Having read all the comments over at Yummy Mummy No1 I thought I'd tell you all about the reasons why I volunteered my baby girl for her swine flu jab before she even received an invite for it.
Lara is 7 months old. To the best of our knowledge, she is a healthy, well-fed baby with little to fear from a common cold or a minor tummy upset. She has coped incredibly well with all of her previous injections and I never had any reason to question the recommended immunisations she was given in her first few months.
Now that Lara spends 4 days a week with childminders, she is surrounded by lots of different children from different schools and playgroups, greatly increasing her chance of exposure to the virus. And, given that young children are considered a high risk group for contracting the swine flu virus, I see it as my responsibility to protect her from it. If someone offered her the seasonal flu jab (which has been used safely and successfully for a number of years now, admittedly not normally on infants), I'd take it.
I had no fears about taking her for the swine flu jab. I remain mellow about these things – if the NHS advice is to give her the jab, then who am I to question it? I know they've made mistakes in the past but medical science has moved on, we can be more certain about the steps they take these days. I'm not qualified to question the NHS's decision to vaccinate the over 6 months to the under 5s. All I know is that if I weren't to give Lara the jab, and that if she were to catch swine flu, the people I would turn to in order to help her fight it, perhaps even to save her life would be... you guessed it, the self same NHS. So, if I trust them to cure her, then it naturally follows that I trust them to protect her too.
Before Lara had the jab, I came across three other infants who had received the vaccination, all of whom had suffered from vomiting the evening after, achy limbs the day after, or a bit of general grumpiness. None of these things surprised me, and none were enough to put me off taking Lara for her appointment.
Lara had the jab on Wednesday, was grumpy with a bit of a temperature that evening but was right as rain again by the morning. No sign of a sore leg and no other symptoms. She has been a little madam ever since, but I put that down to two very sore teeth trying to peek through, and the fact that she has developed an 'attitude' since this time last week.
If you want to find out more about the swine flu vaccination programme, read the FAQs at NHS Choices.
Lara is 7 months old. To the best of our knowledge, she is a healthy, well-fed baby with little to fear from a common cold or a minor tummy upset. She has coped incredibly well with all of her previous injections and I never had any reason to question the recommended immunisations she was given in her first few months.
Now that Lara spends 4 days a week with childminders, she is surrounded by lots of different children from different schools and playgroups, greatly increasing her chance of exposure to the virus. And, given that young children are considered a high risk group for contracting the swine flu virus, I see it as my responsibility to protect her from it. If someone offered her the seasonal flu jab (which has been used safely and successfully for a number of years now, admittedly not normally on infants), I'd take it.
I had no fears about taking her for the swine flu jab. I remain mellow about these things – if the NHS advice is to give her the jab, then who am I to question it? I know they've made mistakes in the past but medical science has moved on, we can be more certain about the steps they take these days. I'm not qualified to question the NHS's decision to vaccinate the over 6 months to the under 5s. All I know is that if I weren't to give Lara the jab, and that if she were to catch swine flu, the people I would turn to in order to help her fight it, perhaps even to save her life would be... you guessed it, the self same NHS. So, if I trust them to cure her, then it naturally follows that I trust them to protect her too.
Before Lara had the jab, I came across three other infants who had received the vaccination, all of whom had suffered from vomiting the evening after, achy limbs the day after, or a bit of general grumpiness. None of these things surprised me, and none were enough to put me off taking Lara for her appointment.
Lara had the jab on Wednesday, was grumpy with a bit of a temperature that evening but was right as rain again by the morning. No sign of a sore leg and no other symptoms. She has been a little madam ever since, but I put that down to two very sore teeth trying to peek through, and the fact that she has developed an 'attitude' since this time last week.
If you want to find out more about the swine flu vaccination programme, read the FAQs at NHS Choices.
