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Community Corner

How Do You Handle Vaccines?

Taking your child to get a shot is something every mother goes through and we all have our own way of handling the process.

Being a mom involves many hats, including one that comes with a stethoscope. Not that all moms need to have the education of a doctor, but we are the ones handling the boo-boos when they happen, and we need to know what to do when fevers arise. We also need to know when to take our kids to the doctors and at what age they need certain shots.

Just yesterday I took my son for a well check-up and discovered he needed a Hepatitis A shot at age 13. I know he has received this shot before when he was a toddler so I wasn't too hesitant about it but I wasn't aware he was going to need a shot. I probably wouldn't have planned the visit before his drum lesson knowing he was going to get a shot in his arm. Should I have read up—and if so, where would I find the most accurate information? Parenting.com has a great article on all facets of vaccines and some great links to more articles. 

Learning all of the information on the vaccines can be troublesome even for moms who have gone through it many times. Each year they come up with more and more evidence for and against shots. And new shots get approved all the time—like the new HPV vaccine that is out. But all in all, we all know vaccines have helped and if our kids are going to go to school, then they have to get their shots.

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Now to make the process an even easier and more affordable one, many drug stores and the health centers offer vaccines to the public. There are 28 vaccine preventable diseases with most of those shots given to children under the age of two. Surprisingly enough though there are many adolescents and adults who are under-immunized and therefore not protecting themselves against diseases.

The question for Moms Talk isn't how do you feel about vaccines—because we all know they are important. This week's question is how do you handle the vaccine process for your child? Do you follow a schedule the doctor gave you for each child? Do you go to the drug store to get your shots?  Where do you read up on new vaccines as they are approved? Do you have tricks of the trade that you follow when taking a child for shots—like giving them a dose of ibuprofen before going?

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Give us your input on taking kids for vaccines and how you handle the process.

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