To think this is classic PFB?

[SamanthaBrique]

Friend just posted this photo on Facebook, with the caveat that she's got 6 weeks to go and wouldn't be "taking any risks" with her baby girl.

Sounds like most people in this thread don't realise that the whooping cough vaccine needs regular boosters. Yes the picture is a bit wanky, but the sentiment is sound.
Our daughter was very small when she was born & the pediatrician suggested that we keep her social circle small during the first few weeks, and ensure all visitors were up to date on their vaccinations. Whooping cough is common, has regular outbreaks where I live (and in MANY other places) and would have killed her. Do any of you that are mocking this poor Mum actually know what Whooping cough sounds like in an adult?

5more I have honed in specifically on whooping cough precisely because I myself am expecting a baby within a few days and was advised to get vaccinated from 26 weeks - which I did - to offer protection to the baby within the first few weeks particularly. If I have missed the answer then I apologise, but has the op's friend chosen not to get vaccinated, or live outside the UK where advice is different? There's no need to get snippy about reading a full 250+ replies thread.

5

I know these things. I guess it's hard to reconcile mentally when you've only ever seen it turn out ok...

It's like somebody telling you about the dangers of car accidents, if you had seen quite a lot of car accidents but everybody involved had just gotten up after it... well, you would still know that car accidents are extremely dangerous. But you may still feel like they actually aren't all that bad....

Not the best analogy, but I hope it makes sense.

Yes, am aware of how serious whooping cough is and what it sounds like.

That doesn't change the fact that boosters are not available on the NHS.

Which is why the UK adult population will not have had a booster in the last 5 years, unless they have had a baby since 2012. So this FB notice is requiring all visitors to make a private medical appointment.

Because what she is asking for is not being in-date according to the NHS schedule, but further jabs in addition to that. So for example all children ages about 9 -14 will not be permitted to visit, as there is a 10 year gap between pre-school and teen booster. (Then no more unless pregnant).

I don't think it's PFB. Washing hands was a must for me when my babies were born, it was non-negotiable. As for the immunisations, maybe her baby does have health concerns that you aren't aware of, or maybe the mum is just being super cautious due to a rise in the numbers of cases of whooping cough and other illnesses.

OP doesn't sound like much of a friend. I'm sure the mum-to-be who posted that meme on Facebook really won't mind if OP doesn't visit her new baby if she thinks she's above washing her hands and enjoys mocking her on MN.

I think it's the wankiness of the FB post that is PFB. It's as if no-one else has ever had a baby before.

Routine hygiene is just normal. No need to make a PFB song and dance about it.

But jabs beyond schedule? Bizarre.

I bet your friend hasn't paid much attention to the wording on that picture and hasn't taken it all that seriously.

It's just a shareable meme. I bet she saw it, agreed with the gist that she wants visitors to be considerate re:germs and handwashing, assumes that most people are vaccinated and the ones that aren't would be active anti-vaxxers of which she probably doesn't know any, and she just clicked "share". She probably hasn't thought about it since.

I suspect she had no idea it was particularly controversial, capable of generating 11 pages of discussion. I doubt she is actually requiring her visitors to go and make private GP appointments for vaccination boosters for her child, and she is also not the person who wrote it so the phrasing of "get to meet baby" etc isn't really indicative of her beliefs.

Surely Baby will have protection from mother's antibodies. If she has had immunisations will she not pass protection on at least for the first few weeks. Sounds like there may be a problem identified.Biggest concern for me would be meningitis and everyone knows just how hard it is to spot early symptoms and hand washing won't eliminate transference. Amazed visitors not being asked to wear mask!

Having had a baby hospitalised at 2 weeks old with a viral infection, I don't think its bad advice and also something as simple as hand washing can help prevent lo's getting ill, it is also something which even adults need to be reminded of.

All babies and children get colds and viruses but for a baby under 3 months old it can be quite dangerous.

I'm assuming she's exclusively breastfeeding till 6 months then continuing to breastfeed for at least 2 years?

I would just respect it. When my daughter had ivf twins after 4 years of heartbreak l did ask visitors to wash their hands

Knowing a family who lost their precious 5 week old baby to whooping cough l am totally in agreement with her.

My friend got whooping cough when 7 months pregnant with twins and nearly went into labour because of the intensity of the coughs. It is a serious condition for a number of vulnerable populations.

That the NHS cannot stretch to booster vaccinations is a red herring. Other countries have these boosters on schedule like France and if, at the end of the day, you have to get it done privately, like my parents and ILs did, then the cost and inconvenience hardly compares to risking the life of a newborn.

If the NHS introduced adult boosters, then enquiring whether potential visitors (in person, for heaven's sake, not by PFB meme) are in date for vaccinations would be entirely reasonable.

But that isn't what's happening here. It's demanding something that can only take place in UK if you can access private medicine.

And why 5 yearly? When the interval during childhood when boosters are given is 10?

It's up to her really. Might seem a bit over protective to some but we don't know the journey she has been on to get there. Actually I don't think you can be too protective of a new born baby. Pfb is a horrible term. It insinuates unless you have more than one child you are somewhat lacking as a parent

I still don't understand why the op's friend hasn't had the whooping cough vaccine while pregnant, recommended and paid for on the NHS for pregnant women from 26 weeks! The debate about whooping cough is a moot point if the baby is protected from birth anyway by virtue that its mum has been vaccinated whilst pregnant.

Yes, it is quite ridiculous.

However, I think taking the piss out of someone you call a friend is pretty mean.

I really hope none of my friends would do that to me.

Little the vaccine in pregnancy provides some protection - it is still not fully known how long this lady's for and exactly what level of protection is passed on (though certainly somewhat less than the adult receiving the vaccine directly).

It doesn't make the point moot at all, though it would be foolhardy to not have the vaccine it does not provide 100% protection in all cases for the full period from birth to first baby vaccine for all newborns.

Links further up thread to research.

Hooping cough is also clearly not the only dangerous-to-newborns illness about -RSV is so common practically every preschooler gets it, but what is little more than a bad cold in a 3 year old can kill or cause lasting respiratory problems or lead to bronchiolitis in a baby in the first few weeks of life.

Lasts not lady's

plimsolls I imagine you are quite right.

She's just shared a meme without thinking about the fine details because she doesn't think anyone would analyse it in detail.

I'd assume she does have someone in mind whom she doesn't want to create conflict by talking to directly - some family friend or cousin or not close relative who has recently surprised her by mentioning they are anti vac and whose unvaccinated small kids always have their fingers up their noses has mentioned how the kids are looking forward to cuddles with the new baby perhaps

Just respect it OP.Every baby is precious and perfect .
Cat mothers are particularly over protective.
I hate seeing very,very new babies in heaving ,hot supermarkets,but in my day you had ten days in a maternity home and certainly no siblings or children visiting.

The children at dc's school who caught whooping cough didn't have it that badly but one of the kids baby brother aged 16 months had it terribly and he was fully vaccinated....I guess vaccinated children are spreading it too which is why I need someone to explain how herd immunity actually works?

healthvermont.gov/prevent/pertussis/facts.aspx

That's Canadian information mumontheedge but it might answer some of your questions. It's very likely that their parents or care givers infected both children rather than one vaccinated child infecting another. The hooping cough vaccine is not as effective as many other vaccines and wears off over time (which is why a lot of European countries include it with tetanus in regular 10 yearly boosters for adults, which sounds like a very sensible idea...)

The point is it works for the majority of kids.. Whooping cough is extremely contagious and if only a few kids caught it from a whole school then it proves it works... The 16 month old had not completed the vaccination programme which is why he got it worse... He wouldn't be fully vaccinated until his pre school boosters. Out of all
the vaccines though the whooping cough one is one of the least effective but very necessary due to the unpleasantness of the illness compared to the likes of measles.

Yes absolutely Booboo vaccinated kids are 8 times less likely to catch hooping cough at all, and fully vaccinated children who have had all their doses (not just the baby ones) are very unlikely to get it seriously or to spread it. Vaccinated children are far safer and less of a risk to others.

Hooping cough vaccine doesn't make avoiding newborn exposure to hooping cough a moot point as others have claimed though! Even though the mother will be vaccinated in pregnancy the newborn or 3, 4, 5, 6 week old is still at risk if in direct contact with someone with hooping cough (and some people don't know they have the early stages of it).