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Nervous About Whooping Cough  

post #1 of 16
12/1/08 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
My husband, baby and I were shopping in Babies R Us on Saturday night when I saw a small child that had that distinct whooping cough sound. I think the best way to describe it is that it sounds like a seal barking.

I was horrified. And scared because my 3 month old DD has had no vaxs. How contagious is whooping cough? We left the store shortly after I heard the kid coughing. Am I overreacting? (My husband says I was).
post #2 of 16
12/1/08 at 1:21pm
even if your babe had been fully vaxed on schedule, that would have been only one shot and would not be what the "experts" consider "protected". as long as you're bf etc, that is the best thing you can do to help your lil one.
post #3 of 16
12/1/08 at 1:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamond lil View Post
My husband, baby and I were shopping in Babies R Us on Saturday night when I saw a small child that had that distinct whooping cough sound. I think the best way to describe it is that it sounds like a seal barking.

I was horrified. And scared because my 3 month old DD has had no vaxs. How contagious is whooping cough? We left the store shortly after I heard the kid coughing. Am I overreacting? (My husband says I was).
You can take extra Vit C and some will pass to your little one. Mostly I just wanted to respond because vax's wouldn't matter. Your little one is 3 months old which is too young to have had all the vaxes to be immune.
post #4 of 16
12/1/08 at 1:24pm
I'm certainly not an expert, but isn't the "seal bark" cough croup? not whoop? I think whooping cough is followed by that suck in of air like a gasping whoop because the cough is so deep that it takes all the air out of the lungs.
post #5 of 16
12/1/08 at 1:27pm
Seal bark-like cough sounds more like croup. No vax for that, though.

Best thing you can do is keep breastfeeding, regardless of what it was.

Oh, and this is a good time for a general public service announcement to please wash your hands!!
post #6 of 16
12/1/08 at 1:37pm
Seems like croup to me too. I would just take SA at the first sign of a sniffle in my babe.
post #7 of 16
12/1/08 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kidspiration View Post
Seal bark-like cough sounds more like croup. No vax for that, though.
Oh, I must have them mixed up! It probably was croup. We exclusively breastfeed, and I should start taking extra Vit C during this germy time of year.
post #8 of 16
12/1/08 at 4:52pm
You should be aware that few people actually have the distinctive Whoop in Whooping cough. You can listen to it at whoopingcough.net So really you could have been exposed many times over already and not even known it.

Seal sounds like croup to me too.

Best thing you can do is educate yourself about this and anything else not vaxed for instead of worrying yourself sick about it. And yes, Vit c is a good idea.
post #9 of 16
12/2/08 at 12:24am
I'm not saying it's good to have Whooping cough... just don't be freaked out. It is not automatically going to be horrible.

When my DD was 2 we all had it. DD and I had it at the same time (that's how I was able to figure out what was going on) and DH came down with it 2 weeks or so later. DD and I never had any problems breathing or catching our breath but I remember my chest muscles were pretty tiered from all the coughing. We only occasionally had the classic cough.

DD and I took the advice on the whooping cough threads here and maxed out on vit C. It helped tremendously. We did not take any antibiotics. We did take a lot of steamy baths and showers to keep the mucus loose and easier to cough out. DH did not take vit. C and was so much sicker and had it a lot longer.
post #10 of 16
12/2/08 at 2:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PaigeC View Post
I'm certainly not an expert, but isn't the "seal bark" cough croup? not whoop? I think whooping cough is followed by that suck in of air like a gasping whoop because the cough is so deep that it takes all the air out of the lungs.
:
post #11 of 16
12/2/08 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamond lil View Post
My husband, baby and I were shopping in Babies R Us on Saturday night when I saw a small child that had that distinct whooping cough sound. I think the best way to describe it is that it sounds like a seal barking.
Yeah, that's a croupy cough.
I don't think that croup in and of itself is contagious, but the respiratory virus that causes croup is. It's that time of year ... keep breastfeeding and get lots of Vitamin C.
post #12 of 16
12/2/08 at 6:58pm
Since we are on the subject, whooping cough is dangerous to babies under 6 months. But they can not gain "full protection" from the vaccine before that age either.

After 6 months most kids can handle wc with the right support (vita C and NO abx) and the infection is regarded by some as strengthening the lungs and preventing asthma in the future.

Otoh, the vaccine to supposedly prevent wc is linked to SIDS. It is the most reactive vaccine on the schedule.
post #13 of 16
12/2/08 at 7:43pm
My son has had both croup (we used homeopathy- spongia- and steam and he was completely better within 24 hours) and whooping cough. My little one has had neither, and he was exposed to whooping cough at 7 mos because his brother coughed all over all of us. He got a slight cold but did not get whooping cough, I breastfed him and gave us *all* pertussinum, the homeopathic nosode for whooping cough. Worked like a charm!

Did you know some evidence exists that if your child gets whooping cough and recovers well and is the stronger for it, they will never get asthma? Read it in the WAPF quarterly journal.
post #14 of 16
12/2/08 at 8:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by momma_unlimited View Post
Did you know some evidence exists that if your child gets whooping cough and recovers well and is the stronger for it, they will never get asthma? Read it in the WAPF quarterly journal.
My dd has not had a hint of asthma since her WC 3 years ago. I think it cured it. She had it terrible before, after all gone. Go figure.
post #15 of 16
12/2/08 at 11:40pm
About the extra Vit C-should I be taking vit c pills that will pass thru my milk to DS? Also,will prenatal vitamins help to protect him more from colds and such?
post #16 of 16
12/3/08 at 1:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by McCartney View Post
About the extra Vit C-should I be taking vit c pills that will pass thru my milk to DS? Also,will prenatal vitamins help to protect him more from colds and such?

I am not one for prenatal vitamins at all. Unless you found some that are food vitamins and not those artificial things that they generally prescribe.

The Vita C that is the best in case of sickness is SA (sodium ascorbate). And they you take it about 10 minutes before nursing. You have to take that to bowel tolerance. That means after one loose stool, you cut the dose in 1/2.

We start out with about 4 Tablespoons over the course of the day. You really can't overdose on Vita C.

Here is some more info about dose and also where to get it -

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...03&postcount=2
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