Side effects

As described above, various general reactions can occur during the body’s interaction with the vaccine. In most cases there is a slight to moderate rise in temperature, which can even lead to fever. This bodily reaction can be classified as harmless and merely shows that the immune system is responding to the vaccination.

The babies are then often very weak and their drinking behaviour can be restricted. Fever-reducing measures should be taken. As soon as the fever drops, the babies are already much better.

However, the fever can also trigger febrile convulsions in the baby. The vaccination is not a direct trigger of a seizure and therefore cannot cause epilepsy. Febrile convulsions are quite common in the age group from 6 months to 5 years of age and in 95% of the cases without further consequences.

Another general reaction of the body can be gastrointestinal complaints. In babies, this is often manifested in a lack of appetite or nausea by restricted drinking behaviour. In addition, vomiting and diarrhoea may occur.

These complaints are self-limiting, so they disappear quickly by themselves after a few days. If the baby does not take in enough fluid and also loses a lot of fluid due to diarrhoea, there is a risk of dehydration (desiccosis). In this case an infusion therapy in hospital is necessary.

Diarrhoea is one of the side effects of the vaccinations in the baby. Many parents want to spare their baby the pain and stress of a vaccination. Meanwhile there are different strategies to carry out the vaccination as gently as possible for the child.

The recommendations refer to certain injection techniques or even different diversionary tactics depending on the child’s age. From the 4th month of life on, even pain-relieving plasters can be used. With most vaccinations, breastfed babies can be calmed by simultaneous breastfeeding.

If the baby is no longer being breastfed, a sugar solution on the pacifier can be a good alternative. Despite all the strategies, many of the children cry out before, during and after the vaccination. Loud, shrill and apparently insatiable cries that persist for a long time after vaccination can also be considered a general reaction to the vaccination in babies.

This reaction is, however, on the whole rather rare.Babies are often weak and exhausted after a vaccination. Tiredness after a vaccination in babies is a non-specific and just as harmless reaction of the body. The immune system is working at full speed and this naturally makes the body tired and weak at first.

After a vaccination in the baby, nausea and vomiting can occur as unspecific general reactions. After a few days, however, the vomiting should disappear. Of course, various differential diagnoses must also be considered.

Prolonged vomiting with diarrhoea often indicates that the baby has caught a gastrointestinal virus and the timing of the vaccination is rather coincidental. If the baby only vomits or spits more frequently after meals, a constriction or obstruction of passage in the gastrointestinal tract may occur, especially in babies in the first weeks of life. Therefore, prolonged vomiting in babies always requires further clarification by the pediatrician.