Pregnant - should I get whooping cough vaccine?

[333mumtobe]

Just wondering how many mums/expectant mums got the whooping cough vaccine when pregnant? And if not, why not? Xx

I didn’t have it personally. But I have a lot of autism and auto immune conditions in my family.

These things have absolutely nothing to do with vaccines 🙄

Yes definitely.

I completely forgot with 3rd baby and had it a week before he was born.

Better than not having it at all but not ideal.

He developed a cough at about 2 weeks and I drove myself crazy worrying it was whooping cough and he was going to die. Thankfully it wasn’t and he’s completely fine but the worry and guilt I felt wasn’t much fun.

But I have a lot of autism and auto immune conditions in my family.

What has that got to do with whooping cough?

I didn’t have it personally. But I have a lot of autism and auto immune conditions in my family

Oh my goodness, do people still believe this and use it as a reason not to have vaccines? This theory was disproven and the doctor was discredited.

Whooping cough can be fatal to newborn babies.... your baby could actually die.

Yes I did and would again if we have another one.

Hi there, thank you to for all those who have posted helpful comments.

There’s actually a huge correlation between certain immunisation vaccinations to a fetus/ newborns under 3 months and autoimmune diseases. This is supported by the fact that the abundance of autoimmune diseases we see are unique to the Western Hemisphere - a region which commits to vaccinations like no other part of the world. Asthma, endometriosis, Crohn’s disease etc, to name a few, dominate the west. As someone who suffers from endometriosis and asthma and has spent much of her life in and out of hospitals and visiting consultants, different consultants have on a number of occasions explained that autoimmune diseases are inexplicable, that it’s when the body attacks itself and they do not understand why it happens or what causes it or why it’s becoming more and more prevalent, specifically in certain regions of the world. On multiple occasions consultants have pointed to the fact that it’s only prevalent in the western world (Western Europe/North America etc). The closest that research has ever got to a conclusion is that either it’s something in the food or it’s to do with vaccinations.

So, @sel2223, I implore you to show me this conclusive proof you mentioned as even top asthma specialists at The Brompton have been unable to reach a conclusion...

I’m by no means against vaccinations - but when my midwife asks me if I want to have the whooping cough vaccination and then informs me that about 50% of mum’s decline (which compared the the standard vaccines offered is very uncommon!), you’ll be damn sure that I’m going to find out why some expectant mum’s did not go ahead with it before I make an informed decision about anything to do with my baby.

Once again, Thank you very much to all those who have commented in a way that was helpful and pleasant, for the most part, this forum is invaluable 😊.

Best of luck to the other expectant mums in here xx

The take up rate is 69%, not 50%.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/whooping-cough-vaccination-pregnant/

And this might be worth reading:

www.worldallergy.org/education-and-programs/education/allergic-disease-resource-center/professionals/vaccination-and-the-risk-of-atopy-and-asthma

Nothing in life is risk free, however when medical guidance is that the risk of not vaccinating is significantly higher than potential side effects of vaccinating, I will always choose to vaccinate.

That said, I don't have your family background so I can understand why you're concerned. Are you able to ask your immunologists for advice based on your own medical profile?

My DS caught whooping cough at 3 weeks old. It was 2 weeks and many doctors appointments and 2 hospital trips before he was correctly diagnosed. We were in for 4 nights the second time and he was on oxygen and antibiotics.
Whilst we were in hospital I read an news article that they were beginning to vaccinate pregnant women for whooping cough due to the rise in the disease In babies that year (2012). The theory was that even those women who had had whooping cough or the vaccine (I had vaccine as a child) were not passing their immunity via the placenta. They weren’t sure why. It was possible that this was a new strain Of whooping cough or that the effect of vaccine was waining.
Babies under 3 months old had a death rate of about 4%. I am very sorry for any parent who has lost their baby. My DS survived but lost a lot of weight, went blue, struggled to breathe, coughed for a couple of minutes each time, threw up every time I moved him, coughed until he was 6 months old. It was a horrendous experience.
I would urge all pregnant women to get the vaccine. You do not want to be in a position where you are holding your blue, limp, skinny, wired up baby in your arms knowing that you could have prevented it.

I had mine yesterday at 25 weeks. I don’t know why you would need to question it!

@333mumtobe

Hi there, thank you to for all those who have posted helpful comments.

There’s actually a huge correlation between certain immunisation vaccinations to a fetus/ newborns under 3 months and autoimmune diseases. This is supported by the fact that the abundance of autoimmune diseases we see are unique to the Western Hemisphere - a region which commits to vaccinations like no other part of the world. Asthma, endometriosis, Crohn’s disease etc, to name a few, dominate the west. As someone who suffers from endometriosis and asthma and has spent much of her life in and out of hospitals and visiting consultants, different consultants have on a number of occasions explained that autoimmune diseases are inexplicable, that it’s when the body attacks itself and they do not understand why it happens or what causes it or why it’s becoming more and more prevalent, specifically in certain regions of the world. On multiple occasions consultants have pointed to the fact that it’s only prevalent in the western world (Western Europe/North America etc). The closest that research has ever got to a conclusion is that either it’s something in the food or it’s to do with vaccinations.

So, @sel2223, I implore you to show me this conclusive proof you mentioned as even top asthma specialists at The Brompton have been unable to reach a conclusion...

I’m by no means against vaccinations - but when my midwife asks me if I want to have the whooping cough vaccination and then informs me that about 50% of mum’s decline (which compared the the standard vaccines offered is very uncommon!), you’ll be damn sure that I’m going to find out why some expectant mum’s did not go ahead with it before I make an informed decision about anything to do with my baby.

Once again, Thank you very much to all those who have commented in a way that was helpful and pleasant, for the most part, this forum is invaluable 😊.

Best of luck to the other expectant mums in here xx

Just to premptively say none of this is me trying to be a dickhead. I'm genuinely interested in your perspective, just offering an alternative view in case it's of interest to you.

Obviously correlation isn't causation. A lot of things appear to be prevalent in the western world precisely because there are certain standards of healthcare which mean:

a) these conditions can be and are identified, or even just looked for in the first place
b) they are recorded and tracked and much research goes into this which is published for us to access (though a lot gets twisted on its way to the public unless you have access to the original journals, which most people obviously can't and even if they could most people can't decipher the academic language used)
c) people don't die of other preventable diseases before they can be observed to have these kind of conditions
d) might have said this already but correlation isn't causation
e) ...the main two differences that research can identify between the western world and the rest of the world that could lead to these conditions are vaccines and food? Could you share your sources?

You're totally right there's conditions we don't understand and we should. And there's going to be more to learn no doubt. You're right obviously to look into it (not that you'd need me to tell you that). From my perspective, it's just a matter of probability I suppose and weighing up the sources and quality of evidence avilable at any one time.

Anyway, I'm just offering my viewpoint as you asked for opinions with this post. I'll be getting my WC vaccine from next week when I can book it in, as I'm satisfied by the evidence there currently is.

@Hanrora06 hello! No absolutely do not think you’re being a ‘dickhead’ at all! Thanks for taking the time to let me know your thoughts.

When the midwife asked if I was interested and then went on to say that not all mum’s do it and that in her experience about 50 percent of mum’s decline i was naturally very curious as to why those mums did so. As per my initial post, I asked ‘if not, why not?’.

Absolutely, correlation does not imply causation but when my attention has been drawn to such a correlation by 3 highly experienced consultants (one a gynaecologist specialising in endometriosis, one a gastroenterologist specialising in Crohn’s disease, and one of the leading figures for Asthma UK) then it absolutely is something that I’ll bear in mind especially as me and my family have a long history of autoimmune diseases which has categorically impinged on the quality of my life without a doubt.

Since looking into it, I’ve seen a lot of criticisms towards the whooping cough vaccine (which to my surprise does not actually guarantee your child immunity anyway) on the basis that the preservative added to the vaccine pose more of a risk to a newborn baby‘s brain (Mercury and aluminium).

I’m currently writing this on my phone so can’t provide the citations of articles I’ve read but you can google it yourself, also, you can have a look at the ingredients when you go to get yours and perhaps let us know.

I would never advocate either way! I will protect my baby from as much as I possibly can but I want to make sure that my opinions are informed every single step of the way.

Best of luck to all those mums who have or haven’t and my sympathies to those who have experienced it with their little ones! X

I didn't last time and won't be this time, midwife said this was fine

I didn't last time and won't be this time, midwife said this was fine
Well it’s fine if you mean by fine it’s your choice. If your baby catches whooping cough they won’t be fine as they will have a high chance of dying.
@maria2bela

@AldiAisleofCrap - where are the statistics to show that a baby has a ‘high chance‘ of dying of whooping cough. It’s a horrible illness I won’t dispute that. But it’s not responsible to make statements about mortality with no evidenced based material.

People always do on vaccination threads, as if there is no other outcome to every single disease other than death, even those that are non-fatal.

Absolutely. I’m pregnant and a FTM.

Amazing that someone linked to Light for Riley - him mum is a family friend and losing Riley was so devastating.

@AldiAisleofCrap Please provide evidence to suggest that a mother who doesn't have her whooping cough vaccine will go on to have a baby who has a higher chance of dying from whooping cough. I know mums who've had the vaccine and their babies have still caught whooping cough...?

Did those babies survive? They may not have if mum hadn't been vaccinated, some protection is better than none.
Just shows how prevalent this disease can be.

I had my babies in western Australia, where baby Riley died (linked in one of first posts). Really high take up of the whooping cough vaccine there thanks to excellent work by Riley's parents to raise awareness. There, they actually recommend all adults that will be coming into regular close contact with your baby have it too, so fathers and grandparents also get it.

I'm really curious about this information you have that it is harmful as if that were so you would imagine there would be a lot of sick babies in western Australia.

Can you link to your evidence that the ingredients in the vaccine can do more damage than whooping cough please?

I strongly feel statements like that should be backed up with sources considering how many pregnant women are on Mumsnet and may be swayed by posts on this thread .

I'm sure that the podcast I listened to (where Riley's mum spoke about their devastating experience) said that the vaccination could give the baby's immune system a head start, so even if they caught pertussis, they were in a better position to fight it off and it wouldn't be such a severe disease.

I have endometriosis too. My twins are both autistic. They are fully vaccinated and will continue to be so.

One of my twins contracted whooping cough a few days before his 8 week jabs.

I’d had the jab in pregnancy - I didn’t get it, and while his twin was a little unwell he was not severely affected.

The one who got it spent nearly two weeks in HDU on high flow oxygen fighting for every breath. They told me that it would likely have been even worse without the jab, especially as he was small and unwell before this.

Vaccines did not cause their autism, but even they did i would take that over them dying any day. This is not something to be taken lightly.

It isn’t autism OR dying though, is it, and it’s extremely misleading to present things as if this is the stark choice.

@bluesapphirestars

It isn’t autism OR dying though, is it, and it’s extremely misleading to present things as if this is the stark choice.

But when there is a risk of death, I would take the non-existent risk of autism any day.

There’s always going to be a huge gulf on these threads, between the minority of us who have experienced vaccine damage, directly or otherwise, and those who like to tell us that we made it up and vaccines are 100% safe.

It never fails to amaze me how insistent people are on this point, even when it’s backed up by medical professionals and payouts, we are told we are wrong, deluded, the symptoms (of what?) appeared at the same time and in any event the child (who is now an adult) is alive so who cares anyway, that’s all any of us want for our unborn children is survival.

I’m not saying don’t get a vaccination, it really doesn’t make a difference to me, but don’t tell me I am wrong or mistaken or lying.