Regarding the “under 2” crowd: My step daughter going in for an induced delivery today after a very difficult pregnancy. Wondering if the mother’s influenza vaccination confers immunity to the newborn? Do the antibodies make it across?
I have a 2 year old, a 7 month old, and my wife cancelled my vasectomy appt last month ;)
Anyways, Mom's immunities will FLOOD the newborn for up to 6 weeks after birth. Her antiboties are a great way to keep the nasty bugs away from newborns. As soon as the baby is born, mom and baby gets stuck with I think, a DTaP and Hep B shot. Stay on the shot schedule for the first 2 years.....My son was born on the 9th, so every 3 months ON THE 9th, we took him in for his shots. Now that he's 2, his next shot schedule is SEP 9th, 2014.
Tell your step daughter to TRY her damn hardest to breastfeed. Breastfed babies are much more resiliant to the nasties. Unfortunately, both of our kids had to go to bottle supplement formula due to my wife's low calorie breast milk.