Expecting your first child can be an exciting but stressful time. There’s always unwanted advice from family members and well-meaning friends. There are so many products on the market for new parents that it can be hard to figure out which ones you really need. Then there’s the anti-vaxxers.
One mom-to-be who is not an anti-vaxxer has made a decision that is disrupting her family and adding unnecessary stress and guilt to her life. She has decided that she doesn’t want her unvaccinated family members to meet her baby until her baby is 6 months old.
This does not sound at all unreasonable to us. Newborn babies don’t get all of their vaccines right away, and if they get sick, it can be very serious. We can definitely understand why parents would not want to take those risks.
Unfortunately, this pregnant mom’s family is not thinking rationally and is trying to guilt-trip her into letting them see her baby right away. In an attempt to regain her sanity and make sure she’s not actually the crazy one, she turned to Reddit to ask for advice.
The comments are very in favor of her decision, and some even suggest waiting longer than 6 months to let her unvaccinated family members meet her baby. Some vaccines aren’t given until babies are a year old, so at 6 months, the child could still be at risk.
One comment offered the mom-to-be a lot of support:
“My kids have never met their un-vaxxed cousins, and mine are older and have the full series of childhood vaccines.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases we know of, and it can be deadly to babies. It’s present in the US with recent outbreaks. Unvaccinated kids hang out with families with similar beliefs and outbreaks can happen at any time.
It would be absolutely irresponsible to expose an infant too young to be vaccinated to this.
Imagine explaining it to your daughter: “I’m sorry about your neurological damage, but the chance was only 1% and I wanted my mom to stop texting me.”
Another person commented the following:
“Your parents made choices for you when you were a baby, now you are making choices for your baby. Your baby will not be scared of them after meeting at 6 months. That is crazy. I live far away from my nieces and nephews, and they were never scared of me. I would only see them a few times in their first year.
Please do not let them bully you into changing your mind. Your husband and yourself are putting your baby first.”
Would you let unvaccinated relatives meet your newborn baby? How long do you think this mom-to-be should wait before letting her baby meet her anti-vaxxer family members?