That's kinda funny that they messed that up.  Makes you wonder who's writing the stories and who their sources are.  They had a story on fox news about how you are not suppose to give children Tylenol after vaccines. 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567464,00.html

The Fox News article has essentially the same content as the article Parents published a few months ago.  That's why I was so shocked to read about giving Tylenol in advance in this month's issue of American Baby.

It's very interesting findings BTW.  I'm glad you posted the link.  Hopefully more moms on this site will see it.  :)

Quoting -PB:

That's kinda funny that they messed that up.  Makes you wonder who's writing the stories and who their sources are.  They had a story on fox news about how you are not suppose to give children Tylenol after vaccines. 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567464,00.html

 

My pedis always told me to give Tylenol before but often I forgot. Both of my kiddos didn't have reactions at all though.

Agree with PB, you are not suppose to give any form of fever reducer when giving vaccines, the child can actually die or get extremely sick.. Do it the old fashion way, keep the body warm with a blanket and keep the head cold with a small towel. Always works for me..

Here's the actual article.

Tylenol May Interfere With the Effect of Vaccines on Babies

Sunday , October 18, 2009

Giving babies Tylenol to prevent fever when they get childhood vaccinations may backfire and make the shots a little less effective, surprising new research suggests.

It is the first major study to tie reduced immunity to the use of fever-lowering medicines. Although the effect was small and the vast majority of kids still got enough protection from vaccines, the results make "a compelling case" against routinely giving Tylenol right after vaccination, say doctors from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They wrote an editorial accompanying the study, published in Friday's issue of the British medical journal, Lancet.

The study only looked at preventive use of Tylenol — not whether it is OK to use after a fever develops.

Tylenol or its generic twin, acetaminophen, is widely recommended as a painkiller for babies. Many parents give it right before or after a shot to prevent fever and fussiness, and some doctors recommend this. The CDC's vaccine advisory panel says it is a reasonable thing to do for children at high risk of seizures, which can be triggered by fevers.

However, fever after a vaccine isn't necessarily bad — it's a natural part of the body's response. Curbing fever, especially the first time a baby gets a vaccine, also seems to curb the immune response and the amount of protective antibodies that are made, the new study found.

It was led by military and government scientists in the Czech Republic and was done at 10 medical centers in that Eastern European country. It involved 459 healthy infants, 9 to 16 weeks old, who were getting vaccines against polio, pneumonia, meningitis, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis and other childhood diseases.

Half were given three doses of Calpol, or paracetamol — a Tylenol-like brand sold in Europe — during the first day after vaccination. The others were given nothing besides the vaccines.

Babies given the painkiller were significantly less likely to develop a fever — 42 percent versus 66 percent of the others — and very few in either group developed a high one.

However, lower rates of protective antibody levels from several vaccines were seen in the group given the drug. Levels remained significantly lower in this group after booster vaccines, given when the babies were 12 to 15 months old.

Next, the researchers looked at 10 other vaccine studies and found some supporting evidence that using Tylenol to prevent fevers at the time of vaccination may curb immune system response rates. The same may not be true of using the drug to treat fevers after they develop.

The research was sponsored by Belgium-based GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, which makes all the vaccines used in the study. Some authors have financial ties to the company, including owning stock in it, and Glaxo had a role in reporting the results.

Even with the fever-lowering drugs, more than 90 percent of children in the Czech study achieved protection from the various vaccines after the booster dose, so the effect of lower levels of antibodies on any individual might be small, Dr. Robert Chen and two other CDC doctors wrote in an editorial.

Yet the consistency of findings from other studies makes "a compelling case against" routine use of fever-lowering medicines during immunization, they write.

It's not known if Tylenol or other painkillers might reduce vaccine response in adults, but they are less likely to develop a fever after vaccination or to be so bothered by it, said Dr. John Treanor, a vaccine specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who had no role in the study.

Tylenol is the only member of the family of over-the-counter pain relievers that is not a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID.

"There's been speculation for a long time that the use of NSAIDs might have an effect" on antibody production after vaccination, but this is far from proved, Treanor said.

Given that so few children develop high fevers after vaccines, skipping the meds unless fever develops "may be the way to go," he said.

———

On the Net:

Lancet: http://www.lancet.com

I always give wesley tylenol about 30 minutes before we go to the doctor for his shots. My pedi recommended it and I've never heard it could interfere with the vaccines. I know it helps him feel better. I'll continue to do it until my pedi tells me otherwise.

I think it's okay to use Tylenol or Motrin as long as you wait until after the fever develops.  At least that was my take on the article.  If the fever is already present, then that means the body's immune response has already kicked in and started producing antibodies.  The problem is if the pain reliever/fever reducer is given too soon, then it suppresses the natural immune response, which defeats the purpose of why the vaccination was administered in the first place.  Unfortunately Motrin is an NSAID, and per the article "There's been speculation for a long time that the use of NSAIDs might have an effect on antibody production after vaccination" so it will have the same effect as Tylenol.  It's just that they did the tests on NSAIDs previously & they are only just now getting around to testing acetaminophen.

Personally, I wish I had this information sooner.  Per the advice of a previous caregiver, whose advice I trusted because she was also an LPN, I gave my kids Tylenol prior to some of their vaccinations.  It would not have been necessary at all because neither of my children had severe reactions to the shots.  And it seems that by giving them the Tylenol I was actually doing them more harm than good.  Again, I wish I had known this sooner.  That's why I figured I would share the article with others.  Of course you should do what you think is right as a parent.  I know it's not commonplace to question the advice of a pediatrician.  But you have to remember that they are human too & may not be up to speed on all the latest research either.  It never hurts to ask them a question about something.

Quoting Katt709:

I always give wesley tylenol about 30 minutes before we go to the doctor for his shots. My pedi recommended it and I've never heard it could interfere with the vaccines. I know it helps him feel better. I'll continue to do it until my pedi tells me otherwise.

Our pediatrician told me not to give my son any fever reducer before he gets for the same reasons so I have not done it at all.

Hahaha. Yeah you see things like that all the time. It like when they say a certain food will give you cancer and then a month later they are telling you to eat it cause it will make you healthier.