I may receive commissions from purchases made through links in this article. Full Disclosure
The Parents’ Concise Guide To Childhood Vaccinations is an easy to read book about vaccinations that gives BOTH sides and is impartial!
I’m going to stick my neck out a bit and approach a very hot topic; vaccines.
I am not even going to tell you what we believe, it doesn’t matter if we are a pro, delayed, select, or non-vaccinating family.
However, the vaccine topic is an important subject to cover both in the crunchy world and even the non-crunchy world.
As I’ve mentioned before, part of being crunchy involves researching and not just going with the flow because it’s what everyone is doing.
If you decide to go with the flow after research then fine but at least you then know why and what exactly you are doing.
All that preface, to bring us to my book review. The Parent’s Concise Guide To Childhood Vaccinations by Lauren Feder is just one of many books on vaccines but this book is unique as Lauren Feder is trained in both standard and holistic medicine, giving her a more unbias point of view.
The Parents’ Concise Guide To Childhood Vaccinations – Book Review
In the Parent’s Concise Guide to Childhood Vaccinations, Dr. Feder gives both pro and anti-vaccination points of view.
Dr. Feder covers information on the diseases themselves, the vaccines for the diseases, treatments of diseases, different vaccine options, side effects of vaccines and side effects of diseases.
While Feder does mention her personal conclusion on vaccines, she still gives very unbias information.
The book is very small only 144 pages. It obviously does not cover every single scrap of information on vaccines but it does give the basic answers. It is a great starting book and one that feels well-rounded.
“If you have chosen to vaccinate your children, she offers both practical medical and natural remedies to avoid possible side effects.
If you have chosen not to vaccinate your children, she offers natural medicines to strengthen your child’s immune system, along with tips on how to deal with legal exemptions, school requirements, and medical insurances.
If you’re just not sure what to do, she offers a balanced and easy-to-understand discussion of the issues, explaining the truth about the effectiveness of vaccinations, side effects, and much more.”
-Taken from The Parents’ Concise Guide To Childhood Vaccinations
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to research the vaccines that they are getting their children. Whether you are pro or anti vaccination, I believe it’s your job to research both sides before making a final decision.
Thanks for posting about this book. Would you say it's similar to Dr. Sears' The Vaccine Book? Or different enough to read it alongside the other? We have The Vaccine Book and felt it was a good one that didn't take sides but gave us good information to make our own decisions. Sounds similar to this one, based on what you say about it. We first went middle-of-the-road and gave vaccines but on a different schedule, very spaced out and some at times other than what is typically recommended, but we stopped at one point b/c of allergic reactions we were trying to figure out (not to shots, but we weren't giving any shots while the child was sick or something unknown was going on), and now I'm trying to figure out what to do from this point on (well, that was a year ago…). Just curious if this is good to read along with the other or if it's fairly similar. (Of course, I love hearing what others actually do and their thoughts on the subject, so I would love to know more about what you decided to do/not do and why, etc – but I do understand your thoughts on sharing…) 🙂 Thanks!
It is very similar to Dr. Sears book. However, I feel like this one is more up to date (although maybe I just read an older copy of Dr. Sears) I've read both books and Feder's is definitely me preferred. Not really sure why though. It might be boring to read at the same time as Dr. Sears or it might be helpful to read them together especially if you do them vaccine by vaccine (so read about Sear's Polio, next to Feder's opinion of Polio) then you could see how they line up compared to each other.
Someday I might post on what my vaccine decision is…. but today is not that day. I already get enough flack from people I know in real life about the other crunchy stuff I do…not sure if I'm ready for the vaccine topic. Someday though…
Thanks! I might look into reading this, esp if the library happens to have it on hand, and compare the two.
I did post on my blog about vaccines a while back – while we were still on-track with the alt vax schedule. I can't remember when exactly, but I know it was before Aiden was a year – I know that b/c we discovered his egg allergy at his 1st bday party and never went through w/ the flu shot b/c of that (he could have gotten it – at the hospital w/ multiple visits that would have take hours b/c they do testing and lots of waiting in between small doses, etc…so not worth it, and at this point, none of us get the shot and don't see the need to do so). My feelings have changed even more about adding more things into his system, esp after dealing with so many allergies and things with him. It's just made us more crunchy! 😉
Anyway, I probably didn't get flack about our schedule when I did post b/c we were doing just an alt schedule at the time, my readership was much smaller, AND most of my friends that were reading and posting felt similarly (or were even more selective). If I posted now, I'm sure I would get some different responses! But I totally, totally understand your hesitation in posting about your personal thoughts on the matter. I don't think I would go there myself at this time…
Thanks for the info! I'll have to look into the book. 🙂