By MAMAMIA TEAM
Unless you have experienced the horror of hearing your baby’s breath rattling, and seen their tiny body being wracked by coughing fits, few of us can imagine the horror a parent feels when their baby has whooping cough.
In this video, a mother explains the journey she and her family went through when their beloved baby son – Oscar – caught whooping cough.
And it was indeed a journey. Oscar suffered from whooping cough for over 100 days. That’s almost a third of the year.
A third of the year, where you would be worrying about every breath your baby takes.
Watch Oscar’s story here:
Whooping cough is a highly contagious – and highly dangerous – respiratory illness. It is usually mild in adults, but if your baby has whooping cough it can be life threatening for them. This is why vaccinations are so important.
Families with newborns should talk to their doctor about whooping cough vaccinations, which children usually receive at two, four and six months of age. Booster doses for parents, grandparents and other carers are also really important, and help keep kids safe.
For more information about whooping cough protection, click here.
Please share to raise awareness about the importance of whooping cough vaccinations – and boosters for adults.
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Top Comments
I had whooping cough when I was ten, that was 48 years ago and it was the most frightening illness I have ever had, the fear of not being able to get the next breath still makes me shudder. I was immunized and still it was bad. My Dad had polio and lives with the lifelong effects, he saw many die while he was in hospital for a year. We live in a rich country where immunization is easy, affordable and lifesaving. Why any parent choose not save their child is hard to understand, let alone put others at risk. Just do it, we are lucky these diseases are no longer common in Australia, lets keep it that way.
My son caught whooping cough in between his 2nd and 3rd vaccinations before he could be fully immunised. My son was 2 months premmie so he was still only little in corrected age terms.
Because he had two of the three shots he only got a milder dose thankfully but my husband and I still spent every night for 3 weeks sleeping at different times so one of us was awake with him at all time due to the awful, awful coughing.
Eighteen months on and he still gets numerous respiratory infections and needs to use a nebuliser/inhaler if he gets an infection or when the weather gets cold as he gets wheezy and coughs so much. The respiratory specialist has said it could take 2 or 3 years for his lungs to repair themselves.
I would not wish whooping cough on my worst enemy - it is an awful disease which can be easily prevented by vaccination. Anyone who feels that vaccination is a waste of time should spend time with a baby with whooping cough and see what these diseases are really like.
Our little guy also had whooping cough when he was 2. It was hideous - even as a 'mild' form of the virus because he was vaccinated. 4 years later, he is still susceptible to any cough going around, which has proved true since starting school. I can't believe anyone wouldn't vaccinate against this.