Two mothers in the iVillage community suspect that MMR might have contributed to their children's special needs. Many others are worried by the gathering groundswell of concern about the combined jab. More and more families are forced to go private in order to get the single vaccines they feel are safer.

Oddly, there were no posts wholeheartedly in favour of MMR - though there is still no hard evidence that the combined jab can damage children, and problems are statistically far less likely than complications of measles itself

shaz2001: My baby will not be having the MMR. I don't mind him having the jabs separately, but not together.

This is because my older two boys are both autistic. I don't think the MMR affected Thomas, the elder one, but David was a very advanced baby. He crawled at five months, was starting to talk, and was perfectly normal. When he had the MMR, he just seemed to stop talking and doing all the things he had learnt.

He is now seven and he goes to a special school. We don't think he will ever be able to leave home, get married or even have a job. Luckily, my youngest is fine but I won't risk another of my children going through the things I see David going through each day.

I think the government should let children who are at greater risk (ie, those with siblings who have autism) have the injections separately.

They have to do something soon because to stop an outbreak you need 95 per cent cover, and in some parts of the country it's only 75 per cent.

When you hear people say that you need to spread the single injections out over a period of weeks or months, that is not true - there is no reason why they could not be given over a period of say one week.

emmankatie: This is such a difficult choice to make; I personally am very worried. I already had suspicions about the link between MMR and Katie's problems, just because she was a happy, alert baby and already had about ten words by the time she had MMR. I sat watching the lady with twin boys on Panorama and was horrified because she was telling my story, even down to her boys getting a rash every time they were ill.

I'm not a scientist, just a mum with an awful gut feeling about this. My advice would be to seek out the single vaccine.

One other thing, as well - the doctor who has voiced his concerns about this had no vested interests; in fact I believe he lost his job over it. I wonder if the same can be said for the research paid for by drug companies disproving a link.

brit2001: I found some of the evidence on Panorama about a connection between MMR, autism and bowel disease quite worrying. Also, for those of you with autistic children, what did your GPs and health visitors advise you to do regarding the MMR?

For example, if you already have a child with autism, or autism in the family, are they still advising you to have the pre-school booster injections?

My own daughter displays some autistic traits. She didn't have the initial MMR at 13 months - mother's instinct at the time told me not to have it done. I eventually took her in November at the age of four. She has been OK since this.

bouncyskippy: I wish I had had my children injected with the separate vaccines rather than the triple jab, now more information has been available as to what is in the MMR itself.

I don't think the jab necessarily made my kids worse, but I will never know for sure, as they were so sensitive and had other issues.

I wish I could have had them done separately. Tom was two before he had his MMR, as it is cultured on eggs and he is allergic to eggs.

A few hours after the injection he had a rigor and was admitted to hospital for a check up (a rigor is basically where his body shuts down - a frightening experience.)

The professionals assured me that the rigor was not due to the injection, it was just a coincidence (yeah, right!), but I was not convinced. Tom's school doctor advised us not to have his booster MMR due to his allergies, so neither of mine have had their booster. It's a very emotive issue for parents and all I can suggest is that they read everything they can find on the subject before they make a decision. I wish all the information was known to me all those years ago.

My sister's little boy is due to have his MMR and she has asked my advice. I advised her to seek to pay privately for the single jabs.

tollysmum: Both my older children had MMR with no problems at all - but I cannot help feeling uneasy about the growing controversy. This has a lot to do with feelings of dread about successive government's handling of the BSE crisis.Tolly caught rubella (diagnosed by my doctor) about three weeks ago, so at that point I decided not to go for MMR - as he would already be immune to rubella or German measles, which is the R bit. My GP was apologetic, and understood my position, but was completely unable to help.

Rubella is a trivial illness for a baby or young child - it is only serious for a woman in early pregnancy, when it can damage the foetus. We all had rubella jabs at school at 12 - why can't they continue with this sensible programme?

I asked a friend who is a GP what she thought, and she told me she had had her son injected with the single measles vaccine - but she wasn't sure why. She advised me where to go to have the same thing done for Tolly - so I am taking him for a measles injection when he is over 13 months. Mumps will follow a bit later - I feel that measles is the priority.

louise212001: I had booked George in for his NHS jab next week but what with more fears and lack of information, I've decided on single jabs for him. I'm going to ring my local clinic tomorrow and try and book him in there.

eyebaglil: This is a real 'no-win' situation.

My daughter has had both rounds of MMR, my son has only had one - although he was due the second dose some months ago.

The reason he hasn't had the second dose is because I lost trust in my doctor. He told me that I could expect my son to have a slight fever and possibly a mild rash after the jab (just as my daughter had).

My son had the highest temperature he has ever had, before or since, and turned scarlet all over. If my doctor had explained that any of this was normal, and why, I'd probably still be with that practice. Instead he told me that 'educated mothers do tend to over-react'! Well, forget the snub to my 'uneducated' neighbours, explain why it's an over-reaction, you patronising chauvinist wotsit!

Add to that my days explaining why 'there is no evidence that BSE is transferable to humans' (just one reason why I'm no longer working for Her Majesty), and you've got a fine level of distrust.

I do, however, believe in immunisation - I have a friend who had polio as a child, how could I not believe in immunisation?

What I don't understand is why it has to be MMR or nothing. Why not allow separate jabs? It would build up the herd immunity (more slowly than MMR, admittedly, but more quickly than no immunisation at all). Is it money? What's the truth behind the allegations that doctors get paid for every MMR jab they administer? I don't know - it's a genuine question.

So, I'm torn. I'm pro-immunisation, but anti-MMR. And the obvious way out - separate immunisations - is not on offer. What's a caring, but over-educated mother to do?

P.S. I had measles as a child, with no apparent side-effects - though it may be the reason why Mr Magoo here is the only one in the family who doesn't have 20/20 vision. Who doesn't want a perfect child? But, myopia or autism? The choice isn't too hard, if you have to risk something...

tanelily: The day after my eldest had her MMR, she turned into a complete baggage, and has been ever since. My new baby will not be having the MMR - I will take her to France to have it separately, even if it means completely hammering the plastic.

Science may well dictate that it's safe, but then science also says that there's theoretically no way a bumblebee can fly - but we all know it does.

I know that my eldest changed after hers. Coincidence? Maybe, but I will not take another risk, just in case it isn't.

I am disgusted that parents have no choice in this issue, especially as a huge question mark hangs over its safety. Other drugs have been withdrawn after merest hints about their safety - why then are they continuing to refuse us a choice?

Not only that, but the refusal to offer separate vaccines is simply having the effect of re-introducing diseases, as parents don't want to take the risk.

Chat with other iVillagers about MMR and immunisation on the Children's Health message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions taking place on the board right now: