Reactions to 8 week immunisations

[Btrouble]

Hi 

My twins had their 8 week immunisations yesterday and ever since have been really hard to settle and scream constantly. My little boy kept  trembling (he's had the gitters ever since he has born but these were more frequent and stronger than those) hubby was dealing with him and didn't say anything until they'd eased :@ 

My little girl was really unsettled and screamed constantly for 5 hrs straight before finally falling asleep for a couple of hours but when she woke she was drenched in vomit as was all of the bedding and she started screaming again. Managed to give her the second dose of paracetamol and she took just under half of her feed before eventually going back to sleep. 

So anyway I'm just wondering how other babies have reacted. Is this normal? I'm so concerned I've rang 111 and waiting for a call back (will post in comments) but it's got me worried and I'm now scared about them having the other immunisations, they seem to have reacted so badly.

[roxannacar]

The first jab now contains meningitis b vaccine which is notorious for being up temperature. The nurse had given me a leaflet about it and giving the 3 doses of calpol. My Lo had a temp for 2 days so gave much more than 3 doses of calpol (never more than 4 doses in a day). She also had loose stools (she had rotavirus vaccine too). It settled within a few days. On the 3rd vaccine we had men b again but was a lot better this time round! 2nd vaccine (men c not b) was absolutely fine. 

It's not nice to get the vaccines done but if the other option is to risk getting men b then will suffer a few days rather than have my die or loose fingers and limbs from such a horrible disease! My opinion of course. 

[Tlove in reply to roxannacar]

Thanks for sharing this experience. I'm all for vaccines but didn't realise there could be such a reaction so it's good to be prepared and know what to expect. I must add calpol to my list of necessary items for babies - when can you start giving calpol?

[roxannacar in reply to Tlove]

With vaccines it depends if the men b is in it or not. They've only added it  September in the uk.  You can give it at two months for the vaccines but regularly from 3 months. Lol I'm a bit crazy I had a bottle before they were born. Also depending on the country you might have suppositories rather than liquid as I found out when I was in Germany two weeks ago! 

[Tlove in reply to roxannacar]

Oh god, good to know about the suppositories! I'll be packing the liquid stuff everywhere we go so!!

Just remembered the menB is only coming into effect here for babies born from Oct 2016, so we won't be getting it right away.

[Btrouble in reply to Tlove]

I wish I'd had an idea that something like this was a possibility, would have been a lot less worry. The only thing they told us about was the possibility of a temperature as a result of the men b vaccine after they'd administered it, so with 2 screaming babies we then had to go get the calpol :@ 

[Btrouble in reply to roxannacar]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. We got sent to an emergency doctor not long after my post and after a thorough examination was told they are fine and the unsettled crying behaviour is a common side effect as well as the sickness so feel much better. I'm all for vaccines but given their reactions was thinking about getting the twins done on different days so could focus on soothing one at a time rather than attempting to juggle them whilst trying to keep on top of the vomited mess (and not run out of clothes, bedding or muslin). The nurse gave us the leaflet about the temperature and they had the calpol, but they didn't have a temp and there was no warning about the irritability or vomit! Had this been given wouldn't have spent the night in a worrying panic.

It's good to know that the rest of the vaccines go a little more smoothly in your experience, hopefully ours will be the same.

[mrsamy]

It depends. My Lo didn't just had a raised temperature with the 1st two. Gave paracetamol immeduately after the jabs. With this last one, had a fever, fits, unsettled n crying , wouldn't feed. No stools n very little pee....could probably have worn one nappy the whole day (if i wasn't worried about diaper rash). This time I gave the Calpol just before the jabs. Don't know if they're related...but.....

They really should tell parents not just about the fever. I suppose in a way they do when they give you the leaflets......but who has time to read the small print. (till you call 111 and they tell you it's the side effects and you think hmmm, i better read this to see what else is coming)

Still, like Roxanna said, better the side effects than some horrible illnesses.

[Btrouble in reply to mrsamy]

Thanks for sharing. My LOs seem to be back to their usual selves now but still no poo yet! I'm rearranging the appointment for their 12week ones to get them done in the morning as recommended by the emergency doctor so at least if his shaking comes on again I can get him back to the gp and not have another night of worry.

We never had any leaflets apart from the men b and use of infant paracetamol. I just think it's disgusting that they give them the immunisations but don't inform us parents of what the side effects might be and what to potentially expect from the LOs in the following hours, even the emergency Dr we saw at 3:30am was surprised that we had been given no information and couldn't understand why they would give them the immunisations so late in the day (4-5pm).

[mrsamy in reply to Btrouble]

I think they do allday appointments; at least they do in my surgery. My initial one was for 5.40pm though I asked for that time. I then changed it to morning after seeing on TV that immunisations work better in the mornings.

Doing your LO's at different days is better like you said...help you cope better. Hope they poop soon.

Ps the leaflets I got was the one that comes in the medicine packets. Maybe you could ask for those next time

[roxannacar in reply to mrsamy]

The immunisations work better in the morning... That's not quite true, saw it on the bbc and it specifically was about the flu vaccine, and only was better for two types not the third. So you really can't extrapolate information like that for all vaccines! Apart from that it was a study with adults.... Babies at 2 months don't have proper circadian rhythms yet...