Nothing is what it seems

Scratch the surface of any conventional wisdom and, sure enough, it’ll turn out to be based on misapprehension, misinformation or even outright lies.

Often this doesn’t matter much; at least, not in a way that truly affects one’s life. When you’re about to become responsibility for the wellfare of another human-being, however, you find yourself rapidly developing an almost intimidating sense of responsibility and, with it, a sense of the absolute necessity of getting the big decisions right the first time.

That’s what led us to decide on a midwife-assisted home birth. Assuming there are no problems with the pregnancy and the labour, why would we have our baby delivered by a stranger in an unfamiliar setting, surrounded by unfamiliar germs, under stress and with a far increased chance of a caesarian section, an episiotomy or some other undesirable intervention?

That’s what led us to decide on cloth nappies instead of disposables. Why pollute the environment when it’s completely unneccesary and not much hassle to wash cloth nappies?

That’s what led us to decide on breastfeeding for at least the entire first year, with no formula milk whatsoever and no bottle-feeding if we can avoid it. The medical profession is only just beginning to understand the benefits of breastfeeding, only some of which are related to nutrition. Breastfeeding providers better bonding for mother and child and also reduces the chance of childhood obesity, it is now believed.

One by one, we’ve been researching all of the issues that will confront us during pregnancy and in the first months after Franbert’s birth. The latest and probably last one for the short term was the issue of innoculations. Everyone has their baby immunised, right, so what could the issue possibly be?

Well, it turns out that immunisation in early infancy is anything but known to be safe. There is evidence linking MMR immunisation to autism. For example, autistic children have been found with live measles virus in their cerebral spinal fluid.

It also turns out that vaccinations strengthen only the humoral component of the immune system, not the cellular. On the other hand, actually contracting the disease for which one is receiving immunisation does strengthen both components of the immune system. A discrepancy between the two can result in very bad problems.

As if that weren’t enough, immunisations wear off over time, exposing the individual to the virus in later life, when one is potentially much more vulnerable. Measles is a much more serious illness in adults, potentially resulting in testicular or ovarian problems. The risk of rubella (German measles) to pregnant women is already widely known.

As it happens, there is a wealth of enlightening information available from doctors and the mothers of children who were damaged by innoculations.

What does all of this mean for Franbert? Our current thinking is that we will give him or her no innoculations for the first two years of his or her life. After that, we’ll give them for Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis, plus Polio if we travel to a country where that’s still a genuine risk.

As usual, the US turns out to be even more overmedicated than the rest of the world. Can you believe that it’s standard practice in this country to inject babies against Hepatitis B during the first day of their life? How many one day old babies do you know who share drug needles or exchange bodily fluids during sex?

Then there’s the Erythromycin eye ointment against venereal disease contracted in the birth canal and germs found in hospital. Well, we’re not planning a stay in hospital and Sarah doesn’t have the clap, so we’re all set there, too.

Another thing we won’t be doing is the vitamin K injection, which prevents brain bleeding in 5 out of every 100,000 babies at the risk of increasing the chance of childhood leukaemia by 80%. You can safely transfer vitamin K to your baby by breastfeeding him or her.

With so much medication, is it any wonder so many children have learning disabilities and allergies these days? Medical science is only just beginning to understand the effects of many of its common and recommended practices. On the other hand, evolution and Mother Nature have been figuring out what’s best for the world for millions of years. I know who I trust more.

Nevertheless, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so after reading many articles on-line and talking to well-informed parents, it’s time to read a couple of books on the subject and make sure that we really know what we’re talking about.

Another good resource for those of you interested in this stuff is the National Vaccine Information Centre.