not routinely tested for and maybe won't be tested for until there is a lawsuit blaming a vaccine, or until there are symptoms and a parent requests or orders such gene testing.

It's probably extremely difficult to realize a very young child, one's own baby in fact has autism. It can be very overwhelming, completely so perhaps and people will do what they need to do to cope. It's not really surprising that lawyers would build a case and sue. It is something they can _do_ and something they can have some modicum of control over. People cannot (yet?, should people even be able to?) control development or alter genes at will.

Given that lead exists in so many different dusts and soils and product, it may be difficult to prove that as a cause. It may also be difficult to prove that the symptoms of autism result mainly/only from any such lead.

These two site address have readable vaccine info and have good links.
http://www.immunizationinfo.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2
http://www.ama-assn.org/med-sci/immunize/vacautism.htm

These next addresses are about autism. The first two are to an advocacy site. They offer a view of autism as primarily a disorder of movement, and explain that view in good readable detail. The third is to a page of 'symptoms' for early recognition, and there are links to the left about what is required for a reasonable 'diagnosis.'
http://www.autcom.org/
http://www.autcom.org/relationship.html
http://www.neurologychannel.com/autism/symptoms.shtml

This last site address has information about lead poisoning. It has links to preventions and common, and not so common but likely sources of lead exposures.
http://www.leadpoisoninginfocenter.com/

it's a somewhat 'hopeful' position people can have that symptoms of a pervasive disorder of development is caused by some namable problem which seemingly can be 'cured' by some antidote; hopefully they have already gotten all the picky requirements met for a clinical diagnosis and ruled out the more likely causes conclusively

P.S. The main problem of diagnosing autism is that it requires noticing extreme subtlties usually, in movements and interactions and the way an infant interacts (or not). Some infants are contented and quiet and just that way temperamentally, and are just normal. Some don't always like being touched or held the way the adults around them want to touch or hold them, and are just normal. It's very complicated getting to an accurate, early diagnosis because for most of the traits, to an untrained eye it really seems to be the case that the symptoms can be normal.

The reports scared the crap out of me, too. But when I looked at them, it was pretty clear that it was simply bad science -- and sensational media coverage.

Here's the thing: there's a difference between correlation and causation. Correlation means that two things happen in a similar time frame (so x comes before y). BUT simple correlation does not prove causation (x causes y).

So, yes, there is a correlation between vaccinations (x) and autism (y), but, as was pointed out above, it is confounded by age. The symptoms of autism are generally first noticed about 18mo, which is generally within the same time frame as the MMR vaccination. The vaccination is likely incidental; if a child is going to develop autism s/he will do it whether or not the vaccine is administrated.

Most kids at 18mo are still bonking their heads, starting to speak, learning colors, etc. Based on the logic applied in the British study that caused the MMR uproar you could make the argument that any one of those things causes autism.

There is no evidence that vaccinations cause autism. However, there can adverse reactions to vaccinations. We did have DS vaccinated with the MMR; however, we didn't do prevnar (or varciella) because it we determined that it was largely unncessary (risks to benefits) and because the incidence of side effects, ranging from fever/illness to more severe conditions, is larger than in other vaccines. We also talked it over with our doctor, which is what you should do if you have questions about vaccines.

bensmom,
i don't think i have enough space to right about the prevnar shot! i will write about my own experience and tell you that it is NOT worth it.
my daughter got her prevnar shot when she was 7 wks. old. the next day she had a high fever, had a change of habits, and had a horrible rash on her face. she would cry and cry all day and would stay awake for hours. it was aweful. she also would throw up alot. she did this for about 2wks. and was pretty much back to normal except she is left with that rash. she is 11 wks. now and the rash has spread from her cheeks to her foward to her arms and now to her legs. we contacted her ped. that next day and the nurse told me that she was throwing up to get rid of extra milk (that's BS) and that if the rash wasn't on her neck then to not worry about it. a couple of wks. ago we told our ped. about the rash and got a vaccine report to fill out. she said that baby's don't usually have good skin anyway and didn't really say anything when we said it was from the shot. we had to go back the next week to check on her ears and her face looked aweful. the ped. said nothing about her rash which leads me to believe she thinks it is from the shot too. also, when we let her know that we wouldn't be getting that shot anymore she told us that "those new shots scare me." i thought, great! now you explain it to us. i am soooo mad because her rash isn't going away and the ped. did not inform us.
i have heard of older babies getting it and they forget how to crawl or roll over and they have to relearn those things.
also, one of the mothers here e-mailed me about her little boy that just got the prevnar and he develped reflux and a rash also.
it is def. not worth it. it is worth it to search your vaccines before giving them to your little one.
don't count on the nurse or ped. to tell you about them!

most ped. our pro-vaccine and it is rare that you find one that will tell you in advance about them.

good luck to you and if you have any other questions please feel free to e-mail me.

jayme:)

jayme24baby, I'm so sorry to hear about your dd. That's horrible. I did do some research on prevnar and most of the negative info I found on it was written by the same guy. I'm obviously going to have to do some more in-depth research. Benjamin has had it twice, the first time at 5 months old and the second time at seven months old. Both times he was a little under the weather for a day or two after. Not even as bad as he gets after the DTP. I'll have to do more research and talk to the ped. before we decide whether or not to give him the next one. Thanks for the info. I hope your dd's rash goes away soon.

Hi girls, check out these links. They helped me make my decision regarding vaccinations. :-)

http://www.avn.org.au./
http://whale.to/ (click on the vaccination page at the top left hand corner)
http://www.909shot.com/

Hope that helps!

To all the confused parents who are Scared into vaccination: This especially goes out to people who need to DO THE HOMEWORK. How can you do the work when the pages are not always the truth. Here are some links that tell the other side of the story: (exempt my child.com, marry tocco.com and varesreports.com)It is so interesting that a contry who has these vaccine advantages available, has some of the sickest children and yong adults ever. Ask some of these questions, why are so many children developing childhood diabetis, lukemia, ms, autism,sids the list goes on.Id much rather have my child get the chicken pox or other illnesses and fight them off naturally and have a LIFE time immunity. Or even worse..risk deth from a single shot and give that one last vaccine where the percent of my child getting that spacific disease is miniscule. you'll find that in the vares reports. How bout our hep B vaccine: another question: how does someone get HepB? IV drug use, Blood transfusion, or sex. We give this vaccine at birth and news flash' the vaccine lasts about 10 years'. So your telling me that by the time my child is 10 she will be exposed to these situations... oh even if they are they won't be immune. Well we will just give them another cha-ching$ i mean vaccine. Or we could risk SIDS, neuralogical,functional,ms( in the adult situations)problems before the first words. read on at exemptmychild.com, marytocco.com/ Parents lets pull the wool from our eyes and see what is realy going on.
To the pediatritions:
who haven't spent the time to research only the time to market and scare the parents..You need to DO THE HOME WORK! I am not one who hasn't vaccinated, trusted the pediatrition.. but im not anymore these people have ignored my questions and concerns. (with the side way stare) How dare you question "me"! I didn't go to med school so help me feel comfortable instead of the your back to me. I said thats "ENOUGH" after my pediatrician asked "what way I wanted my daughter to DIE" after refusing the (five shots) he offered at one time. Im sorry to dip into your pockets cause you are the slaves of the insurance companies and drug companies. It's not all your fault you just don't know any better, (you eat up what they feed you for the dollar) but start practicing 'health'.
There is a phrase 'too much too soon' and I suggest following that. Time has told we are not getting better from these vaccines but worse. Our innocent children are going to suffer, not by choice.

Wow - some of these posts are filled with absurd amounts of mis-information.

"It is so interesting that a contry who has these vaccine advantages available, has some of the sickest children and yong adults ever."

This is just an out and out lie. By every measure, children in america are healthier now than before we had public health programs like vaccines. Our current major problems are self inflicted - like feeding kids tons of sugar and fat and then being surprised when the are overweight and diabetic.

Also, re: Hep B. It is one of the most common diseases in the world outside of the countries where vaccines are used. It is certainly not just transmitted by "IV drug use, Blood transfusion, or sex. " It is an incredibly infectious disease. At any given time, I bet your kids have multiple sores, scratches, cuts etc and they play with kids with similar minor injuries. That is enough to pass it along. About 1/3 of the planet has been exposed to hep b. If your kids haven't been, it would be because they are vaccinated or they are surrounded with people who have been vaccinated.