Common Baby Vaccinations

Your new baby will need several vaccinations in the months to come. Some parents are leery of vaccinations.  Anytime you give a child a shot there is a chance of an allergic reaction.  However, the risks of NOT having your baby vaccinated far out weight the dangers of vaccines.

Hepatitis Vaccines

Children need to be vaccinated against the Hepatitis Viruses A and B.  Hepatitis is a disease that will have a negative impact on the liver if contracted.  A baby can receive a vaccine as early as his first day of life.  Mothers can often opt to have the first of three shots for the Hepatitis B Vaccine while still in the hospital.  A baby should then have another shot before they are two months old and a third is generally given within the first year.    Hepatitis A shots are not given until 12 months of age or older.  Children will receive one shot and then another after about six months.  Both shots should be received before two years of age. 

• Polio

Thanks to the polio vaccine, Polio is no longer found in the US or even in the Western Hemisphere.  Several polio shots will be given throughout a child’s young life.  You can expect your baby to receive these vaccines at 2months and 4 months.  Another should be at a well baby appointment somewhere between 6 and 18 months of age.  A final dose will be given when a child is somewhere between 4 and 6 years of age. 

• Pneumococcal (PVC)

PVC is another vaccine for which your child will receive several shots in their first months of life.  This shot keeps children from getting pnuemococcal.  This helps protect against meningitis and pneumonia.  The first shot will be given at 2 months, with subsequent shots at 4 and 6 months old.  One final dose will be given when the child is between 12 and 15 months of age. 

 

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  Rotavirus

 The Rotavirus vaccine will prevent children from contracting  rotavirus.  That virus causes vomiting, diarrhea and fever.  This  vaccine is not in the form of a shot bur rather an oral vaccine  given at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. 

•  DTaP

 This vaccine will protect children from several different diseases  including pertussis which is whooping cough, tetanus and  diphtheria.  Injections are given at 2, 4 and 6 months old.  And then again between 12 and 15 moths.  Children will again receive a shot between 4 or 6 with a booster shot around 11 years old. 

• Hib

This vaccine can be given at 2, 4 and 6 months old with another given around 12 to 15 months.  The purpose of this vaccine is to protect children from Haemophilius influenza type B.
  MMR
  This vaccinates children so they do not get rubella,   the mumps or the measles.  This is first given at 12   to 15 months of age and usually again around 4 to 6   years of age.

•   Varicella

  This is the chicken pox vaccine, first givem around 12   to 15 months and later at a few years of age.