Immunizations: Are They the Right Choice for Your Baby?

Sabrina Propper, a mom from Santa Clarita, California, was hesitant to give her son the chicken pox vaccine. At the time, this vaccine was new to the marketplace, and as new parents, Propper and her husband were extremely cautious of anything they introduced to their son. Ryan, who was 4, had a severe case of asthma, which made Propper more wary.

"About a year later, our doctor warned us that for our son, getting the chicken pox was much more dangerous for him," Propper says. "If he got the pox, the medications he took for asthma would make the pox worse and could cause severe breathing problems. Our doctors encouraged us to do it. We felt the benefits, for him in particular, outweighed our concerns."

Other parents may believe in vaccines but not the way they're administered, like Marissa Farrell of Natick, Massachusetts. She waited until her boys were 8 to 9 months old for their first vaccines, and then spread out the rest of their shots to one each six months. This is a slow process of dosage, she explains, as normally there are two to three shots per three months.

"I felt that their little bodies deserved time to absorb and assimilate each type of vaccine instead of bowling them over every few months," Farrell says. "We all have different ways of going about the vaccine process. Many feel that we as kids had the shots with no problem, and many feel they are just too risky to do at all. I felt that the middle of the road was the way to go, especially since my pediatrician was comfortable spreading out the pattern of shots."