I was watching the news a few weeks ago and they were saying that a LOT of diseases are going to start coming back if people stop vaccinating their children. I'll take my chances and have Charlotte vaccinated, but I'm going to spread them out..there's no need for a 10lb child to have 4 shots at once as far as I'm concerned. She WILL be getting her MMR though

You are right, part of the rise we see now is due to better diagnosis. But as for your question, that is where it starts to get tricky and what leads to all the debate. Researchers have still not found THE cause for autism, and there may be more than one. A child could be predisposed due to genetic factors (family). But we also see autism in children where there is no family history- in those cases it is thought that something either in utero or in the environment led to biological changes which predisposed them- and as yet, we just have not been able to nail down what those things might be. It is also worthy of noting, in my professional opinion, that a number of the cases (in the US) where the court has granted payment to a family due to adverse effects from vaccines (the children developed autism, or an autism-like disorder, and the vaccine was proven to have caused the problem), the children were consider VERY gifted until they started having problems. I wonder and would be curious to see research done on this issue, is there some genetic factor that led these children to be exceptionally bright, but also predisposed them to having this negative reaction to vaccines? While the vaccines triggered the development of the disorder in those children, I again don't believe the vaccine is the only thing that could have/would have caused it. In a number of people with autism with whom I worked, their parents noted the sudden decline in functioning following a routine bout of the flu or a cold- in those cases being ill is what triggered the decline. It is almost impossible at this point to "prevent" the development of autism, as we truly do not know what causes it. The best we have to offer right now is early intervention- if you notice your child beginning to regress in functioning, get them seen as quickly as possible and enter them into an early intervention program which can minimize the decline some. Sorry if this is WAY more info than you wanted...I got chatty

You have a few very good points Ragirl! Especially about the bright+gifted children part. Did not know that.

Hm I posted a thread similar to this one. I am convinced that yes it can cause Autism in babies as well as epilepsy. My auntie tested for Autism when she was pregnant, and my little cousin was walking, interacting and actually talking to everybody until he had that shot. After that he stopped talking altogether and has never been the same since, he is now about 12 years old and still cannot interact properly with people without hitting them. He can't even talk to anybody. And here in winnipeg they don't do seperate shots they only do the one, so I'm going to go to another country if I have to to make sure my boy doesn't get that shot.

I recently read that there may actually be a link with head size and autism. That a child with a larger than average head, especially with proportion to his/her body may have a link.

I was given the mmr jab as a baby and I will be giving my child the mmr, especially in my school we've recently had an outbreak of measles AND mumps. I do think that we give tiny babies way too many vaccines though. Can their little bodies really handle it?

its NEVER been proven that the vacine is directly linked to autism! both my boys have had it and are fine!! its more damaging not to give it in my opinion.

Perhaps the safest thing is just to give those vaccines seperately.

Something Jenny McCarthy said on that was she put her son on a Candida diet. I highly recommend everyone checking that out. I did it for 3 months and it changed my life (I got pregnant and had to quit as it wasn't enough fruit for the baby, but I will be going back on it once my baby is born)

As fas as vaccines go, I will wait to see if it's a boy or girl and then I will do more research into them.

Lates research shows that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Autism often shows itself at a similar age as the shot is given and that's why people linked the two together.

I really really think it's much more dangerous not to get this vaccine.

Also another thought: I as a parent do not like the idea of these terrible diseases the MMR shot is for, spreading to unvaccinated children and perhaps mutating and becoming more dangerous for my children.

So please, be at least sure to research this thoroughly and not just read some propaganda webpages written by quacks.

No one mentions children with autism who have never been vaccinated... If MMR were to course, then how would you explain it for those children?