Whooping cough vaccine opinions!?

[Valentina201]

I’m 26 weeks and I’m booking my vaccine but I’m quite apprehensive about affects to the baby.
I obviously want to have it to protect my baby but worried if it could affect pregnancy/baby? I’ve asked my midwife and she said that she’s not sure but the risks of having the vaccine outweigh the risks of them catching whooping cough!

I had it with my 1st pregnancy and he’s a very happy and healthy 6 year old.

I had no hesitation in getting it with this pregnancy, now 35 weeks and everything is going well.

No side effects at all.

This vaccination programme was rolled out because in 2012 in UK, 14 babies died of whooping cough before they were old enough to have their baby jabs.

In the 10 years since then, there has been no increase in any adverse outcomes in neonates ie the vaccination is safe.

Would you be able to live with yourself if your baby died of a disease you could have done something to prevent?

I had whooping cough as a baby (my mother didn’t get the jab) - it has caused me a lifetime of ill health!

So every time I get a cold, I get a chest infection lasting weeks because it damaged my lung tissue. I cough like an old man, it’s disgusting. I have never been able to do much sports or running because my lung capacity is shit.

From a former baby, for your babies’ sake please get the vaccine!

I had absolutely no qualms getting the vaccine around 17 weeks pregnant, whooping cough is seriously dangerous for babies.

FWIW I also had my covid booster at 31 weeks. No side effects at all.

Don’t worry it’s all booked for my next appointment I just wanted to hear some good things as everyone was saying it caused miscarriage etc! I’ve had quite a rocky pregnancy so just trying to enjoy the rest of it and make sure baby is protected!

Of course, that’s understandable.

Who are these people telling you a whooping cough vaccine could cause a miscarriage?! 😳

Who is “everyone”. I haven’t heard anyone say that, either from the professionals in my pregnancy or others in my NCT/pregnancy groups. Just curious who all the people are who are telling you it’s so dangerous.

Anyone who is saying it causes miscarriage is an uninformed scaremonger that you are best off ignoring.

It was in a mums forum where local mums shared their experiences some said it caused reduced movements some said miscarriage I heard little good things. My sister got it and said it was only caused a sore arm, I’ve had every vaccine offered since a child, I know it’s something I need to have especially the risks to newborns but I managed to get put off. So I came here for more positive hope in reassurance!

Who is 'everyone'?

I'm glad you've got it booked - I can't imagine how scary whooping cough would be in a tiny baby. Such little airways I've had the jab twice (once in each pregnancy) and didn't even have a sore arm the second time!

I've had it with all 3 pregnancies and never had any negative side effects.

Yes absolutely and I want my baby to have optimum immunity I was supposed to have it at 16 weeks but due to having a cough and cold the midwife suggested me to wait but it’s all been booked for my next appointment!

Correlation doesn't equal causation.

Unfortuantely some women will have issues in their pregnancies at different stages which will not to be linked to anything they have done or not done.

How many weeks did you have yours? Will it be okay to have it done at 29 weeks that’s when my midwife said she can do it? Or shall I see if she can do it sooner if she has a free schedule?

I had it at about 25 weeks with my first, and at 34 weeks with my second (getting an appointment was an absolute pain). I don't think it matters that much - just getting it done is the most important thing.

The practice nurse can do it as well as the midwife they might be able to do it sooner if you prefer?

DS2 was born in the midst of the 2012 epidemic, before they started vaccinating pregnant women. He caught whooping cough and almost died from it. Blue lighting a 4 month old to hospital is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. And that was when he was supposedly recovering from it. He had years of problems. He’d start coughing in about November every year and didn’t stop until May, carried on until he was 7. And by coughing I mean coughing his lungs up. His O2 stats were routinely 93-94%. He was in and out of hospital every winter for 4 years. He coughed until he vomited. At 3.5 he needed surgery and on the day they refused to do it as he was underweight for paediatric anaesthesia and needed a neonatal anaesthetist.

Absolute hell. I didn’t hesitate at all when they offered me the vaccine for DS3.

Didn’t mean to write so much, but apparently I’m still a bit worked up about it… anyway he’s 10 now and has recovered well. But a cough or cold is still has a huge impact on him compared to his brothers. Please get the vaccine, and if you can be a positive voice in those groups, try to be one.

I don’t mind if it’s a nurse or midwife, aslong as baby has immunity! I feel so much better after actually hearing encouraging advice not all bad ones! I was trying to research via trustworthy sights but there was not a lot of answers to my questions!

Vaccine is safe. Whooping cough in newborn isn't.

I’m so sorry to hear that, bless him and such a scary time for you.
I can sympathise with I was a baby born with pneumonia and was hospitalised a long time as a newborn a very scary time for my mum and had a asthma pump and reoccurring chest infections as a child and struggled to do sports a lot, so it’s definitely will be having it I think I just got scared of a lot of mums saying negative and as a first time mum I was abit like WOAH!

Ideally it’s between 16-32 weeks so that the immunity is definitely passed on.

Whooping cough is miserable for babies - so as well as the tragic cases where kids die or are seriously injured you need to think of the cases where it's all fine in the end but in the meantime no one gets any sleep for weeks and the kid has a horrid painful cough.

I had a really difficult pregnancy, high risk throughout. I had the vaccine and no side effects at all- and a healthy 1 year old now.

I had it for my pregnancy in 2016 but declined for my youngest as I had a damaged nerve in my arm after it which caused me a lot of problems and severe pain apparently it’s rare but I couldn’t go through it again