To Immunize or Not

There is usually a debate on whether or not to immunize children. Personally, I think it should be a simple decision but we all have our reasons. 

When I had my first child, I knew I was going to be immunized. We all got immunized as kids, but we each missed one and got sick. I remember how it felt when we each had chicken pox as a result of an outbreak in school (of course we laugh off our itchy experience now). 

So, I knew my children would be immunized. What I didn't know was how soon. We have so much information from so many different sources that fact and opinion gets mixed up in between. I ended up deciding not to immunize my son at the hospital when he was born and regretted it immediately we got discharged. ‘Will he be okay before his doctor's visit. What if he gets sick now?’. I was so happy the worries got off my chest when he was immunized at his 2- week visit. Since then, I have always ensured he does not get behind on his immunizations. He gets the occasional stomach bug or cold but there has not been anything major.

Reasons why we should think about immunizing our kids include:

• Knowing they are safe if there is an outbreak. This peace of mind saves you a lot of stress.
• Knowing their immune system is bolstered up, less absences from school due to an illness.
• Knowing they will be polio free and the list goes on.

Even if we live in a relatively healthy community, we all love our little ones and their safety is important. Our goal is to protect them. However, what if we visit a community that has these diseases or illnesses we or our children are not vaccinated against? Need more info on vaccination? Please visit https://www.cdc.gov/features/reasonstovaccinate/