Pregnant wife of NRL football star defends decision to not vaccinate kids

The wife of NRL player Bryce Cartwright has defended her parenting decision, despite health authorities warning against it.

The pregnant wife of NRL football star Bryce Cartwright has spoken out about her controversial decision not to vaccinate her children.

Shanelle Cartwright, 20 — who is currently 39 weeks pregnant with her second bub — shared her strong child-rearing beliefs in a recent Q&A on Instagram.

When asked whether 13-month-old son Koa had been immunised, Shanelle revealed she had no plans to give any of her kids the jabs.

“He’s not vaccinated — none of our babes will be,” she shared.

Later explaining the decision in more detail, she said she and her Gold Coast Titans player husband had based their decision after lots of research, citing Dr Suzanne Humphries books as a source, a prominent voice in the anti-vax community.

Shanelle Cartwright, the pregnant wife of NRL player Bryce Cartwright, has spoken out about their decision not to vaccinate her children.

“I remember he (Bryce) was so defensive when I first brought it up and got angry at me for even suggesting that we shouldn’t vaccinate,” Shanelle said.

“And then he read a package insert and a few pages of one of Dr Suzanne Humphries books and saw vaccines under a different light. And now we’re here.”

Her stand prompted questions from curious parents, with one asking if the decision to not have them vaccinated could affect the schools they can attend.

“They can go to school (so far) … if the law changes, I’ll home school before I vaccinate,” she said.

The expectant mum revealed son Koa is not vaccinated.

She also discussed the resources she and Bryce used when making their decision.

Both Shanelle and Bryce are “fully vaccinated” up until the end of high-school she said in another post, though she said they both have “allergies and auto-immune disorders”.

“We now obviously don’t vaccinate ourselves and are in the (slooooow) process of healing.”

Other questions from parents included how the pair keep Koa healthy without the vaccines and what form of birth control she uses since embracing a natural, low-tox lifestyle.

“We nourish and support his gut health with wholefoods and probiotics,” she said, adding she also recommends “exclusively breastfeeding for six months”.

A recent warning from the World Health Organisation (WHO) blamed the anti-vax movement on the recent measles outbreak.

Figures, released by the WHO this month, found Europe experienced a record number of people impacted by measles in 2018, with experts blaming anti-vaxxer messaging as a main driver behind the spike.

“WHO urges European countries to target their interventions to those places and groups where immunisation gaps persist,” the statement said.

Currently, unvaccinated children are banned from enrolling in preschool in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland under the ‘no jab, no play’ laws.

Health authorities have also publicly warned anti-vaxxers about the dangers of not protecting against disease.

Currently legislation stops babies in NSW, VIC and WA from attending preschool if they are not immunised.

The low-tox parents also choose not to use certain products on their kids, including nappies.

At a federal level, the Australian government has previously introduced laws that link immunisations to benefit payments available to families.

If a family does not fully immunise their children up to the age of 19, they will not be able to claim the full amount of family tax benefit or child care benefits, the Department of Human Services states.

In her revealing Instagram Q&A, Shanelle also said she would also not to use nappies when her newborn arrives.

“For this baby we are going to try no nappies and do elimination communication,” she wrote, explaining she would teach her bub to go outside on the grass.

News.com.au contacted Shanelle for comment.

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Originally published as Pregnant wife of NRL football star defends decision to not vaccinate kids