Dear Dr. Gardner,

Against my better judgment, (I was in tears) I allowed my pediatrician to bully me into giving my 17 month old daughter both flu shots (seasonal and swine), plus 5 others. This was 2 weeks ago. My husband is a physician and supportive of vaccinations, so it is hard for me to know what is best.

However, now, my baby is experiencing physical and behavioral changes that I cannot attribute to anything else. I’m so worried that I have done something to harm her. Is there anything I can do for her? Is it too late?

She has always been a pleasant baby. Now she has been having terrible angry fits and tantrums, hitting, screaming, giving me dirty looks, walking off and acting like she can’t hear me when I call her name–none of this was going on at the beginning of this month. Her bowel habits have also changed.

Is there anything you can recommend for such a young child to help get all those harmful toxins out of her system?

Thank you

You have just placed into words some of my concerns about vaccinations. I hope to be sensitive to your situation and that of many parents, and yet be forthright in my stand that there are alternatives to drugs and surgery.  Each of us  needs to have the information available so we can each choose what is right for our own body and those of our family, and not feel trapped or coerced into making decisions without full knowledge of our options.

My hope is that your daughter is experiencing a temporary inflammatory reaction of the meninges around the brain, causing irritability and behavior problems. If this is the case, supplements can be very helpful.

Because it is so hard to get helpful supplements into young children, this becomes challenging. Here are some suggestions—

1. Magnesium is a calming mineral, and high doses may settle down the brain reactivity. Take apart pure magnesium capsules and put the powder into yogurt or applesauce; she may be able to get them in that way. You can give any dose, because the intestinal tract cannot absorb it too fast to be a danger. When she starts to have diarrhea, then back off .

2. Be sure she is eating ‘real’ food, and not sugar and processed food. Also, keep her on supplements; unfortunately, they often have sugar, aspartame or Splenda in them, all of which are inflammatory, which you do not want.

3. Probiotics will help to build the normal intestinal flora that may have been disturbed with the immune system insult.

If the symptoms persist, you will certainly want to have her examined by a physician who is familiar with healthy options for her treatment. There are many things that can help the behavioral, immunologic, gastrointestinal and biochemical abnormalities in this group. It will require an alternative medicine physician who has an interest and expertise in these children.