14wks pregnant should I have flu and whooping cough vaccines?

[AlphaBeta82]

Keep hearing a lot about both but neither doctor or midwife have mentioned?
Have others had the jabs and is whooping cough a new one as I didn't have it with DS.

Hi alpha

Had my booking in appointment recently and according to my m/wife you should have both jabs, the flu one immeditely and the whooping cough one some time after 6 months so that the immunity stays with your baby post birth. I had to phone my doctor and ask for flu jab but as long as you're registed on their system as pregnant you can book in.

Good luck, flu one made me feel like I'd been punched in the arm but nothing worse!

Well ultimetly it's up to you. you have time to think about whooping chough as it's not offered until at least 24 weeks up until 8 weeks I think. May be by that point in your pregnancy they will know more on wether it is working for stopping babies getting it.

I have had both but I usually get the flu one anyway as I have bad asthma. I actually declined the swine flu one with my last pregnancy but got it as soon as DD was born, hoping that me not getting flu would help her and that I might pass on some antibodies through feeding. But early in my pregnancy this year I have a very bad cold virus and was truly knocked for 6 and my asthma has been bad this pregnancy too so it made me think that I probably wouldn't handle flu too well.
I don't 100% trust vacines but I weighed it up and decided that personally I would get them.

You can have the flu at any stage of pregnancy.
However you can only have the whooping cough vaccine between 28-38 weeks, it's the same jab that your LO will have at 4 weeks.
I think you have to weigh up the pros and cons, the cons can be devastating, but it's an individual choice

until 38 weeks I mean!

I just had the WC one at 33 weeks, it made my arm sore for a few days but nothing else.

Declined the flu one for now as I've heard about it making people poorly and I can do without that - also I've only got 5 weeks to go so if I can make it till then without getting flu, I'll be glad. and then deal with it later if there is a big outbreak - atm the risk of WC is higher around here, cases are up by 1,000 percent in this region.

Giddypants you mentions 'cons' - what are they?

I would take both jabs at the appropriate point. Flu can be very serious in the pregnant woman and whoping cough killed another 3 babies last month.

NL have you any idea on the current stats on flu? Just wondering, will check HPA website maybe. I hadn't heard that it's a huge issue atm, while I'd heard WC is really a big concern iyswim.

aha

Looks like it isn't tooooo bad at the moment.

You can only have the WC jab between 28-38 weeks so the antibodies cross over to the baby in time. I had a sore arm for about a week afterwards (had it at 32 weeks).

I had the flu jab at 25 weeks - I felt safer waiting until a later stage in pregnancy to have it, but then it coincided with the week the jabs first came out so I was lucky. I had no reaction to it.

You can have flu jab at any time and WC is given between 28-38 weeks. Obviously it's a personal choice but both vaccines are extremely safe. You do hear of people feeling ill after the flu jab but this is far better than getting actual flu especially when pregnant. As for WC, cases are on the rise in newborns and getting the vaccine whilst pregnant is the only way we currently have of protecting newborns from WC.

My midwife didn't mention the flu jab at my booking appointment either which I thought was a bit rubbish but maybe she just forgot. Never mind!

Personally I would have both (especially the whooping cough one) but only you can decide. Make an appointment with you GP to discuss it a bit more thoroughly.

Well I wasn't told to have it till I got two letters from the GP surgery at about 31/32 weeks, which said, we notice you have not yet had your vaccinations and are offering them to all pregnant women, etc.

So they might contact you later on. My GP did suggest I had the flu one when I was early on in pregnancy - about 10 weeks I think - as he said you could get it at any time.

But it was early summer then and I felt too sick to do anything much so I left it.

Ps. yes this is a fairly new protocol to offer WC jab to pregnant women because of the increase in cases in newborns this year. It's the same vaccine they use for children.

Saw this today on whooping cough, if I was pregnant I would definitely have it: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19751209

I know the feeling!am yet to have flu jab done as feeling too sick! Hopefully unlikely to pick up flu being stuck at home doing bugger all and will be able to drag myself out to get it done next week!

I've had them both. The risks to nipper by not having them far, far outweigh any perceived and not proven risk of having them.

The cons, are the usual, reaction to the jabs being one, I think the giving whooping cough to Women in this country is relatively new, however they do it in the USA, personal feelings of vaccines etc.

I personally am gong to have the WC at around 32 weeks, I had the flu at 17 wks.

I didn't get the flu jab when pregnant with DD (now 20 months) and I caught flu. Flu, pregnancy and toddler is a bad combo. Luckily, lovely PILs live round the corner and took DS every day till I was better (DH offshore) and got me my meds & looked after me.
Please get them - I ended up in hospital with it because I had breathing problems - probably could have avoided this if I'd had the jab.
I'm not athsmatic or have any underlying health issues and didn't then either.

Please get the whooping cough jab. DS had a respiratory infection aged 5 weeks (suspected whooping cough) and we had a week in hospital and PICU on oxygen and c-pap (but luckily not bad enough to need ventilating). Having seen the recent news about new born deaths I think we had a very lucky escape, but if you can take steps to avoid any early infection please do.

Can I just add that if you decide to have the flu jab, I'd suggest you ring your GP surgery asap. I'm a GP, and we have run out of flu jabs, and there are no more available, so were having to turn people away even if they're in at-risk groups. The manufacturers only make a certain number, and it's not sufficient for all the eligible people in the country, because it's assumed (correctly) that many people don't want it. Sometimes it backfires. It's a bit like airlines over-booking flights due to an expected number of no-shows.

I've had the WC at 36 weeks. I had Swine flu jab last pregnancy.

I'm interested in whether DH should have a WC booster. If the concern is that it's spreading because adults are no longer protected because the immunity has worn off from the jabs we had then surely both parents of a newborn should be having booster?

The vaccine works because the antibodies are passed from mum to baby through the placenta so in theory your baby is born with it's own immunity. No harm in asking GP about what boosters your partner could have though.

I was also told by nurse that they hope the antibodies from vaccine will be enough to protect newborn prior to their jabs - but it's also valuable because it ensures baby is less likely to contract WC (from me) because I've been recently immunised.