BCG vaccine - now, later & side effects

I’m keen to hear about parents’ recent experiences of their newborn receiving the BCG vaccine, please - what the side effects were and whether anyone paid to get it a bit later on (and how much it cost).

I’m due to give birth in the next few weeks. I’ve been told that the BCG vaccine will be offered to our baby whilst we’re at the hospital; that it’ll be offered once and that’s it.

It’s no longer offered as a matter of course e.g. in school, but I believe you can pay for your child to have it at a later date.

I’m torn as to whether to say yes to baby having the BCG test so soon after birth. I’m not against vaccinating at all, more concerned about the idea of introducing something to their system so early on if theirs a risk they’ll develop a fever that might unsettle them and maybe impact on initiating breastfeeding.

Any feedback from your/your child’s experience would be gratefully received.

[ChrisWest1983]

Where I lived there were 2 hospitals I could give a birth. One gave BCG & VitK vaccines at birth.

The one I chose was the one which gave VitK oral drops and no BCG vaccine. As my background is from part of Europe where tuberculosis is quite active we were invited to have the vaccine done at 3m age. I declined it as I thought he'll be having too many vaccines in such short period of time. So I waited until he was much older (can't remember but probably around 8m as he was sitting unattended, he had sore arm, no other side effects, no scar- I don't have a scar either though had it done 35 years ago, all my siblings have scars)

Friend of mine gave birth in the other hospital and both her children had both vaccines done at birth. No real sideffects they had.

Personally me- I dont feel comfortable to vaccinate such little newborns, but it's up to the parents. If you live in UK and don't plan to travel to Tuberculosis affected countries any time soon- you can always wait and do it later (I think it cost around £70)

Do your research and follow your gut instinct!x

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Hi I have 3 kids aged 8 6 and 1 both the older two were given the BCG at birth due to where their dad was from and that we would be visiting an area where TB was so common. The vaccine was given at birth with the first and on day 2 with the second, neither had any real side effects. It was given in the arm and a small red bump appeared after a couple of days and disappeared after about two weeks, if I had been offered it with my third I would have done it again. I also agree that little ones have far too many injections but on thee other hand I would rather they were protected, as I feel having the diseases would be much worse. The change in rules regarding the BCG is partly due to the increase in cases of TB and the belief that children should be protected as young As possible. Hope this helps and good luck x

[roxannacar]

My 3.5 year old had it at 6w my 20month old had it within 3hours of birth as well as her vitamin k. They were both absolutely fine. The bcg does leave an posture looking mark for a few weeks but settles down eventually.

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Really helpful replies; thank you