I am hoping to hear from some of you that have had some experience with whooping cough/pertussis. I am pretty worried because I have a 3 week old baby and she has just started coughing a few days ago. But I will start from the beginning- my older dd who is 3 years old (and unvaxed) started coughing almost 3 weeks ago, just a few days after the baby was born. At first she was only coughing at night, a dry cough, and then a few days later she began coughing more. She never had any cold symptoms in the beginning and she never seemed bothered by the coughing. It has not impacted her appetite and she even slept through the coughing at night. I'm not sure if I would say she had "fits of coughing", she would definitely have times where she was coughing and coughing but it never caused her to gasp for breath, turn blue, and she never made the whooping noise. Even when she was coughing a lot, or having a "fit of coughing" she was still able to talk and/or eat bites of food in between the coughs, and didn't seem bothered by it at all. Now that it's been almost three weeks from the first day of symptoms, the cough sounds heavier and wetter but she is coughing less and less. She does not cough at night anymore, and she will cough randomly here and there throughout the day, sometimes just one or two times, like "cough-cough". She has also just (a few days ago) developed a runny/congested nose and today she told me her throat hurts. (I know from researching it that usually whooping cough starts out as a cold and then the cold symptoms subside by the time the cough has progressed, so she is definitely not following that pattern). My husband came down with a milder cough a few days after my daughter, and I just came down with a mild cough and raw sore throat a few days ago as well. Now my 3 week old has started coughing and sneezing. Also, the doctor did do a culture for pertussis last week at my request which came back negative, but it was just a nasal swab and from what I have read, they are not as reliable as the pcr test and they can give a false negative result. (The dr. did not give any diagnosis whatsoever...) I am REALLY hoping that this is not whooping cough because I know it is really scary for a baby to get and she is just so tiny. I am thinking maybe it isn't because it doesn't seem that my older dd has any of the classic symptoms, but I just don't know what else would be causing such a persistent cough. Debating about going back to the dr. and having my newborn tested with a more reliable pcr test, but not sure if there is even a reason to. Am I being overly concerned for nothing?? For those of you whose kids have had whooping cough, would I know without a doubt if my daughter has it? Or is it possible that she has a semi mild or atypical case? We have also given her lots of olive leaf extract from the first day we heard coughing, and I'm wondering if that could have made it to where her symptoms were more mild.... I am so tired of worrying about this and worrying about my baby getting it! I just want to be able to relax and enjoy my girls, especially my new baby... :(
Sorry for the long and rambling post!
