Newborn Vaccinations in Public Hospital

D

Dink

Registered User
Due to have my baby any day (I hope!) at the QMH. Wondering whether or not to accept the Hep B vaccine for her. Can you share your experiences of whether you gave your newborn this vaccination or not? If you did, were there any issues? (I'm thinking just of making baby feel ill/flu symptoms that kind of thing). If you didn't, what were your reasons, has it worked out well?

I don't want to give my baby any unecessary jabs, and I've also read all the scare stories about these vaccinations causing autism and worse.... On the other hand if it causes no harm and there is a good reason for it then I don't want to put her health at risk. Finding it very hard to make the best decision for baby's health so any thoughts welcome.

:thanks
 
actually I had my own pedi do the vaccinations - not aything about autism, etc. though, it was purely because I wanted all my vaccinations done by one set of doctors. i know it's free at the QMH and doing it private I had to pay extra. however I decided to do that anyway. i know they asked if I wanted the BCG, but i declined that since they do that on the arm and in private practice you can do it on the buttock (it leaves a permanent scaring so for my daughter, I didn't really want it on the arm for asthetic reasons).
 
i have had both of my kids do all of the vaccinations through the public system here without incident.

i, personally, think that with the cramped living conditions in hong kong and our proximity to china, i would rather have my kids vaccinated than not.

from what i understand, the autism link can be argued both ways, but most medical practitioners do not believe that there is any link.
 
BCG is for tuberculosis.
My daughter had Hep B vaccine at QMH straight after she was born. 1 in 10 people in HK are carriers so that made the decision easy.
 
Here is the UK immunisation schedule as our son was born in London, but we are American and therefore follow both schedules. We definitely got the Hep B jab. The only jab we have not gotten is the BCG as the US says it's better to get it later and it does leave a scar. Another problem is that of when we return to the US, our son will be annually tested for it and the results will of course come out positive.....we are still on the fence about this one....

http://www.immunisation.nhs.uk/Immunisation_schedule/Full_immunisation_schedule
 
My son was born 10th December at the Matilda and we did not get the HEP B vaccine which was offered. Instead we are waiting till he is 2 months before geting this vaccine. This is because we are following the Australian immunisation schedule and returning permanently to Australia at the end of March.

If we were staying permanently or longer in HK we would of got it.
 
I don`t know if it`s relevent or not, but I just had my baby but in Guangzhou. They automatically did the Hep B and also according to my papers (but in Chinese so cannot be positive) and my memory, they also did BCG. But I don`t see any mark on his arm, so I`m a bit confused about that. What kind of mark does it leave?
 
the bcg shot can take over 6 weeks to cause the red bump that can range from fairly small to quite large.

when it appears, it will look like there is pus inside. DO NOT DO ANYTHING. DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON TOP OF IT, NO OINTMENT, CREAM, BANDAGE ETC. you may cause an infection. you are to just leave it. it can get kind of yucky looking and it will last for 2-6 months.
 
Just curious - Hep B is sexually trasmitted. Even if 1 in 10 people in HK are carriers - how do you expect your child to end up with it? My understanding was that this is given when MOTHER is carrier. So I wonder about routine newborn vaccination... Any views on that?
 
Hep B is transmitted through all bodily fluids. Spitting is still quite common here, and as much as I wold love to say that everything my baby touches when we are out is as clean as it would be at home thats just not going to be the case, and trying to clean her hands every 30seconds just is not practical.

For me I felt it was more a case of better safe than sorry, at least this way I dont worry so much when she has her hands on anything she can.

But just my opinion and appreciate that the risks for baby may be quite low, but definitely higher than I wanted to risk.
 
carang said:
the bcg shot can take over 6 weeks to cause the red bump that can range from fairly small to quite large.

when it appears, it will look like there is pus inside. DO NOT DO ANYTHING. DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON TOP OF IT, NO OINTMENT, CREAM, BANDAGE ETC. you may cause an infection. you are to just leave it. it can get kind of yucky looking and it will last for 2-6 months.
Click to expand...


Sh$#!! I feel like such a bad mother then, because if I had known I too would have opted for getting it done on his bum in HK instead.... Sigh... Thanks for the heads up of what to expect when suddenly my son`s arm turns all yucky.
 
not to worry, neither of my kids had it on the butt. it cleared up and they have very small scars left from it.
 
My sons had both Hep B and BCG in the hospital.
No side effects.
Took a few weeks for any marks to appear on their arms after the BCG.
My 2 year old has no scar at all, and my 7 mth old's scar is very tiny and doesn't look like it will amount to much.
 
i think that reaction to the bcg depends on the child... some have more reaction than others. my kids had their "spot" for around 2-3 months, then it disappeared and they are left with a small white scar. nothing major.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top