PoppetUK

Hi all,

I am hoping someone might have done this before and might be able to advise.

We are expecting our 3rd child her in Perth at the end of April. If all goes to plan (previous emergency c-sections) I will be having another c-section at 38+5 weeks. We have flights booked booked for exactly 7 weeks later to return to the UK depending on if hubbies work gets confirmed. Wouldn't travel at this time but it is due to costs being covered (cancellation fees are low we made sure of that. The dates are pretty much set due to the type of work.

Here's the thing. The baby obviously needs the jabs at 8 weeks. I spoke to the nurse today and she said not to worry because the UK schedule for that age is now more in line with the Australian one and I could get the jabs over there (this does seem to be the case). I know that the timing is not ideal but has anyone done this? Where did you go to get it done. I am no longer registered at a doctors in the UK. All I can think of is going to one of those british airways travel clinics.

Thanks in advance.

Poppet

Any experience with this sort of thing would be appreciated.

chocciecake

my baby is 7 months old and never had any jabs...or a cold, for that matter, so i think you will be fine if you are a little late for yours...i wouldn't worry!

Satch_Boogie

I would delay the jabs until you are back in Australia. Our twins were premature and my wife put them on a delayed vaccination schedule. They have had all of their jabs just more spaced out and not staring until they were 4 months old.

PoppetUK

Pregnant brain hadn't thought of just not bothering or delaying the schedule. duhhhhhh!

My main concern is the whopping cough at the moment. I've heard its on the increase big time in WA so wanted to get baby covered asap which won't be until the 3 lots of vaccines. I guess though we are only talking two weeks. Hopefully no horrible bugs on the plane.

chocciecake

yeah, apparently everyone is falling over left right and centre of measles in london too...!
although neither myself, or any other mother i know, has met anyone that HAS or has had the measles recently...(although the clinics are being offered big bonuses for a certain percentage uptake, so says my midwife with a wink)

Sunshine7

Remember that 8 weeks is the MINIMUM age that babies should get their vaccinations, so it's not set in stone. I think some countries delay vaccinating until a wee bit older. Another line of thought (though I haven't actually seen any studies on this) is that the immune system is much more able to cope with the vaccines after 17 weeks of age.

Of course, nothing is certain in life, but probably you shouldn't worry too much about it and just get them when you get back. At least then you'll be at home if your LO gets a bit poorly after the jabs.

Sunshine7

Oh, doesn't that really annoy you when the media terrifies people like that? Now I don't doubt that there is measles on the go, but I personally think that if somebody became really ill, or even died from it, then it would be all over the papers and on the TV. I think the Government would delight in using it as a tool to frighten parents into vaccination.

Just like the flu this year in Britain - the KILLER FLU sweeping the country. Does anybody actually know somebody who has died from it? I don't actually know anybody who has had the true flu this year, though of course there must be many. My poor old dad was terrified reading all the headlines about how the flu was going to get him, but equally terrified of having the flu jab - last year it honestly nearly killed him, he was in bed for two weeks and his whole arm turned black after the needle. Yet, the doctor still tried to persuade him to get the vaccination. Once he decided against it I got him a good supply of vitamin D (which we all take) and none of us has has so much as a sniffle all winter - touching wood here. What happened to the killer flu? Has it died away? I haven't read anything about it for ages.

Oh, and now I've started, what happened to the Bird Flu which was going to creep up and bite us all in the bum? The media had everyone terrified.

On the other hand, we have had cases of TB in Britain over the last few years and yet not much is said about it because they don't vaccinate against it, same with Scarlet Fever. Now that they are thinking of adding the Chickenpox vaccine in with the MMR, the next thing we will be hearing is that Chickenpox is a killer.

Ok, rant over.

moneypenny20

If it were me I'd leave any vaccinations until I got back. On the off chance of bub feeling poorly after them it wouldn't make much of a holiday for the rest of you. Also if bub is poorly when you're due to come back a) the airline may be worried and so refuse to allow the child to fly and b) the pressurisation of the cabin and the whole flight would be horrible for him/her (and therefore you).

Rob12paws

Apparently, the killer flu that was going to hit the UK last year was the killer flu that swept Australia the previous year...no-one knew a lot about that either.....

Vaccine has just finished its preparation stages last I heard.

They do still vaccinate against TB but only high risk people. A lady I was chatting to on a forum last week who has just moved to the UK was told her young baby had to be vaccinated against TB because her husband is Mexican...

Scarlet fever - a vaccine was created in Melbourne in the 1950s, but it never made it onto the schedule.

And you're a bit behind - they have already started to market the CP vax on the premise that CP is a killer...

lapin_windstar

a) no, killer flu is still here: usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa011303a.htm www.flukills.org.au/

b) TB is vaccinated against with the BCG, isn't it, hence why it almost expired in the UK? We were all lined up in (London) school and given it. Don't know if that's changed now.

Sunshine7

I don't have any doubt that the flu is very real, and that it can cause severe problems is some susceptible people, but my point was that the media have terrified a lot of people into thinking that they are in grave danger if they don't have the flu jab, which just isn't true. I was also asking if anybody knows of anyone who has died from flu this year.

The BCG vaccine isn't given routinely in the UK, it's not part of the vaccination schedule.