This news strikes a cord with me.  Since before my kids were born I have been researching vaccines and trying to decide how I would proceed with my boys.  While on bed rest, I was struck by two books, Dr. Sears’ The Vaccine Book and Dr. Stephanie Cave’s What your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations.  They both go through each vaccine and the disease they help prevent and give you a ton of information on the history of vaccines and the adjuvants and additives in them.   I highly recommend both books.  How you vaccinate is definitely an individual choice, but I thought this would be a good time to post some alternative vaccination schedules as listed in these two books.   I have added in RED how they differ from the CDC schedule and some of my comments.

Dr. Bob Sears’ Selective Vaccination Schedule

• birth: no vaccines
  • The CDC would have you give the HEP B Vaccination in the hospital and follow up with two more boosters before the child is one and a half.  Dr. Sears suggests you revisit this vaccine at 12 years of age or when the child is sexually active.  This disease is only communicable sexually or by blood.)
• 2 months: DTaP, Rotavirus
  
  • My comments:  as of the news today, you would omit Rotavirus unless you got RotaTeq which is not manufactured by Glaxo.  If on the CDC schedule you would also be doing HIB, Polio (IPV), and PCV, also known as Prevnar at the 2 month mark.  Dr. Sears spreads these out over the next month, but omits the Polio Vaccine entirely.
• 3 months PCV, HIB
  • So, this is how Dr. Sears recommends you spread the vaccinations out. If on CDC schedule, you would have no vaccinations at 3 months, you would have gotten them all together at 2 months.  Also, it is worth noting that he has completely omitted taking the polio vaccine.  My comments:  if traveling to Africa or Asia I would consider the polio vaccine as it is still circulation in some countries there.  Also the Prevnar vaccine is very new and I think it’s wise to keep an eye on reactions and other issues that may come up with such a new product. And please note, Prevnar contains Aluminum phosphate.
• 4 months DTaP, Rotavirus
  • so, the CDC would have you do PCV, HIB, and Polio now as well.  Dr. Sears has spread these out to next month.
• 5 months PCV, HIB
  • again, note that Dr. Sears has ommited the Polio Vaccine altogether.
• 6 months DTaP, Rotavirus
  • so, the CDC would recommend you do PCV and HIB now, Dr. Sears spreads these out to the next month)
• 7 months PCV, HIB
• 12 month – no shots
  • at some point between 12-15 months the CDC adds the following shots: another Hep B shot (this would be the third in the series while Dr. Sears recommends waiting until the child is sexually active), another polio shot (this would be the third polio shot).  The CDC recommends the MMR shot while Dr. Sears’ opinion on this is that Measles, Mumps and Rubella are routine childhood illnesses that are very rarely serious and have become increasingly rare in general.  The CDC also recommends a Varicella shot, and the first of two Hep A shots.  The CDC also would have you add influenza shots yearly starting at this age (My comment: flu vaccines often contain mercury.  You must ask for one without.
• 15 months PCV, HIB
  • the CDC would have you do these as well as the ones I mentioned above.
• 5 years Tetanus booster
• 10 years Blood tests (called “titer” tests) for measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and Hep A immunity. If a titer is positive, showing your child acquired immunity through natural exposure, he may not need the shot, but consider vaccinating if not immune.
• Also consider a 3-dose polio series if travel to Africa or Asia is a possibility.
• 12 years Hep B (3 doses)

Dr. Stephanie Cave’s Vaccination schedule

Before you vaccinate, Dr. Cave recommends the following:

1.  Ask the doctor to check vaccine titers to check for immunity before giving
boosters.

2. If you have to vaccinate, give the following:

– Vitamin A (cod liver oil) 1 tbsp for three days before and on the day
of the shot.

– Vitamin C 100 mg twice daily for infants and 300mg twice daily for
toddlers for three days before and on the day of the shot.

Her schedule is more progressive than Dr. Sears.  I have added in red how she differs from him.

• Birth – Hepatitis B only if mom is Hepatitis B Positive; otherwise, no vaccine shot.
• 4 months – Hib, IPV (Polio) 
  
  • Dr. Cave does not advocate a 2 month start of vaccines.  Her first shot is at 4 months, and then she recommends spreading them out, similar to Dr. Sears.  Unlike Dr. Sears, she recommends the polio vaccine and does the Hib vaccine now.  She skips the Rotavirus and pushes Dtap to 5 months.  Furthermore, she leaves PCV (Prevnar) for when the child is two years old.
• 5 months – DTaP
• 6 months – Hib, IPV (Polio)
• 7 months – DTaP
• 8 months – Hib
• 9 months – DTaP
• 15 months – Measles
  • My comments:  please note, this is a single vaccination for Measles.  It is not MMR.  You can get single doses of vaccines instead of getting them all together in one shot.  Dr. Cave asked  American Medicine (a wholesale pharmaceutical company) to carry these immunizations separately.  The owners of American Medicine (225-924-0247) are Mark and Bridgette Schexnayder who are also pharmacists.  To order your own separate doses of these vaccines you will need the following faxed to 225-924-0249
    • Doctor’s prescription with the child’s name
    • Copy of Doctor’s license

• 17 months – Hiv, IPV
• 18 months – DTaP
• 24 months – Prevnar (1 dose only)
• 27 months – Rubella
  • again, please note this is the separate does of just Rubella.  You will have to go through American Medical to get this instead of the combined MMR vaccine.
• 30 months – Mumps
• 4 years – Varicella (if not immune already)
• 4 – 5 years – Hepatitis B series
• 4 -5 years – DTaP, IPV boosters
• 4 -5 years – Test titers for MMR and do not give unless not immune. Immunize only for vaccines found to be negative.

Also, everything at the online store, The Soft Landing,  is BPA, PVC and Phthalate free.

I then promised myself anything I bought had to be non toxic.  I wanted to confirm it was free of Bisphenol-A (BPA), PVC, lead, phthalates and fire retardants.   So, I’ve been trying to find out what other companies I can trust — here are the preliminary results:

• Plan Toys ***** Five stars.  They are all Bisphenol-A, PVC, lead, and phthalates free.
• Tiny Love  ***** Five stars.  They are all Bisphenol-A, PVC, lead, and phthalates free.
• Green Toys ***** Five stars.  They are all Bisphenol-A, PVC, lead, and phthalates free
• Wonderworld **** Four stars.  Wonderworld toys are pvc free, lead free and fire retardant free, unclear as to whether they are also BPA free
• Haba Toys ***** Three stars.  They say they have tested their products and the are “safe” and meet the requirements on Bisphenol-A, PVC, lead, and phthalates.  They do not say they are “free” of these substances.
• Manhattan Toy Company * One Star, pending.  They have, according to their website, “transitioned to non- phthalate PVC”.  This is not enough information and I have an email to Manhattan Toy Company for more.
• LEGO **** Four Stars. PVC, lead, and phthalates free.  I only gave four stars as I am trying to find out if they are BPA free.
• Edushape **** Four Stars. PVC, lead, and phthalates free.  I only gave four stars as I am trying to find out if they are BPA free.

I will keep updating this list as I find more toys that fit these criteria.

As soon as I got home, I began to do research.

It’s a bit more complicated that the packaging implies.  First, and most worrisome, there have been no long term studies on the use of silicone as food containers or as bakeware for food.  And, the truth of the matter is, Silicon (without the “e”) is natural. That’s what much of the earth’s crust is made of, but “Silicone” is a man-made polymer.  This polymer may be made with silcon mixed with oxygen, carbon, hydrogen or other chemical agents.

The good news is, this polymer seams to be highly stable and inert even at high heat.  These baby bottles contain no BPAs or Phylates which is good and gives them a clear advantage over most plastics.  Some environmental gurus have even given silicone the green light.  One of my favorites, Debra Lynn Dadd did her research and concludes:

“Though this is a completely manmade product, it is completely inert and will not transfer to foods.”

However, in some of the comments there is disagreement.  For this reason, I have concluded that the jury is still out on silicone.  Consequently, this baby bottle will be returned to the baby store for either glass or stainless.  My concern comes from the possibility of leaching.  We all remember the silicone breast implant scare, where women had a host of health problems including fibromyalgia, from their implants.  When the implants were removed, many women found relief.  Subsequently, the ill health effects have been disputed (largely by studies funded by the manufacturer) but consider this from an article on the Environmental Working Group’s website written by a mother who had silicone breast implants and breast fed her child.

Toxins in Breastmilk: Don’t Add Silicone

“Silicone breast implants eventually leak. No one definitely knows the impact on breast milk. Many children breastfed on breasts with implants display no harmful effects, but some do and the effects can be very bad indeed. There’s a whole community of families dealing with the effects of implants on their kids’ health.”

The below is from an engineer who commented on Debra Lynn Daddy’s site:

The safety of Silicone Rubber cookware has not in my mind been proven. I am an engineer that uses silicone rubber to make parts cast from silicone rubber compounds and the material’s flexibility is in part do to the silicone oil present in the material’s structure. The oily nature of the silicone rubber’s surface testifies to the oils presence. It can be washed off only with very strong detergents, but continues to leach out to the surface over time with use. This is the same silicone oil that has been determined to be dangerous when used in silicone breast implants. I can’t help but wonder and worry about the long term effects of trace amounts of silicone oil mixing with the foods one bakes or cooks in this bake ware.

So, I’m not comfortable with silicone as the baby bottle of choice for my guys.  I think more studies and time have to pass to know the true safety of this very new product — I don’t want to use my kids as experiments.

For more information on our thoughts on baby bottles see this post.

I found Katrina’s patterns on the web and tried out her soaker shorts. I love them! I hope they contain blowouts and fit my little guys.

Here is what it will look like using two contrasting fabrics:

finished soakers

step 1. first, print out and then cut out the soaker pattern for the desired size. show here is the newborn size.

soaker pattern for newborn

step 2. place the pattern on the fold of the fabric. make sure the fold is going with the stretch of your fabric (from left to right as shown here). You want the cuffs and waistband to stretch and the body of the soaker to stretch width-wise.

place pattern on fold of fabri

fabric is now read to sew. see below.  please note, you will need one more cuff — not pictured here.

fabric now ready to sew

step 3. if you want to add an appliqué, now is the time to do it.  Here is the stars pattern I created on my computer but you can do it yourself and make anything you want.

adding applique

place the star on the right side of the fabric and sew along the edge of the star with your zig zag stitch. when you get to corners, keep your needle in the down position, turn your fabric and keep going. it looks best when you stay on the inside of the color of fabric that is the same as your thread

star embellishment

step 4. next put the wrong sides of the soaker together and sew along each side with your straight stitch.

sewing the soaker sides

step 5. take the cuff that you cut out and fold in half lengthwise. the right side of the fabric should be out so that when you flip the soaker out, you have the right side of the fabric showing on the leg cuffs.

insert cuff in soaker

Then, place on the inside of the hole for the legs on the soaker. (see above).

stretch soaker as you sew

the cuff will be smaller in diameter than the cut out on the soaker for the leg. this is so you can have the cuff act as elastic around the legs. when you sew, simply pull and stretch the cuff so you can make it to the end with enough fabric on the inside.

sewing the cuff

finish the cuff.

step 6. do the same thing with the waistband.  make sure it’s stretched out (i used pins on both my cuff and the waistband to make sure it would fit all the way around).  also, make sure it’s wrong side out (see below)

sewing waistband

stretch waistband while sewing

step 7.  admire your work.

finished soaker

- First, some versions of this shot have mercury in it. If Kerry decides to take the shot, she will choose a mercury-free version (BayRho and RhoGAM make one).

- Next, the shot is a human blood product. There are always risks of disease associated with this even though it is highly filtered. There are also other side effects such as swelling, inflammation, hives and anaphylactic shock. Furthermore, some studies have indicated that having the injection may affect the immune response of both mother and baby to other foreign substances entering the blood stream.

- Thirdly, after doing some research, the Anti-D immunoglobulin shot is only effective within 72 hours of fetal and maternal blood mixing. Therefore, they recommend you get booster shots throughout your pregnancy. An article on Natural Birth and Baby Care describes it like this:

“The Anti-D shot is only effective within 72 hours of maternal-fetal blood mixing. So even if the injection is given at 28 weeks, it will only help if maternal and fetal blood has mixed 72 hours or less before the injection. The Rhogam manufacturer states that an injection every 12 weeks will maintain a ‘passive immunity,” meaning that theoretically a shot every twelve weeks will protect you in the event of trauma causing your and your baby’s blood to mix. They still recommend a new shot at the time of blood mixing if greater than 15mL of exposure has occurred.”

So, the question is when, if, and how often to take the shot?

We learned that you can take a blood test to see if you are in fact producing the anti-bodies against your baby. This seems like a good first step. Also, it seems like if she were to fall or get into an accident, this would precipitate taking the shot because the chances that maternal and fetal blood have mixed are higher. In general, fetal and maternal blood don’t mix, again, a reason why the risks are relatively low with complications with the first child.

We also learned that you can have your baby tested at birth to see if he or she is RH positive (if the baby is RH negative Kerry won’t have a problem). If the baby is RH positive, then Kerry can take the shot at that time. (This needs to be done within 72 hours after birth)

Also of note, according to the March of Dimes almost all babies born with Rh disease will be cured, but it is still a very serious condition requiring a lot of intensive care — so, again, you have to weigh the pros and cons to receiving this shot. For me, I think I would do the blood testing at every step with the hope of avoiding pre-natal shots. I would consider taking the shot after my child was born if her blood was opposite of mine. But Kerry has to decided this for herself and it is definitely a difficult decision.

weego glass bottles

You have probably heard about the problems in plastics, especially Bisephenol A, in baby bottles and toys. If you want to know why it’s bad, take a look at this new study that reaffirms an older study.

Plastic baby bottles are not good for your baby.

They leach the chemical bisphenol A which has been found to causes birth defects, low sperm count, hyperactivity,
early puberty, obesity, small testes size, and enlarged prostates in animals. In short, bisphenol A is a xeno-estrogon, which literally means “foreign or strange estrogen”.

The new study by Consumer Advocate group, Environment California shows that when heated, five of the most popular brands of polycarbonate — the clear, shatterproof plastic used in baby bottles — leached bisphenol A at
levels that have been found to cause harm in laboratory animals.

But more importantly, no one should be drinking out of plastic. The leaching chemicals aren’t good for you either. Plus, plastic is petroleum product, and dependence on petroleum isn’t good for the environment (or peace.) Plus, bottling water WASTES water and burns gas to deliver all the bottles to the stores and to your door. Just say no to drinking out of plastic. The best thing to do is to use flitered water that you store in glass containers (i bought some nice ones at Ikea). Or, you can used the stainless steel Kleen Kanteen as well

cod liver oil

Fish oil is high in natural and non-toxic vitamin A, D as well as Essential Fatty Acids, Omega 3s. It’s great for all pregnancy and pre-conception and post birth — just make sure you get a high quality fish oil that is free of Mercury. Check the botte, but it should say “filtered” and tell you where the fish is from.

The great reasons to take fish oil are as follows:

1. The EFA’s are great for fertility — for women and men! Your body needs them because our hormones come from fats and cholesterol which gets made, utlimately into testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen — so EFA’s are the building blocks for fertility.

2. Studies show that Babies whose mother’s had Fish Oil while pregnant had bigger brain size and higher hand-eye coordination.

3. lower blood pressure in the offspring of mother’s who take Fish Oil.

4. the EFA essential fatty acids improve brain function and help stave off autism, dyslexia, and ADD.

5. Fish Oil can help with post par tum depression and it’s good for breastfeeding moms to keep giving your baby the Fish Oil (for brain function, motor skills, et.), so keep going even after you give birth!!

— so, grandma wasn’t crazy after all when she’d make you take a spoonful of Cod Liver Oil when you’d come to visit!

Unfortunately these xenoestrogens are everywhere — they’re in:

1. insecticides and weed killers:

• dieldrin (insecticide)
• DDT (insecticide)
• hexachlorocyclohexane (insecticide)
• endosulfan (insecticide)
• atrazine (weedkiller)

2. body lotions

• parabens

3.  and sunscreen

• 4-Methylbenzylidine camphor (4-MBC) )

4.  food preservatives (AVOID PRESERVED FOOD, nothing good can come of it)

• hydroxy-anisole butyrate and bisphenol-A (food preservation)

5.  our food supply (polluted fish) and industrial supplies:

• Polychlorinated biphenyls,(PCB)s (lubricants, adhesives, paints)

6.  detergents

7.  p-nonylphenol

7.  plastics

• bisphenol-A

8.  nail polish

• phthalates

They are literally everywhere.  The good news is, your body can metabolize excess estrogen.  So, the goal is:

1.  Stop surrounding and ingesting yourself with xeno-estrogens.  Avoid all chemicals in the above list and all commercially raised meet and dairy.

2.  Cleanse the body of excess estrogens.  Make sure your bowels are working properly;  eat plenty of fiber or do a bowel cleanse, the bowels are a primary way we get rid of anything out of our body!  Also good to do is a kidney cleanse (Dr. Shulze has a good one) or support your kidneys using the herbs of your choice — kidneys play a major role in cleaning up our body.   Another good supplement is Magnesium, which is an all purpose detoxifier (it can cause diarrhea so be careful!).  And B6 and Milk Thistle help the liver break down excess estrogen in the body. For more information, read this article to see how another supplement DIM (a supplement) may help metabolize excess estrogen.  And remember, before starting any supplements, please consult your health care provider.  All things are not good for all people.