3rd Month Immunisation

Lina and I brought little Ellie for her 3rd month immunisation jab today. Her appointment was with Dr. Winston Ng, from Kid's Link at Choa Chu Kang Central, at 11am.

Her weight is now approx. 4.9kg and her height is approx. 57cm. Dr. Winston did an assessment on her and concluded that little Ellie is developing well and everything seems to be fine.

We chose to give her the 5-in-1 jab, plus the RotaVirus vaccine. The 5-in-1 jab is compulsory whereas the Rotavirus vaccine was optional. Dr. Winston said every child will get rotavirus, and its only a matter of time.

Rotavirus is a type of virus with 4 different strains. 4 different strains meaning each child will get infect at most 4 times, the first time being the worst. Second time slightly mild. Being infected the 3rd time is unlikely and rarely do children get infected the 4th time because by then, each child's antibodies would have been built up to quite a strong level.

Since every child is prone to getting RotaVirus, might as well be safe than sorry. As they say, prevention is better than cure. So we decided to give her the RotaVirus Vaccine too. It's an oral vaccine so its one less trauma for Ellie and one less heartache for Lina and me.

Dr. Winston fed Ellie the oral RotaVirus vaccine first as it is not as traumatic for her. She tasted the vaccine and swallowed it all without spitting any out. It would be a waste if she did. One dose of that RotaVirus vaccine costs SGD 95!

Then, came the jab. Ellie didn't know what's coming but Lina and I knew. We were both anxious. I was given the job of waving the rattle in front of Ellie to draw away her attention while Dr. Winston injected her with the vaccine. She felt the pain and she cried. I waved harder. I took another rattle and waved both rattles in front of her. The clinic assistant took two other toys and helped in rattling in front of Ellie. In less than 3 seconds, Ellie settled down. We are so proud of her. She started smiling and talking in her own language again. Only then did Lina and I heaved a sigh of relief.

We made the next appointment for her 4th month immunisation jab on the 11th August. We were given a small tin of Nan HA milk powder and some sample packs of cereals.

I asked Dr. Winston for a day's MC for Ellie so that I can convert today's leave into child sick leave. This is one of the benefits working in the government sector.

Total cost of today's jab and consultation: SGD216.30.

The 5-in-1 is SGD110.30 and the RotaVirus vaccine is SGD95.