Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone,
I have a beautiful one year old I am really concerned about, in particular with his lack of imitation, babbling and excitement.
I get lulled into thinking he's ok because he is very capable physically, he is very dextrous, patient and determined. He loves toys, he just doesn't want to share the game with me. He doesn't ever show excitement that isn't about strong physical stimulation, or about recognising a familiar pattern. He does have good eye contact but the only time I feel he's 'there' behind his eyes is when I'm singing a song he recognises and the second I stop it switches off. He does make sounds but to express his state, he doesn't copy any sounds or gestures and I am terrified he won't ever learn to talk.
Worst of all I find it terribly hard work being with him because there's no back and forth which makes me feel I may as well not be there and I find it desperately hard not to just withdraw. I crowbar myself into his games, which he tolerates but does not exactly share, or I leave him to it. If I leave the room, he probably will too but not seemingly to find me, just to move on to another thing he likes to do - climb stairs, open the washer door andbite the mouldy part (sigh...)
I know any suggestion that vaccines are a cause will incense a lot of people who feel this is blaming. But this is not about you, it is my own observation of my own child and there was a definite change. This was not even the MMR, which he's not had as he's not quite one, but after his 4 month boosters, which we gave him at 6 months because he'd been ill. After the booster he stopped sleeping through the night, which he had from 4.5months. He also stopped babbling, although he had been a very chatty baby and people had commented on how like his mother he was. Although he had copied me poking out my tongue at only a few days old, he stopped imitating us completely.
Watching videos of him at 4-5 months is heartbreaking. He is 'chatting' all the time, waving his hands with excitement. It feels like he's turned from a typical, chatty baby into a busy, unnaturally calm robot. My heart is breaking. I don't want to wait and see, I need to know what this means. I need to know if there is anything I can do to bring him into the world of sociability.
Please let me know if any of this seems familiar and if it does, what is the best way to support him, in particular with learning to talk. Thank you.
You claim to have facts and proof to support your view but you don't share this evidence, instead you rely on the very vague idea of 'consensus'. There probably is consensus that most vaccines are safe for most people, but that is not the same as having proof that they are always safe for everyone (if it were, then massive damages would not have been awarded in the Italian and US courts).
Lack of evidence of harm is not the same as proof of safety. Scientists are as human as the rest of us, with differing opinions, biases and conflicting interests (when their funding comes from large pharmaceuticals, how can they be as neutral as we would hope). We should not expect everyone to agree whether they are lay people or scientists, on this or any other subject.
Mercury (one of the most toxic elements known to man) was injected into babies for decades without any formal studies being done to test it's safety. When it was eventually removed from the vaccination schedule in 2004 in the UK it was done very quietly indeed. Meanwhile neuro-developmental disorders have been rising at epidemic rates. I agree with you that there probably is a genetic component to all of these, including autism. But the rise is too fast to be down to genetics alone - we simply don't make babies fast enough to account for it. There are likely to be other contributing factors in the environment and I think a potential one of these is vaccinations.
You do not agree with me about this and that is absolutely fine. I have no interest in forcing you to agree with me and yet you seem completely unable to tolerate that I don't share your view on this subject. Your need to insist that my opinion is invalid and and that your opposing view is fact, is really quite irrational. We will just have to agree to disagree on this.