Mommy Warriors

Every month I look forward to getting my Cookie magazine in the mail and this month did not disappoint with Jenny McCarthy being featured. I have been following her journey of raising a child with Autism for some time now and I have alot of respect for the awareness she has brought to the epidemic. Vaccines can cause some very heated debates and what you choose is best for your child is a very personal family decision. Like Jenny I personally am not anti-vaccines what I am against is using the "recommended" schedule for all children. I would also like to see our vaccines free of toxins. Jenny could not have said it better in this comment for Cookie magazine, "Vaccines are just not one size fits all. If you gave everyone in the world penicillin, there would be some adverse effects for some people, and possibly deaths. She goes on to say about seeing a connection between a series of ear infections, a severe case of eczema, and a hepatitis-B booster shot "Looking back, I'd say, 'God, if a kid is having more than seven ear infections in a year and he's got eczema, there are some issues here—his immune system is obviously under attack, and we need to put him in the sensitive category. Let's just delay some of his shots,' " she says. "Not eliminate, delay." Her son is fortunately recovering from symptoms of Autism and thankfully he has not had anymore seizures after completely eliminating gluten and casein from his diet and going through intense therapy.

I encourage any parent to do their own research and use your gut feeling about what is safe for your child. You know your child best. Dr. Sears The Vaccine Book is a great unbiased resource. One of my personal favorite vaccine guides is What Your Doctors May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccination's. If you are raising a child who has Autism Generation Rescue is a great site where you can find information on the diet and treatments Jenny used for her son. No matter where you stand on this issue I think we can all agree that more research needs to be done for this fastest growing developmental disability. More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than cancer, diabetes, Downs Syndrome and AIDS combined yet it only receives a small amount of funding for research, 5% to be specific. I think because of the fear of our child becoming the 1 in 150 children diagnosed, or 1 in 96 for boys, and lack of research alot of us are finding ourselves also becoming "Mommy Warriors" like Jenny.