AP Baby

My pediatrician is anti-vax. Now how is that for irony? All the anti-vax crowd claim that anti-vax pediatricians don't exist, and yet I... a pro-vaxer... manage to find one. I really like her too. She is actually a family practice physician who I've been seeing for my own thyroid issues, and I was so glad when I first found out she takes baby patients. I saw her as the best of both worlds; an MD who also believes in a more holistics perspective of health, including diet and natural healing in her arsenal of remedies.

Now, I find myself in a quandry. I love that she comes from a more natural perspective. When my baby girl was not pooping for the first two weeks of her life (to clarify: she had many meconium poops the first week, then nothing for TEN DAYS! Yes, I was panicking!), she evaluated her overall health and told me not to worry... breastfed babies just do that sometimes. She was right. My baby is now pooping plenty! :) But I can't help thinking that a more traditional MD might have been more invasive and ordered dozens of tests and who knows what, based on the fact that B. was not doing what *most* babies do.

But, I want to vaccinate my baby. I believe after having done much research, that it is the best thing for her. (Though I am dreading the actual shots. So much!) When I went to my doc for our "pre-baby" interview, I asked her about vaccines, and she replied very very carefully. She said that she did not feel comfortable making the decision to vaccinate or not for a parent; that it was up to the parent to decide. Which is a great thing! But I replied, "Of course it is my decision! But I value your professional opinion as part of my decision-making process."

She told me that she does not carry vaccines in the office, that it is not cost-effective to do so. Apparently this is true even for doctors with much bigger practices. She then went on to comment on the Hep B vax and say that "It's not as if babies are having sex or using drugs." Well, no, my baby is not going to have sex or use drugs. But how are children giving each other Hep B?

"It is estimated that 18% of all persons with chronic HBV infection acquired their infections postnatally during early childhood. In some populations, childhood transmission was more important than perinatal transmission as a cause of chronic HBV infection before infant hepatitis B immunization was widely implemented." From immunize.org.

"Other primary means of HB infection include: child-to-child transmission (from children being in contact with one another in household settings), contaminated blood transfusions, unsterile needles and sexual activity." From Unicef.org

She went on to say that the last outbreak of measles occurred in the 80's amongst vaccinated children. This is absolutely not true. The last big outbreak of measles was amongst the non-vaccinating Amish. Apparently it was severe enough that it resulted in many Amish children getting vaccinated!

I can't help but wonder how a care provider could be so misinformed, when an easy google search turns up this information. She did give me a book by Randall Neustaedter called "The Vaccine Guide," before I left. The only thing I can figure is that sometimes people assume that if you read something in a book, and it has a footnote, it *must* be true. Unfortunately, in the case of the anti-vax world, those footnotes frequently are flawed when you trace them back. But who has the time to actually verify all the sources used by the anti-vaxers to make their point?

So anyways... Now I am in the position of needing to find a pediatrician who can vaccinate my babygirl. But I want the best of all possible worlds. I want an AP/NFL, pro-vaxing, evidence-based doctor who doesn't tell me to let my baby cry or feed her solids when she is too young or tell me to supplement my breastmilk with formula.

Really, is that too much to ask???