Paranoid my DS9wks has whooping cough

[MrsWhirling]

My 9 wo DS has been congested and mucusy for approx 3 wks. We has visited two Gp's four times who have checked him over and said he is fine, lungs clear etc it's a cold/virus.

This weekend he has started coughing. Not loads but dry sounding coughs of which he has gagged a couple of times.

Tommow he&I have our 8wk check up and he is due to have his first jabs.

Do I insist they test him for whooping cough? I really don't want to delay his jabs but I am really panicking

He is feeding but grumpy and frequently awake at night due to congestion.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated xx

I suspect they will not do his vaccines with him not being 100%. Mention your concerns to them anyway and they will advise you further about testing or what to watch out for etc. If you are worried then obviously get him seen sooner than the appointment you have.

Have you told your GP that you are worried that he may have whooping cough? In such a young child it may mean that they want to admit him so they can assist with breathing at the first sight of real trouble.

They probably won't give him his jabs. However, if they do want to give his jabs nevertheless I would ask for them to be postponed. Current thinking is that if your immune system is already in full fight the immune response to the jabs is not so good and as a result the protection given by the jabs will be much less than otherwise.

However, the key thing now seems to find out whether he may have contracted whooping cough and if there is real concern to have him admitted to ensure he can get help immediately if needed.

I would expect them to delay the jabs, particularly if he's at all inclined to temperature.

Do you have a particular reason to think it might be whooping cough? As in has he been in contact or something? It doesn't sound like classic whooping cough, I believe it's very distinctive, the whoop before they cough, and you haven't mentioned that. The dry sounding cough, and retching after is fairly common in a child's cough.

If it turns bark like (sounds like a seal), particularly at night it could be croup. Again, the noise is very distinctive. In that case a warm steamy room helps, but at his age you'd want to go to A&E.

If you're worried it is fine to ask for him to be checked out by a doctor before the jabs are given.

Thanks for replying. I read some that whooping sound isn't common in infants which worried me. Also over Xmas my DD5 was very poorly with a cough & fever. GP percribed antib's usually used for pertussis when I asked why he said he didn't suspect whooping cough but her lung sounded queaky so he wanted to rule out any infection before considering asthma. I didn't think anything at the time but that is adding to my paranoia. I am trying to record the cough to play Dr tommorow, I haven't felt him I'll enough to take to A&E.

How is he today?

Hi, we went for our 8 week check up & I explained my fears to the GP who treated my daughter. He suggested allowing another GP to conduct baby's 8 week check up as a second opinion. This GP said baby is fine lungs clear, cough doesn't sound like anything to worry about. He also said as far as he was concerned baby was well enough to get his jabs but obviously a personal choice. As baby seemed less congested and hadn't really coughed, DH & I decided to go ahead with the jabs. He had them at 3pm yesterday, unfortunetly by 10:30 we were in A&E on the advice of NGS Direct due to his inconsolable crying/screaming and raised temp. After a few hours of observation he was sent home with Calpol. Today he was happy in the day but come early evening he is clingy, grizzly and wants to use me as a human dummy. I am sat here with everything crossed hoping he is ok and is just suffering the after effects of his jabs. Thanks for asking xx