Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

My Darling Boy had his shots yesterday. He zonked out right after the trauma of getting the shots. In the late afternoon, he woke up and was really upset and was crying and screaming in pain. Breastfeeding didn't comfort him, either. I desperately searched the web for tips for soothing his pain. One tip was to rub the injection site with Vicks Vap-O-Rub. I immediately did this and it did help. He didn't scream any more after that, but still cried and fussed and was very uncomfortable. I didn't think I should give him Baby Tylenol after reading about the children's cold medicine debate and the possible negative effects on children under 6. My friend Bridget asked her mom (a nurse) who recommended giving him the dosage for his weight, and Bridget said it had helped her niece and nephew when they had discomforts. So I sent Mama out to Walgreens to get some, and we gave him the lowest estimated dosage for his weight. And he was soothed. He then slept. Blessed relief. Today he slept a lot and was pretty happy when he was awake. He did scream and cry a few times when I accidentally bumped his thighs where the injections were given. A friend of mine told me about how his cousin's child got autism from vaccines. So I spent all day checking the Jamie still made eye contact and reading up on the whole autism vs. vaccines issue. From the studies I read I'm convinced that the appearance of a correlation to vaccines is a coincidence due to age of symptom onset (or when they first notice it and can't explain it away) and the frequency of vaccinations. One study in Japan showed that there was an increase in the incidence of autism even after discontinuing the vaccine in question (MMR). Also, with decreased vaccinations there has been an upswing in the cases of measles and mumps and polio, which have led to deaths of some infected children. Even after reading all of this and deciding that the connection did not seem scientifically reasonable, I still watched Jamie like a hawk and worried over every move he made. I logically believed that he was not in danger of contracting something debilitating. However, as a mother, my greatest fear is that I might do something that could harm my child. And so now I'm pretty stressed out. Jamie is fine. He's smiling and wide mouthed grinning at his Daddy's funny dancing. He's still a bit sore but he can be distracted from it and is interacting with us normally. I love that boy.