Anyone else play musical beds at night? Last night, Libby ended up in our bed, then crowded Jared out so he went to her bed and I was in Piper's room rocking her for hours.
Why? Piper got those blasted MMR immunizations on Tuesday. She hasn't gotten sick yet (though I noticed a measles rash forming today), but is no longer sleeping through the night. On Wednesday, she had her worst ever tantrum...screaming (not crying) for nearly an hour, scooting on her back around the room, bumping her head into the wall, kicking her crib, and refusing to be touched or held. The same thing happened to Libby when she got the MMR shot: cranky as can be and suddenly quit sleeping through the night. Libby also got a measles rash and fever, so that certainly accounted for some of the sleep and mood problems.
I don't subscribe to the MMR-autism link, but from my own experience (a whopping sample size of 2), my kids do act like a different person after that shot. Libby was back to herself after about a month. I pray it does not take that long for Piper, especially because we are moving soon and I'd really like to start sleeping again.
But it does make me wonder about the parents of autistic children who say their kid woke up a different person. That may be entirely true and maybe some of the symptoms of MMR shot even look like some of the symptoms of autism, but how do you know where one ends and the other begins? Could a child have a bad reaction to the shot like mine did and during or after the recovery of that, happen to develop symptoms of autism? Without the two being related? I don't know. I do sympathize with those parents and no matter the scientific truth about a link or not, I believe their experiences are real. I obviously don't have the answers nor the mental clarity at the moment to say anything else on the matter. I mostly just wanted to record my experience with Piper so I can remember for future reference if I am lucky enough to have another kid and unlucky enough to go through MMR inferno again.
I sure hope Piper is back to herself again soon! It is terrible to see your child not acting their self and not knowing how or not being able to help them. When Keira was teething for 1 1/2 weeks she was so opposite of herself. I was afraid I'd never see her happy personality again. I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteThe advice I've heard on immunizations is to give them to your kids but push them back as long as possible. I wonder if delaying it makes any difference.
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