Suspect whooping cough--antibitoics necessary, or wait and see?

[Wildflower]

My 3 year old had a mild fever last week with lots of snot, and this week the deep coughing fits, more at night, with the "whoop." Other than being woken up by the coughing, he is pretty happy. Anyone with experience--can I just give lots of rest, mama milk, and vit C or should I go to the ped for antibiotics...?

[Emmeline II]

Antibiotics for whooping cough are prophylactic.

[Shanesmom]

option number one sounds nice. Megadoses of vit. C are always wise, even when the child is not sick. I would also supplement a probiotic to boost his immune system even more and sleep, sleep, sleep!!

[littlecityfarmer]

Speedy healing to your LO, Wildflower! My 3 all had Whooping Cough/ Pertussis over the summer. DS, 7, (almost fully vaxed) picked it up first and had a pretty slow onset of symptoms, but DD1, 5, and DD2, 3, (not vaxed at all) had a much more rapid onset. I didn't suspect WC at all when DS had a runny nose and lingering cough (no whoop), and neither did our family doc, but we had a culture done, and it came back positive, as did the girls' swabs.

We were also quarantined for 5 days (actually more like 9, because the girls' tests were done a few days after DS's, so they started treatment later), per our local health department's protocol. We'd gone to a bunch of playgroups and social events in the couple of weeks that DS had the mild cold symptoms, and our good friend's kids (who had been sharing food and drinks with mine and playing in very close proximity for several hours on several occasions) also tested positive for WC, and were under quarantine, too. I felt just terrible for exposing our friends (the affected moms were super understanding and kind about it), but it caused kind of a big blow-up in my natural parenting group.  

We treated with megadose Vit C, Elderberry Syrup, and rest, but also took a course of Zithromax. Antibiotics don't really help the cough, since the damage to cilia is already done and your LO will continue to cough as her cilia heal, but the meds will (according to our trusted family doc) kill the bacteria that cause Whopping Cough, and keep her from infecting others. Even with the Vit C and antibiotics, my kids coughs lingered for about 2-3 months-- WC used be called Hundred Day Cough.

[Marnica]

Unless you can plan to stay home for about 3 weeks, than you'll need to do the abx.

The abx may actually make the course of the disease worse, but they will make your LO not contagious. Although chances are that if he went out when he had the cold sxs, he exposed people anyway.

[Shanesmom]

I've been doing a ton of research on mega doses of vit.C and I advise relying on that powerful vit C instead of antibiotics. Research it yourself, it is the most important vitamin in terms of healing quickly and naturaly.

If you keep your kids on megadoses their entire lives, you will NEVER have to use antibiotics.