Whooping cough

[LBNM19]

So I've ended up cancelling my appointment twice because I can't decide if to have the vaccination for whooping cough or not I stupidly googled it and read some stories about babies being still born and I suffer from an anxiety disorder which is also making me think if I don't have it my baby could get whooping cough, I feel really nervous about it. It wasn't offered in 2012 when my son was born.
I just don't no what to do rebooked for Thursday incase I decide to.

I'm 32 weeks tomorrow.

Help xx

I can't help much but I understand I have been googling like mad things like this! Have you spoken to your midwife or doctor? Maybe have a discussion with dp and see what they think :) I know people who have had it and people who have rejected it and thankfully all babies fine :)

I can understand your concerns and really think you should speak to your gp/midwife.
I've had it with my last pregnancy and this one, for me it was a no brainer whooping cough can kill young babies, I'm due in October so my baby will be young i the winter it's not a risk I'm willing to take.
All of my three have had croup which is no where near as bad as whooping cough but after hearing then struggle to breath and having to take two of then to a and e I can't even imagine having to take a tiny baby in with whooping cough.

Obviously this is just my point of view but have a chat with the midwife it's your baby and your decision but I would think very carefully :)

Anyone can post on the Internet. Now any website can look professional too.

Women who have lost pregnancies look/cling to any "reason".

The main objection in the past was a suggested link to cancer later in life (which more recent studies seem to have disproved).

If you have anxiety, stay off Google. It will say what your anxiety wants it to say. Speak to a doctor or midwife, and read only well known sites like nhs and mumsnet.

Oh and my comment re losing pregnancies is because I am a recurrent miscarrier and have known many. It's part of the bereavement process but sometimes people with an agenda "use" our search for answers to back up their cause. :(

I'm 31 weeks and I've really struggled to decide what to do about this - have done lots of reading on the internet, trying to stay on nhs etc.

My OH is against it as the long term effects are unknown and I'm very 50/50 about it so I'm going to speak to the dr when I'm at the antenatal clinic next week.

I'm in the same boat. One doctor was insistent bordering on obsessed and was literally saying my babies will get it and die like others recently if I don't have it.
Another doctor understood my concerns and said to speak to my consultant, by tie I have them, the risk might be reduced enough.
The midwife said about having it, but had no further info on the jab itself, had no idea which one they're using, as I heard it had changed again. She then said she doubts the consultant will know anymore information.
So I'm told to have it but not a single health professional so far could give me any information at all about it. I haven't googled it, I thought it best not to, but I might have to, to see if there's any more recent info.
I want to do what is best, but the thought of putting a drug no one can tell me any info about in with my growing babies terrified me.

I didn't have it, nor the flu jab. Baby is now 6 months and fine.

I couldn't find convincing enough evidence that the maternal antibodies from the jab do protect the newborn any better than they would from the immunity I have from having had whooping cough as a child. There may be more evidence now, but I couldn't find any.

But then I'm good at refusing stuff and not a worrier. I refused induction and antibiotics too (would have had both if I'd done as I was told) and just had both babies at home with no problems.

Chocolate but the key thing is you have had whooping cough so still have the antibodies. So you are a completely different case from most women who don't have the antibodies anyway.

I work with very sick children and babies and every winter see babies die due to whooping cough. There will always be risks vs benefits, but for me this is a no brainer. I will definatley be getting vaccinated!

I agree with the comments from squiz and paully above. We have forgotten that small babies are very vulnerable to respiratory diseases in recent years.
There is no proven risk to baby from your having had the jab (some cases does not equate to a controlled trial), but strong evidence that giving the vaccine has saved both neonatal hospital admissions and lives. Perhaps this article from the British Medical Journal, examining incidence of stillbirth following vaccination, would help to quell your doubts? www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4219.long
fwiw, I had my vaccination at 29 weeks last week, and excepting a bit of a sore arm had no ill effects (however, my anecdote lacks any statistical significance).

Please, please have your whooping cough vaccination. I work in a secondary school and have seen the numbers of kids (and staff!) going off with this rise exponentially in the last three years.

I can't understand people that think they know better than government/NHS experts on vaccinations. How can a hunch beat medical research?

The old me before I had children defiantly would of just had it but my anxiety unfortunately now takes over and I start thinking something bad is going to happen, i have severe heath anxiety. I dont often google as it does make me worse i think i just did because it wasnt offerd in my last pregnancy, i wasnt looking for anythinh negative but of course those threads come up. I will call midwife and discuss with them and I'm sure they will be able to reassure me xx

All information the NHS/midwife/GP give you is all evidence based, so definatley seek their advice rather than googles. I am also very health anxious, due to what I am exposed to in work on a daily basis. I know if I can try to prevent my baby getting any potentially life threatening illness, then I wil, and hope others think the same xx

Yep health anxiety and Google DON'The mix! Ask your midwife or GP. If they can't give an answer, ask for the number of the hcp at your clinic who does!
Listen to experts - whether for or against, you can't compare a real life expert citing their sources with the Web (which is just trigger central!).

Health anxiety would make me get the jab! In essence what you're basically saying is that your Googling is more effective than evidence-based medical research.

mrsgembles do you had health anxiety? I didn't say my googling was more effective I was asking for advise and explaining why I am anxious, I've also been anxious that if I don't get it my baby will get ill with it and pass it on to my other son who's severely disabled. On the other hand I'm worried something will happen to my baby if I do have it. So that's why I posted to see if other mums to be have had it, as like I said in my last pregnancy it wasn't offered!!

Just a point of information - having had whooping cough as a child doesn't mean you'll still be immune. The antibodies don't always last, and are thought to decline after 7-10 years. That's why in other developed countries booster shots are offered/given every ten tears or so.

Here is the report in The Lancet outlining how effect the vaccine has been www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60686-3/abstract

And C&Pd from the NHS/HPA/JCVI Vaccine Update that we receive:

The evidence considered by JCVI included a new Public Health England study
which was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases (see web link 3). This study
showed high levels of protection against pertussis in babies born to vaccinated
mothers. Babies born to women vaccinated at least a week before delivery, had
a 91% reduction in the risk of pertussis disease in their first weeks of life when
compared with babies whose mothers had not been vaccinated. The Medicines
and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also found no safety concerns
relating to pertussis vaccination in pregnancy based on a large study of nearly 18,000
vaccinated women with similar rates of normal, healthy births in vaccinated as and in
unvaccinated women (see web link 4).
Pertussis activity has fallen in all age groups since the pregnancy programme was
introduced but the number of reported cases remains higher than before 2012 in all
age groups over one year of age. The greatest decrease in disease since the peak in
2012 has been in infants under six months of age who are targeted by the maternal
pertussis vaccination programme.
There were 14 deaths in infants diagnosed with pertussis in 2012 and born before
the vaccination in pregnancy programme started, A further eight deaths have been
reported in infants diagnosed with pertussis in 2013 and so far this year. The mothers
of seven of the eight babies who died in 2013 and 2014 were not vaccinated in
pregnancy and the babies were all infected before they could receive their first infant
pertussis vaccine.
In view of the ongoing raised levels of pertussis activity in older age groups and the
deaths in infants, it’s very important that women are immunised between weeks 28
and 32 of pregnancy to maximise the likelihood that the baby will be protected from
birth through the transfer of the mother’s antibodies in the womb. Although women
may be immunised up to week 38 of pregnancy, later immunisation is not ideal as
the baby is less likely to be protected by their mother’s immunity. At this stage of
pregnancy, vaccination would potentially only directly protect the mother against
disease and thereby just reduce the risk of exposure to her infant.
The uptake of the pertussis vaccine in pregnant women is around 60% in England.

For info - the vaccine used now is Boostrix.

Thankyou for posting that info :)

You're welcome - I hope it helps one way or the other!

My son was born just a few weeks after the whooping cough vaccination was offered to pregnant women. He got Whooping Cough. I promise you that you do NOT want your tiny baby to have that hideous illness. It is the most terrifying experience of my life. And it lasts MONTHS!

Also if you have a c-section and catch it yourself... I don't even want to imagine. I had it after I had pretty much healed... He was diagnosed the week before he was due his first jabs...

As I think someone mentioned earlier immunity can last for as little as 5 years. So any antibodies you had as a child are long gone.

Please, please think carefully about this as the implications can carry oblong past the immediate illness with lung damage that takes years to recover from.

How anyone would even contemplate not having this vaccination is quite beyond me.

I can't believe the reason for not having the vaccine based on nothing more than a 'feeling'.

The programme has been running since Oct 2012 and the vaccine has been used in the USA/AUS/NZ.

Of the 8 babies that died of whooping cough-7 of the mothers had NOT had the vaccine.

Get the vaccine and do not delay.

SParkle9-don't worry about the change of vaccine. There are normally 2 suppliers to keep the cost down and help with supply chain issues. The vaccine is made by GSK-who make loads of other vaccines and used in USA/AUS/NZ as above.
I would have ASAP-it normally takes 2 weeks for full immunity from vaccines, if you delivery early or are unable to BF it may be reduced.

If you're going to google anything look for footage of tiny babies with whooping cough. I had it when I was 8 years old (the only vaccination I didn't have) and I have very vivid memories of gasping for breath when I had an attack. I was a very robust child, health-wise, but was ill with it for six weeks.

I was told that antibodies from having had it as a child weren't enough to protect my baby.

I'm 34 weeks and had it last week. I have consultant care and have real faith in my consultant, who urged me to have it.