MMR and Autism

(picture:PopPop and Grandma Woods)

So Joshie had his one year check up and vaccination. For the longest time I contemplated forgoing or nixing the MMR shot. With all the hype regarding it's possible link to Autism, of course I was afraid. But, I had to put aside the media hype and do my own research in addition to discussing it in depth with his pediatrician. Well, I found that here in New Jersey the incidence of Autism is higher than any other state. We all know the air quality in Jersey isn't the greatest and cancer incidence is also high in this area. But I found that diagnosis is very tedious and also involves many other factors despite the MMR shot. Joshua's doc starts early (at around 6 months) with her testing for Autism. Joshua passes with every visit with flying colors. "He is alert and bright" in her own words "and his attention towards me proves he's not autisitc". Autistic children tend to be in their own world, will not acknowledge a stranger and if they do will tend to focus on the mouth rather than the eyes when someone speaks (a cardinal sign). Check out the links for more symptoms and great info. As a registered nurse in L&D we adhere to many of the NICHD standards so I trust their info greatly. So my baby is doing wonderful and I thank the Lord above for that. He also tolerated the vaccination with not even a hint of temperature fluctuation ( I expected a mild fever and irritability). So there, as a mother you do what's best for your kid.

On the other side, myself, I've been awful. I've been battling this eye infection/conjunctivitis since his birthday. Used anitbiotic drops for a week and it's not gone yet. It seems to be aggitated by my work environment. It's very dry and the air vents probably haven't been cleaned in years (yes people, this is a hospital okay!). I really need to make an appointment with an internal medicine doc to get a full physical and all that good stuff. So, baby good, Mama bad. And oh yeah, Master Woods is starting to stand without holding on to anything for a long period of time. He even gets bold and will rock and dance but not one step yet.