Something more to consider...

Well Jamie didn't have any Rubella, she had some kind of bacteria infection so she got penicillin and hopefully she'll be better in a few days. IF I'm managing to give her the nasty tasting medicine without too much problems! I can say it is very hard to prevent her from spitting it out even though I'm doing my best to make her swallow it. It worked the first two days but now...ahhh..

 After updating my knowledge about Rubella for a few days and the fact that we got an appointment for 18 mts check up including vaccination, I started more seriously to think about another big question when it comes to vaccinations in general. Is it really necessary to give vaccine to all kids for some of the diseases that nowadays are relatively harmless and in this part of the world more or less extinct  like Rubella,Measles and Mumps (Mässling, Röda Hund, Påssjuka)?

After reading some articles and studies about these vaccines and diseases with confirmed or suspected complications caused by them,  I feel that I want to upgrade my knowledge in this field!  I'll  read and try to find more significant facts in this area and also link to them here later.... I know the main purpose of vaccinate for Rubella is to protect women of getting infected during pregnancy . This because of the proven and severe risk for developmental dysfunctions in babies caused by Rubella during the early stages of fetus development. So the recommendations are that all girls should be vaccinated before 12 years old (if they haven't had the infection or vaccine), so that their future babies will be protected in case of a Rubella outbreak. That is of course important to consider and justifies that vaccination, but I've also read that this vaccine may cause unexpected  brain dysfunctions, which can lead to difficulties to concentrate and hyperactivity etc.... Somewhere I also read that at least giving Tylenol ( Alvedon, paracetamol) close to/ after the vaccination are believed ( and some correlation are proven to) actually cause Autism or create an inflammation in the brain that can lead to some form of Autism. This is pretty new studies and I will definately link to them here and read more about it when I've got more time!

( I'm aware of that I probably shouldn't even write about this without linkin' to the sources, but right now I'll do it anyway...)

 I've also read and given a lot of thoughts about the fact that so many children nowadays have some kind of disorders, dysfunctions, mental dysfunctions.. Why and how is it possible for these "problems" to increase so unbelievable fast in such a short time frame?? One thing, for sure, is that the evolution of the human brain due to natural mutation, has not caused this over a few decades...So something must somehow be causing this dramatically change in our society... Can it really be so that we for decades have been giving what we thought was relatively harmless pain reliever pills and vaccines, but infact they might cause more problems than we can imagine?? I do not have any answers, but it is interesting and important so I'm sure I'll get back to this subject sooner or later!! Anyway back to the vaccinations...If we consider the massive medical improvements when it comes to technology, treatments, methods for diagnosis etc the last 25 years, Do we continue to give this because it was determined many decades ago? Do we vaccinate to protect from diseases that are basically extinct because of an "overhanging" risk of the mortality they use to have? (Even though nowadays they can be cured relatively easy) or more in general about how we protect our society for new pandemics?  Is it mostly because " we" are so scared of seeing our children sick? And yes, it does hurt to see a child sick, and of course as a parent you want to do all you can to prevent your children from suffering. But for a few days of minor aches and sickness it might be worth the future immunity they aquire instead of giving them a vaccine that possibly can cause them lifelong problems...  I realize what I write here unpurposingly might be heading in one direction,  but I do feel that I dont know enough in the field to have a clear opinion... So, so far I'm just writing down my thoughts and I just want to bring this issue to the surface and open up for discusion...that's just me... I am well aware of the benefits of vaccinations and I'm not an all natural, no medicine, refuse to be apart of the advanced technology hater...   I've always just wanted to dig a little deeper, tried to see the whole picture and questionize some things just to become more informed...I guess that's makes me a thinking human beeing, right?

Please comment and give me more relevant links about this interesting and important issue!

Something more fun...Last week we had a few beautiful and relaxing afternoons down at the beach in Hörvik. My mom's old house (where we live now) is just 100 m from the ocean, so we are really trying to get the most out of the sandy beach while we are here and the season is right! Here are some pictures...

Children, dots and vaccine...

It is not so easy to diagnos what kind of dots and spots a little child might have...

Jamie has a relatively sensitive skin, and it is pretty common that she has some kind of dots or a small rash that quickly disappear, so usually I don't analyse so much when I see some small things. But yesterday afternoon she all of a sudden got multiple dots all over her arms, some on the back and legs and a few in her face very rapidly. Since they came so fast I concidered some kind of food allergy because she ate melon in the car on the way home from preschool. But she has had melon very many times before and never reacted, they arent so allergenic either and it didnt look like a nettle rash caused by food. She also grabbed some nectarines when we stopped for groceries, but the same with them, she ate plenty last summer...  My second thought was of course Chicken pox ( Vattkoppor) because they came so quick ( I might have missed the vague and early dots somewhere on her body) and looked like they are suppose to do. I just kept waiting for them to develop vesicles and increase in numbers overnight. BUT this morning still nothing like that. And I know one significant sign of Chicken Pox is that you'll see all phases of the rash at the same time...and they are also supposed to develop these watery blisters pretty quick. So far nothing more happend except they decreased in numbers and got more pale...She had low fever 4-5 days ago, runny nose and some wet cough, but she has been active, eating and playing as usual...

Right now I'm thinking our little one might actually have Rubella ( Röda Hund). After looking at pictures and reading some more about this condition...maybe... if it is, this disease is usually harmless, and I guess it is good if she has had it to become immune. The vaccination for Rubella isn't by standards given until they are 18 months old, so we haven't been called to do that yet. The vaccine is included in the swedish vaccination program for all children, but as a parent you can choose not to give it...I'll write more about my thoughts of this vaccination later...I guess time will tell within a day or so if we need to be concerned or not...