The Great TV Reducing Challenge Days 3-6

Sorry about the few day delay in these posts, I have had a super busy few days! I had a cake to bake and decorate this weekend, a website to edit, a website to design/create, a house to clean, grocery shopping to do, and children to watch since my husband had a training course this weekend. Nevertheless, I will fill you all in on how we did during these days of the challenge.

Day 3: Developing Coping Strategies

Friday morning, I woke up with Nolan to find about 6 inches of snow on our walkway. Since Rowan was still asleep, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get the shoveling done. So I got Nolan his breakfast, put on a movie, and headed out to shovel. Once I got back inside, Rowan was babbling in his crib, so I got him up and nursed, then got his breakfast for him. When he was finished eating, we turned off the movie (it was about half way through), and headed downstairs to Nolan's room to play. While the boys played, I gathered some old paper towel tubes, tape, and scissors, and made Nolan a car track going down the stairs to his bedroom. Rowan went down again for his nap around 11, while Nolan and I continued to play with his car track and train set, as well as tidy up his room again. Once Rowan woke up, it was time for lunch and some dancing to the radio, then we went down to Nolan's room for more cars, trains, drawing, and playing in general, until around 4:00 when both boys went down for their afternoon nap.

We made it through the day with about 2 movies (a  movie and a half with dad while I was preparing supper), but a lot of new ideas of things to do without having the television on.

Day 4: Cheat Day #1

Saturday was definitely a cheat day, as it was a very busy day for me, and Matt was out of the house at a training course so I had no one to watch the kids while I got things done. As much as I hate to use the TV as a babysitter, sometimes it is the only way I can meet deadlines that have otherwise come up too quickly. Such is life when you are a work-at-home-mom! The best part about Saturday, though, was when I got up with Nolan. Instead of asking to put a movie on, like he normally does, he asked me to come downstairs and play trains with him! Which means that my challenge is not only working on me, but on the kids as well. I went and played trains with him for a while until his brother woke up, then after we ate breakfast the television came on so that I could get the things done that I needed to.

Day 5: Cheat Day #2

Matthew was home today, but since he had essentially worked 6 out of the 7 days this week, I decided it would be okay to allow him to relax with the boys and not have to do too much today. I still had lots to do, so just needed the boys out of my hair, and dad did an excellent job doing such. They didn't sit and watch movies all day, but one was in the background all day while they played around together. By the end of the day, though, our house was a disaster zone, and I was seriously dreading it being the end of our weekend.

Day 6: Momma Just HAD to Clean

As much as I hate to admit it, we watched a lot of movies again yesterday. I got as much cleaning as I could do while they were eating and napping, but still had plenty to do while they were awake too. As much as I could, I got away with having them upstairs listening to the radio and dancing around with me, as well as playing with bowls and other kitchen things. By the end of the day, my house was looking considerably better, though we had put I think 4 movies on. A lot more than I would have liked, but hey - not every day will be ideal or perfect, and we are still improving, so I am still happy with how we have been doing.


As our challenge winds down, I am reflecting and learning more than I expected to. I am learning to cut back on television, but am learning new strategies to keeping it off as well, and also that there are some days that the television is going to be on, so not to beat myself up too badly when it happens. Tomorrow is always a new day, a new opportunity to have the television off, and a new chance for better days. My goal is always to do at least 1% better than the day before, and I have learned that there are many ways that I can do better than I did yesterday. Even if I didn't watch less television than yesterday, there is some other way I have grown as a mom, or a person, that has made me at least 1% better than who I was yesterday, and I will absolutely call that a success!

How has the challenge gone in your house, these past few days?

The Great TV Reducing Challenge Day 2

Day Two - The Write-off

Today has not been a good day. It had such promise when Nolan quietly stayed out of Rowan's room while I was nursing this morning, and when Rowan subsequently fell back asleep for a bit. I made some yummy baked pears for breakfast while Nolan begged me to watch the Fox and the Hound. That was when Rowan woke back up and my day turned into shit, and when I began to behave in a way I was far less than proud of. Within a few minutes of being awake, Rowan got his hand slammed into the hinge side of a door (which is more painful than the other side), and would not stop screaming. While I do not normally believe in time-outs, I was far too angry to give an effective time-in, so a time-out on the stairs until Nolan was ready to apologize led to him screaming his head off, too. Which led to mommy letting out a big scream, stomping to my room, slamming two doors, and banging my head on a wall a few times. I know, right? Really productive, and super helpful - like I said, none too proud of my behaviour this morning, and wish I could have held myself together a bit better for the sake of my boys. After my few moments to try to chill out, I came back down to my boys to apologize and serve their breakfast, and try to turn the day around.

After eating, we turned the radio on and listened to music while building puzzles for a bit, then I bathed the boys and got them dressed to help kill time before Rowan's first nap. During his nap, Nolan and I had a snack, read some books, and cleaned up his bedroom. I then cooked him lunch, and as he finished eating Rowan woke back up, so I cooked his lunch for him. Once both were fed, we played down in Nolan's room for a couple hours until it was time for the boys' afternoon nap which was at 4:00. Thankfully, we made it to this point in our day without having turned the television on at all! Which means that I am easily within reach of my one-movie-per-day goal today, so I am pretty proud to be there after only 2 days of my challenge.

What now? Well, I have 5 days to go, and have reached my 1 movie a day goal, but today was a nightmare. It was stressful to say the least, so I guess my goal over the next 5 days is to make it easy to not watch TV with my boys. I want to develop better ways to entertain us without going crazy in the process. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Feel free to post the progress of your own TV Reducing Challenge in the comments below!

The Great TV Reducing Challenge Day 1

I have a confession to make: my family watches entirely too much television. There are some days that there is a movie playing in the background from the time we wake up, until my boys go to bed. Not that it is being watched every minute it is on, but I am still now proud of how often it is on. It was not always like this, and I am ashamed of myself for allowing it to get to this point. Currently, my boys are 27 months and 10 months old, and we have been using television in such a fashion since my youngest was about 4 months. The history behind this increase in television watching, was a severely stressful event in our family life, during which time I was very close to postpartum depression. Anything that could help us get through the day was a God sent, though as many of you know - it can be hard to kick the crutch when it is no longer 'needed'.

Which leads me to today, and the decision that our crutch needs to go! Over the next 7 days, I will be posting about our progress. Hopefully by next Wednesday, we will have reduced our screen time to a maximum of one movie a day, and will have developed plenty of ways to get through the days without our television. I invite you to join me if this is something you feel is an issue in your own home, and I hope that you all will hold me accountable to actually reduce our amount of television watching. Please wish me luck, and grant me the peace and serenity to make it through the next week while ridding ourselves of television.

Day 1 - It Begins

Today certainly could have gone better, but I will be easy on myself and admit that it could have been a WHOLE lot worse! Especially when (in retrospect) I might not have chosen the best day/week to begin such a challenge. After waking up, my boys and I played, made and ate our breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, and listened to music together (with some dancing of course!) until Rowan went down for his first nap around 11:00. Things at that point had been a little frustrating, I had to get breakfast ready while attempting to keep Nolan off the counter, dogs from under feet, and at the same time trying to keep Rowan from pulling my pants down or playing with the garbage (ooh the pulling up/furniture cruising stage, what's not to love). Once he was down, Nolan and I did some colouring, and played with our cat. Things went downhill from there.

At around noon, Nolan began trying to get into stuff he knew he was not supposed to play with, which led to some whining and crying that woke Rowan up early from his nap. Not proud of it (and it is hard to admit it, so please do not judge too harshly), but this led to me getting upset and yelling. Their dad and I had been up several times through the night with both of them, and after a couple of days of having too much to do to shower, I was feeling a little less than human this morning. No, this is not an excuse, and I was wrong so apologized to them both for shouting. Rowan was very clearly not ready to be awake yet, but was not interested in laying back down. At this point, lunch needed to be made, so asked Nolan what he would like to do while I cooked. He asked to watch Peter Pan (ugh), but since I had to cook I put it on so I might be able to get lunch finished quicker. This was at around 12:30, so we made it until then without turning it on. Not too bad for the first day, especially when they both ended up in the kitchen about half way through the movie to 'help', and did not watch the full thing. After we ate (from scratch chicken nuggets, ask if you want our recipe), the boys and I danced around and played more until about 3:15 at which time both boys went down for their afternoon nap.

I have snuck on during their nap to type up this post, while wondering how the rest of our day will go. They will be getting up not too long before my husband gets home from work, and he would typically watch a movie with them to unwind from his day while I cook supper. I think that I will allow that to still happen, and aim for that to be the time of day that television is watched, if at all (during the summer we will definitely be outside during that time).

Well, that means that by the end of today, we will have only watched 2 movies (and I will update this if that ends up not being true). Which is not too bad. Still more than I would like, but not bad. It seemed like the day went by pretty quickly, which I am thankful for, but I was pretty stressed out today. I think tonight I will work up a list (and prepare anything I can do beforehand) of things that I can do with the boys tomorrow to keep us busy. I also want to dig out The Hobbit so that I can begin reading it to the boys, and set aside a reading time every day to help get them more into books and not as into the screen.

Are you going to join me on my 7-day television reducing challenge?

The Benefits and Alternative Uses for Breast Milk

 It is well known now that breast milk is a true super food for babies. It offers a wide array of health serving benefits, along with easily absorbed nutrients with which to grow, and comes in a very easily digested form. It is well recognized that breast-fed infants are healthier than their formula fed peers, in that they have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and bouts of diarrhea. They also have fewer hospitalizations and trips to the doctor. This is likely because breast milk is rich with antibodies that help babies fight off the viruses and bacteria that they and their mothers encounter. Breastfeeding reduces your baby's risk of both allergies and asthma, and it has also been suggested to lower the risk of diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers as well, but more research is needed to confirm these findings. The eye-contact, skin-to-skin touching and physical closeness that comes along with breastfeeding, also help you bond with your baby. Some studies link breastfeeding with higher IQ scores later in childhood, too.

But we all know that breastfeeding has a lot of great benefits for moms, as well. You burn 20 calories for each ounce of milk you make. Which means for an 8 pound baby who needs approximately 20oz of milk per 24 hours, you will be burning 400 calories in that 24 hours only making milk for your baby! Not only does it help you with post-partum weigh loss, but it also speeds up the involution of your uterus by releasing the hormone oxytocin, which also helps to reduce uterine bleeding after birth. Breastfeeding lowers your risk for ovarian and breast cancer, and may also reduce your risk for osteoporosis. You also save time and money by not having to sterilize and wash bottle supplies, measure formula, or warm bottles.

We know very well that breast milk is a great food for babies, but did you know that there are over 50 other ways that you can use your breast milk, that range from fighting infections to skin care? Well, there are! Many of these are anecdotal, and do not have scientific studies backing them, so feel free to try the ones that interest you, and leave the ones that don't, to find out for yourself.

Medicinal

Ear infections- You can cure an ear infection by putting a few drops of breast milk into the ear canal every few hours. This usually works to clear up the infection within a day or two, and is a lot more ideal than a round of antibiotics. [reference]

Conjunctivitis / Pink-eye- Although there are no studies to back this up, many breastfeeding mothers claim that a few drops of breast milk in the eye can help with conjunctivitis or pink-eye, because of the antibiotic properties of it.

Clogged tear ducts- There is also a lot of anecdotal evidence that breast milk can help unclog and heal clogged tear ducts, too.

Nasal congestion / neti pot- Squirting breast milk into your child's nose can help clear up congestion due to its antimicrobial properties. Breast milk can also be used in a neti pot to flush out your sinuses.

Sleep aid for babies / children- The naturally occurring nucleotides found in breast milk reach their highest concentrations at night, and actually help breastfed children sleep.

Sedative for mom- The hormones Relaxin and Oxytocin are released while you breastfeed. They decrease blood pressure, as well as promote relaxation, and are so powerful they can even make breastfeeding mothers fall asleep on the job. [ Reference - The Breastfeeding Book, (C) 2000, M. Sears, R.N., and Wm. Sears, M.D. ]

Sore throat- Gargle breast milk when you have a sore throat to help it heal faster and to reduce the pain.

Cancer treatment- Scientists have found that “[a] substance found in breast milk can kill cancer cells.” Some patients have been drinking breast milk to treat their cancer with successful results.

Coughs, colds, and flu- Stay hydrated and boost your immunity with environmentally appropriate antibodies to help get over coughs, colds and the flu faster and easier.

Fever- When your child has a fever, breast milk is an excellent way to provide hydration, as well as environmentally appropriate antibodies.

Cold sores and fever blisters- Pat a cold sore or fever blister with a breast milk saturated cotton ball to promote healing and provide pain relief.

Warts- Put a breast milk soaked cotton ball on the wart for a few minutes twice a day, and continue for several days until the wart dries up.

Red or puffy eyes- Saturate cotton balls with cold breast milk, and place on your eyes instead of cucumbers.

Chicken Pox- Heal chicken pox sores, and relieve itching, by using breast milk.

Skin Care

Prevention or cure of diaper rash- This is tried and true in my household. When your baby gets a diaper rash, clean the area, dab breast milk on the rash, allow it to air dry, and re-diaper them. It will clear it up very quickly. If your baby is prone to diaper rashes, you can also put it on every diaper change for prevention.

Baby acne and eczema- We also use breast milk in our house for eczema, it clears it right up. Just apply it like you would for diaper rash. For curing baby acne, just massage breast milk into your baby's skin on affected areas.

Cradle Cap- To get rid of cradle cap, massage breast milk into your baby's scalp.

Poison ivy, poison oak, or sumac- Dab affected areas with a cotton ball that is saturated with breast milk to relieve the itching.

Burns- A burn treated with breast milk and smashed up blueberries will heal faster, according to Mothering, and will also help to relieve pain.

Sunburn- Pat breast milk gently onto a sunburn and allow to air dry to promote healing and pain relief.

Heal cracked or raw nipples- This is the only 'nipple cream' I ever use. Just express some extra breast milk, rub gently onto your nipples, and allow to air dry. This will help with pain relief and will promote healing of the damaged tissues.

Skin rashes and contact dermatitis- You can promote healing and seek relief from the pain and itchiness of skin rashes or contact dermatitis with breast milk, due to its antiseptic and antimicrobial properties.

Adult acne treatment- I actually use breast milk on my own skin, and it has been very effective at helping clear up my adult acne. Simply wet down your skin, massage in breast milk, then rinse, pat dry, and apply your favourite moisturizer.

Soap- Breast milk is an ideal ingredient for skin care products, due to it containing amino acids, vitamin A and essential proteins. It is also rich in lactic acid, which cleanses and softens skin. Here is a recipe to make your own breast milk soap, or you can buy some here.

Lotion- For the same reasons listed above, breast milk makes a great ingredient for lotion. Here is a great recipe for oatmeal and honey breast milk lotion.

Lip balm- If you do no have lip balm on hand, breast milk can also offer relief from dry, chapped lips.

Preventative

Prevents childhood illnesses- Since babies have immature immune systems, the antibodies that are present in breast milk are very helpful for preventing childhood illnesses like ear infections, ear infections, upper and lower respiratory ailments, allergies, intestinal disorders, colds, viruses, staph, strep and e coli infections, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, many childhood cancers, meningitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, salmonella, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS),” asthma, and more. [reference]

Prevent adult illnesses- Having been breastfed in infancy can also offer lifetime protection against Crohn’s Disease, ulcerative colitis, some lymphomas, insulin dependent diabetes, breast and ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, and others, as suggested by research. [reference]

Prevent illness in the breastfeeding mother- Breastfeeding reduces the nursing mother’s risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer, protects mothers against anemia, and can stabilize the progress of endometriosis. [reference for further citations]

Strengthen immune system- Since the antibodies in breast milk are environment specific, breast milk can be an excellent way to boost the immune system of anyone, but can be especially helpful for immune-compromised people, chemotherapy patients, or organ transplant patients.

Birth control- Lactational amenorrhea is the postnatal infertility caused by exclusive breastfeeding. For this reason, breastfeeding can help with child spacing. This is also the reason breastfeeding women have a reduced risk for women's cancers.

First Aid

Pain Relief- When your child gets hurt, nurse away! Not only will the closeness to you bring them comfort, your breast milk contains endorphins so will actually provide them with pain relief.

Cuts and scrapes- Breast milk has natural antiseptic qualities, so will act to sooth and heal cuts and scrapes.

Insect bites and stings- Breast milk is also great for reducing itch and promoting healing after an insect bite or sting, due to its natural antiseptic and antibiotic properties.

Infected wounds-Breast milk is naturally antiseptic, so apply it to an infected wound to take advantage of that property.

Wound cleansing- If you are unable to find another cleansing agent, you can use breast milk to clean a wound while giving first aid.

Practical Uses

Contact solution- If you need to moisten or clean your contact lenses while out and about, or if you ran out of contact solution, you can use breast milk.

Make-up remover- Breast milk on a cotton ball or cosmetic pad will remove make-up easily, and as an added bonus will soften your skin.

Deodorant- Some women say that they have used breast milk as deodorant on occasion with success.

Sexual lubricant- If you are in need of a lubricant, you can express some breast milk and use it as you would any other.

For Consumption

Drink it- Breast milk can be used as a more species-appropriate alternative to cows milk, and offers a wide range of benefits for any age of person drinking it.

Coffee creamer- It's sweet, and it's milk, so why not use it in your coffee instead of creamer? It is far more natural and has way fewer additives.

Ice cream- Since breast milk is naturally sweet, it stands to reason that it would make excellent ice cream.

Sherbet-  For a healthy frozen treat for your little one, you can consider making a breast milk sherbet for them.

Cupcakes- If you are looking for a healthy kick to your cupcakes, why not try adding it to your cupcake batter?

Cheese- If you have a lot of spare breast milk, and aren't sure how you can use it, try making some cheese with it.

Yogurt- Again, if you have a lot of extra breast milk and are unsure of what to do with it, you can make a yogurt for your baby.

Cottage cheese- You could even dare to try and make your own breast milk cottage cheese.

Butter- I can hardly believe just how easy it is to make this breast milk butter.

Baby food- If you need to add some liquid to your baby food to get the right consistency, you can use breast milk instead of water for some added nutrition!

Popsicles or mesh feeder cubes- If you are looking for something cold to help with the pain of teething or a sore throat, you can freeze your breast milk in ice cube trays for mesh feeders, or in a Popsicle mold for older children. Please note that freezing breast milk kills some of the live cells and antibodies.

In place of milk for almost any recipe- If a recipe calls for milk, you can substitute it out for breast milk.

Bread starter- Make your own breast milk bread starter using this recipe.

Miscellaneous

Necklace pendant- This mother creates breast milk pendants, from your own milk, as visual keepsakes for your breastfeeding experience.

Reader submitted

Are there some uses for breast milk you know of that I have not listed here? If so, please post it in the comments so I can add it to the list!

How to do 'Your Own Research' on Vaccines

At least once a week, I encounter someone online who wants some help with deciding whether or not to vaccinate their child. Usually, you will get people who are passionate about both sides of the fence, and some may even post some helpful links and information. More often, though, there are a lot of people posting that the best way to go about making this decision, is to 'do your own research'. I love it when I see those responses, because I do not feel that it is anyone's place to decide what is best for someone else's child, whether it be to vaccinate or not - only their parent can know what is the best decision for them. I also hate those responses, however, because at the same time it does not offer any insight or resources on how that research should be done. So the point of this post, is to hopefully help parents know where to begin, so that they can make an informed decision - whatever they end up deciding!

I want to take the time right now, before I begin, to say that I am not against vaccines, but I am against parents not informing themselves before potentially destroying their baby's life - which stands true to either side of the vaccine debate. I deeply regret not having educated myself before choosing to vaccinate my first child. I have chosen to not get my boys vaccinated any longer, but this does not mean that I do not respect parents who do, especially those who have done their research prior to deciding.

This is a long post, just fore-warning, but it will give you a good place to begin your research.

Where I would recommend beginning, would be to call the clinic/pediatrician/doctor/whomever will be administering the vaccines, and find out what specific vaccines are being used by them. You can then you can go here*, or search via google, to find out what ingredients are in those specific vaccines. If you are unsure of what something is, research it so that you do know. Just to note that aluminum is a known neurotoxin, but is currently the only approved vaccine adjuvant. (*The CDC website is a US website, but may still contain ingredient lists on vaccines commonly used in Canada as well, so it is worth it to check).

The vaccines used in the clinic where my boys would be vaccinated are listed below with their ingredient lists, as an example. This is for the Johnstone Community Health Center in Red Deer, AB. (Drag images to the address bar to see full sized).

2, 4 and 6 months - Diptheria, Tetanus, and acellular Pertussis - Infanrix IPV HIB

2, 4, and 12 months - Meningococcal Group C Conjugate - Menjugate

2, 4 and 12 months - Pneumococcal Conjugate - Prevnar 13

12 months - Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Varicella - Priorix Tetra; OR;

*Please also note that the measles and mumps viruses are cultured in Chick Embryo Cells, the rubella and varicella viruses are cultured in lung tissue of an aborted human fetus. [ reference ]

; OR; 12 months - Measles, Mumps, and Rubella - MMR II

To find out the mechanisms in which aluminum can be inherently harmful to your baby, you can go here. To understand this a little bit better, it is helpful to know that the adjuvants are added to vaccines to produce a stronger immune response to the vaccine when it is administered. The results of stimulating that immune response, can be quite dangerous to brain cells. This website also has lots of other links/information about aluminum vaccine adjuvants.

Also useful to know, is that there are risks associated with any vaccine, though generally you will be told by anyone in the health care field that they are extremely safe and effective, and that you have a very small chance (I know for DTaP in particular they will rate it at 1:1,000,000) of an adverse reaction. What they do not tell you, is that that rate is merely for an allergic reaction to the shot, not for any adverse reaction. Encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and seizures (typically febrile as a result of a rapid spike or drop in body temperature, but not always) are much more common than this allergic reaction, listed at 1:1,000 and 1:14,000 respectively.

Vaccine Risk Awareness Network
National Vaccine Information Center
Vaccination Council
Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (US)
Adverse Vaccine Reaction Stories

This page is very great information so that you are as prepared as possible to vaccinate, if that is the choice you end up making.

When you are looking at the spectrum of risks, you will want to look at the risks associated with the vaccines, and how they relate to your child in regards to how likely (based on your child as an individual, since individual health does come into play. Healthy people are less likely to get serious adverse reactions to vaccines) they are to have an adverse reaction. You will also want to look at each individual disease, what the potential complications are from that disease, how it is contracted, what the rates for potential complications are (as well as what may increase the risks for them), and then consider your child's lifestyle/health/etc. to see what their personal risk would be.

For an example, tetanus is contracted by the bacteria Clostridium tetani entering the bloodstream. This bacteria traditionally comes from horse manure, but due to that being the primary mode of transportation before motorized vehicles, it is widespread throughout the dirt. So now we know that if you get this bacteria, via dirt, in the bloodstream, you could get tetanus. How this information is relevant, is that your baby here in North America, does not really live on the dirt like babies in say Africa would. Their chances of both having an open wound and coming into contact with dirt that has Clostridium tetani present, are really not that likely. Even on the rare chance this could happen, who is to say you could not immediately go get the vaccine then as a precautionary measure, as opposed to vaccinating now under the very slight potential risk it will actually ever happen. This is also the unfortunate thing about combination vaccines, is you often can't really pick or choose the antigens you have to receive. If you wanted to vaccinate only for diptheria, you'd also be vaccinating for pertusis and tetanus. There is only one vaccine that can be split up, and it is to remove the 'varicella' antigen from the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR).

On the topic of antigens, this page is also worth a look. It is a recent study that shows that repeated 'immunization' by antigen alone (no adjuvants), inevitably caused autoimmunity in autoimmune resistant lab mice.

If you can, also do your best to hunt down the rates of vaccinated and unvaccinated people who are catching these diseases (here is a good document to show the rates of vaccinated people contracting pertussis/whooping cough). This will show you how well the vaccine actually works, because it will show you if the majority of people who catch these diseases are unvaccinated (like so many pro-vaccine people like to think and say), or if they have in fact been previously vaccinated for that disease. In the instance of pertussis (whooping cough), you will actually find that the vast majority of children who contract it, have been previously and 'appropriately' vaccinated against it.

At this point you have at the very least a good place to start, and generally I find that you'll find your own stuff you want to research while you delve into this. I could seriously go on, and on, and on, and ON, so please always feel welcome to ask questions, ask for clarifications, ask for more links, challenge me if you find something you feel is very compelling toward vaccination, or whatever you want. If you want to refute anything I have written here, please do - I always love an opportunity to learn. I will never tell anyone not to vaccinate (though I will seriously recommend to everyone to under no circumstances receive the flu vaccine, let alone on a yearly basis, and instead opt for elderberry syrup - I'll save this for another blog post), because I feel that what is right for one person is almost never right for anyone else, let alone everyone else. Each child is different, their risks are never the same, and only each child's parents can determine if the benefits outweigh the risks for each vaccine or each disease.

It is from my own personal understanding from my research, that the potential complications that come with 'vaccine preventable diseases' are far more favourable to the potential adverse reactions of the correlating vaccine, at least for my children. This is coming from the mother of two very healthy boys, who are unlikely to have serious adverse reactions to the vaccines. In fact my oldest son has been fully vaccinated, on schedule, until 18 months. I then got educated on the topic, and now fully regret every single one of them. He actually had a fairly bad reaction to the MMR vaccine at 12 months. Bad to me but in reality it was very, very mild compared to almost any other adverse reaction that could happen from this shot.

If you do choose to vaccinate, I will still respect you as a parent. I respect all parents who always do what is in their child's best interest. Which is what you are doing now by digging deeper on this issue. Also remember to never, EVER vaccinate on a compromised immune system. Not even so much as a runny nose or cough, as they could make vaccinations fatal. It is ALWAYS better to wait a couple of weeks until they are feeling better than to just risk it.

Good luck in your journey for information!