Can vaccinated babies get whooping cough?

[worriedmum27]

My baby is 5 months old.
We were staying with my mum last weekend and she had a bad cough, she went to the doctors today and the doctor said she thinks it's whooping cough.
My daughter started coughing a few days ago, it's particularly bad whenever she has milk, for the last 4 mornings she has thrown all her milk up, she hasn't thrown up the milk in the day but she does cough and cough after having it. It's also bad when she's asleep, she keeps having periods of about 20 seconds where she just coughs, she was just asleep and she did it a few times then on the third time she sounded like she was gasping for breath and woke up and started screaming, she's calmed down now and seems fine again.
I took my baby to the doctors earlier and the doctor said she's fine, she doesn't have a temperature and when she's not coughing she seems well, the doctor said whooping cough is really rare and my mum probably doesn't have it [although my mum and her doctors think she does] but i'm still worried.
My baby has had all her vaccinations though, I can't find any information about vaccinated babies and whooping cough. Does anyone know if vaccinated babies can still get whooping cough?

Yes. Mine is vaccinated and caught WC when she was 10 months old.
It's horrible and very distinctive - sounds like they are choking. My dc threw up milk every time she had a cough attack too. She caught it from her dad.
Your GP is misinformed - there's been a massive spike in cases of WC in certain areas. Where do you live?

You can test for it - and it's a notifiable disease so taken seriously

If vaccinated, and it is WC your baby will be ok, although probably miserable for a little while!

Oh and mine didn't have a temp and unless you saw them having a cough attack they seemed just fine! Is notoriously hard to diagnose as a result

Thank you, hopefully baby will be ok then as she is vaccinated.
We're in York, my mum was offered a swab test but declined because she forgot about the baby. I'll keep an eye on her and hope it doesn't get much worse.

I would recommend recording your baby coughing to show the GP. As others have said, kids tend to be completely normal between coughing fits. Antibiotics can help and sometimes other supportive treatment is needed.

Yes. My daughter was about 12 months old and up to date with her vaccinations when she got whooping cough. It started with mild cold/runny nose type symptoms then the coughing started - awful coughing and coughing until she was bright red/purple in the face and coughing up lots of frothy white stuff, often also vomiting. She was pretty much fine in between coughing episodes. The coughing went on for a very long time - months really but gradually improving during that time. Until she was about school age the relentless cough would come back every time she had a cold or anything. GP said her symptoms were classic for WC (relentless coughing fits, fine in between, frothy spit up/vomiting). She was and is fine though OP. In fact, me and her dad probably suffered more from the endless sleepless nights! No one else in the family caught it.

Hi @worriedmum27 i know this is a few months old now but, how did your baby get on? Did she have whooping cough? How long did it take for the coughing to subside? My 11 month old is exactly the same as you described currently. We’ve been to the GP and he thinks it’s unlikely she has whooping cough but may have another virus that causes the same type of cough.
Just trying to get some idea of how long we’re looking at this lasting.