Well, I'm with you on this one too Maureen.

With regard to Tom Hale's last post, this situation was very special and
does not fit with the small for dates but apparently quite healthy baby
at home.  Not only are most small for dates babies not fragile, they are
rather resilient.

In the case you describe Tom, I cannot understand that it was that
necessary to give the mother of this very low birthweight baby a rubella
immunization.  Here she was, at least 13 years old and never had
rubella.  Surely a couple of months wait on this one wouldn't have been
so risky.

However, even given the possibility of the baby getting rubella, what
then?  Babies given MMR get sick from the M (for measles) not from the
R.  Rubella is a particularly mild disease, at any age, though adults
occasionally get arthritis after it. The only concern is if a pregnant
woman gets it during the first trimester.  A study several years ago
done in mothers who got rubella immediately after birth showed that
their breastfed babies became immune, without any evidence of illness.
True, they were full term, but all the same.  Mothers (and staff) bring
in all sorts of viruses to special care units.  Sorry I think the
neonatologists (all four of them) were wrong.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC