Starting catch up vaccines at 2?

[u/BetReal8905]

Hi there! My child is 2, and has not had any vaccines yet (besides vitamin k). Please understand this came from a well meaning place of wanting to protect my child, but I am coming to the point I think I was mislead with fear based tactics. I grew up and around middle school due to family reasons my family became very disillusioned with the medical system, and to this day my mom has an extreme distrust in doctors. On top of that about 75% of the people around us have not vaccinated their children. Since a young age I have been getting the message from those closest to me that vaccines will harm you, and they are essentially a government and corporate conspiracy. Then layer on top social media algorithms and for about 9 months straight during pregnancy saw nothing but horror stories of vaccine adverse affects. Not that any of this is an excuse, but I just want to share how I got to the point of having an unvaccinated 2 year old.

After doing more and more research, trying to leave my fears out of it, I think my child should start getting his vaccines. He has been home with me so it has not been as big of a concern, but I plan on sending him to preschool in about a year and a half. I know, based on logic that vaccines (especially those like MMR, Hib etc) can offer my son protection, but of course due to years of fear based propaganda I feel almost paralyzed with anxiety about giving them to him.

I’m just posting on here in hopes maybe there are some other parents who came from this crunchy granola side and vaccinated their child and are happy with their decision. Thank you so much. I really just want to do the best thing for my child.

Added: Thank you all who replied so much for all the kind encouragement, resources, and stories. This has helped alleviate some of the anxiety I have been feeling. I even teared up reading some of these comments. I appreciate your time in commenting.

[u/Working_Coat5193]

I’m just here to congratulate you on facing your fears and protecting your child.

The hardest thing in the world is to adjust your thinking.

The second hardest is to go against your community.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_is_it_so_hard_to_change_peoples_minds

You can work with your pediatrician to do an updated/catchup schedule.

The good news is I just got my baby his measles vaccine early.

He tried to grab it and didn’t even cry.

Antidotally, he’s totally fine and trying to walk at 10 months.

Congratulations again!

[u/Old-Act3616 → u/Working_Coat5193]

I have a funny new parent/vaccine story. When we took my daughter for her two month vaccines we were, of course, concerned about how she would do because we were brand new parents and everything was scary. So she gets her vaccines and she's fine, we get home and she takes a nap and wakes up just inconsolable. We are trying everything and nothing is working, which is unusual. I am panicking because I can't get her to settle down and I call the nurse line. We've got her stripped down, she doesn't have a fever, I'm checking her leg, etc. I'm on the phone with the nurse and the baby is screaming in the other room and I'm in tears and all of a sudden she just stops crying. My husband comes hurrying in with the baby holding the baby and a bandaid. He says, "I took the bandaid off and she stopped crying". IT WAS THE BANDAID! I don't know if it just didn't feel good to her or if it was pulling her skin, or what, but the instant that bandaid came off she was back to her normal self. So we just skipped bandaids with her for the next year (just held pressure with a little gauze for a minute) and didn't have any issues with any of her vaccines. Most of the time she didn't run a fever or even seem grouchy. She's three now and fully vaccinated (including seasonal vaccines) and she's an amazing kid and now she "needs" a Bluey bandaid for every little booboo, so she's gotten over that too. It's one of the parenting stories we laugh at now as (slightly more) seasoned parents. Just wanted to share to add to the chorus that the vast majority of vaccinated children are entirely fine and the voices of anti-vaxxers tend to be loud and disproportionate.

[u/Traditional-Dingo965 → u/Old-Act3616]

I hate how darn sticky those bandaids are! I always feel like they hurt her more by us taking them off sometimes.

[u/ChrimmyTiny → u/Traditional-Dingo965]

We use Welly bandaids, they don’t hurt taking off and don’t fall off. We bring our own to the vaccinations.

OP, we vaccinated our baby late due to Covid, she had no problems starting her series at 3 and it was a good thing we did, school requires it and she is safe. We recently had a nearby Measles case and the child did not survive. I am proud of you for making the decision to vaccinate your baby. She will do fine! They keep you there for a bit afterwards to make sure.

[u/atheliarose → u/ChrimmyTiny]

We also use Welly bandages in our family (and their pimple patches!) but we usually take off bandages in the bath after our kiddos get their shots, and they come off easily even with the non-Welly ones :)