Elsa-Watch: MMR

I'm a great believer in vaccination, so poor Elsa is signed up to have every jib-jab under the sun including the new meningitis inoculation when that's available. But even I had a moment of doubt about the MMR, after all the kerfuffle about autism etc. And there were far too many websites giving out less than balanced information on the subject.

Still, better the jab than a case of measles, no doubt about it, so off she went two weeks ago, and she was a right little trooper. I cried more than her.

So the injection went incredibly smoothly. The side-effects did not.

Ten days later she woke up screaming. Actually, that isn't so unusual for Elsa, being prone to bad dreams, but when I touched her she was as hot as a radiator. I could have dried socks on her. And, all over her body but mostly on her back and under her arms, was the classic measles rash.

We tried to get paracetamol into her but her throat must have been sore, because she just couldn't seem to swallow it. We couldn't pick her up because the glands under her arms were enlarged and painful. The light bothered her and her lower back hurt. Sleep was not an option unless she was being held upright with one hand pressed to her head. What a fun set of symptoms for an adult, let alone a baby who can't tell you what's wrong or understand what she needs to do to make it better.

Five days, numerous tepid sponge baths and two emergency runs to the doctor later, the rash went, the temperature dropped, and she's almost (as long as we keep dosing her with Calpol) back to normal.

Of course, all this is still better than having measles. But a little bit of warning wouldn't have gone astray. The thing that really bugs about being a parent is not being given all the information and then being blamed for making the wrong decision if something goes awry.

I don't need this extra guilt - I got enough of it when my maternal hormones arrived. Mothers are the scapegoats of the world, you know. Still, she's fine now, and presently obsessed with ducks. Quack quack.