Baby with Pertussis?

[writteninkursive]

I need help. My 10-month-old son is completely unvaxxed (although my two older daughters are partially vaxxed). He is starting to show signs that he may have contracted Pertussis. He has the super runny nose, low-grade fever, really bad hoarseness, and is really lethargic and just not very active at all. About a week ago, my daughters complained of having sore throats, but are fine now (youngest daughter has had 3 DTaPs and oldest had 4 before she had a very nasty reaction to it and we stopped vaxxing all of them).

I've read about antibiotics not being very helpful and sometimes making it worse. And about Vitamin C and how much it helps.

We have an insanely busy month of August ahead of us (our wedding, honeymoon, three birthdays, etc), and I really, really hope he doesn't have Pertussis. But it looks a lot like he does.

Our city recently issued a Pertussis alert because of the rapid increase in cases over the last three months.

What should we expect? I've seen a lot of accounts of vaxxed children getting Pertussis, but I don't know what to expect for an unvaxxed baby!

Thank you!

[PinkinPA]

I would go over to beyondvaccination.com by Hilary Butler and read up on altitude therapy ans sodium ascorbate.

The antibiotics are to kill the bacteria causing the pertussis. What keeps your baby sick is that the little hairs (cilia) in the lining of the lungs is destroyed by the bacteria and the baby can't cough up the accumulated mucus. They take months to grow back.

I really hope for the both of you that your sweet baby doesn't have this.

[highlandmum]

Hi... my kids all have pertussis right now. My youngest is 9 months..... I will get back to you more in the morning, but from what I understand there isn't much you can do. SA (I'm looking up dosage instructions right now) may help speed things along, a cool mist, .... but really that is it. Good luck, and again, I'll get back to you in the a.m. (when my brain isn't fried!)

[Marnica]

Honestly I think you are jumping the gun.

Your baby sounds like he has a cold/virus. You said your girls had a sore throat last week and recovered. Sounds like your baby caught what they had. If it has only been a week or so, I think it premature to assume pertussis. With that said, I would still be giving SA. I always do with any illness.

[RhianaW14]

I think there is a website that you can visit www.soundsofpertussis.com may be it.

[japonica]

So far, it sounds like a cold to me. You won't know until the cough sets in, but seeing as your girls all recovered from just a sore throat, then hopefully that's all he has.

My DS was 23 months old when he caught it. It started out as a runny nose, cold symptoms, but a week in, there was no mistaking the paroxysmal coughing and the whoop (although not all kids whoop). He recovered without complications in about 3 weeks, and yes, the high dose SA made management a lot better.

[rocky]

If it is Pertussis, (although I agree that so far it sounds like a cold) then expect that it lasts a long time. Coughing comes in spurts and can be very strong. My son had it at about 10 months along with his older brother who was nearly 3. I had to hold their bellies to help them cough. I read a lot about it on this forum but this was over 5 years ago.
The cough would seem to disappear for months at a time but then re-appear as if the kids were having a relapse. But this may just be that the hairs were not grown back yet, so any cold would set off a bout of coughing.
I heavily dosed them on Vitamin C. I was using Ascorbic Acid at the time but Sodium Ascorbate is recommended more highly. It is HIGHLY effective. Not the vitamin C in pill form, but the powder.
So our main cure was pressing in on belly during coughing bouts (child's back against your stomach with your hands on child's stomach) and vit C.
My kids are not vaccinated.
Good luck!

[amnesiac]

Since this is about dealing with an illness itself rather than a vaccine issue I'm moving it over to H&H.