My 6 Week Old DS has been Diagnosed with Whooping Cough

[Mildez]

That is fantastic news. I'm thrilled to hear

[Gigi]

Good News....

We just came back from taking Cade to see the Paediatrician and he's come away with an 'all clear' (pretty much). The Paed can't say 100% that he won't get it but he said that he should have been showing more definate symptoms by now....so he told us that we are able to get out and about and start enjoying our little man again. Yay!!!! Looks like our little miracle boy will be O.K.

Thanks everyone who read my posts and offered such support to me. I really appreciated it.

That is wonderful news Aussie, after two miscarriages, you've been thru so much already, what a scary thing to do thru with your newborn. The last few weeks must have dragged for you, watching his every breath, waiting for that cough.

I'm so glad he's got the all clear - you are amazing - and the advocating so strongly for your baby, getting that swab done so early - i think many people will read your story and be inspired to be a bit braver, more forceful, when being treated like an over protective mum. Thank you for sharing your and Cade's story - he has a wonderful, loving mum in you, he's very lucky.

[~Stoked~]

Fantastic news! You did great mummy

[Kazbah]

great news for Cade!!!!!!

[Miss E]

Oh that's wonderful news!

[Epacris]

Wonderful news!

[Rowellen]

Great news

[Disy]

My DD is now 10 months old, at around 4 weeks old she contracted WC, you have been extremely lucky with Cade's eatrly diagnosis. My DD was hospitalised at 6 weeks old was on CPAP and we were told they may need to put her on life support. I know where my DD contracted it as my now 13 year old nephew was sitting next to a girl in class with it. My 21 yr old son, 13 yr old nephew, 4 week old baby and myself all ended up with WC, my DD fought for her life with this horrible disease.

I have been fighting to get awareness out there, we need adults to have the vaccine to protect our babies, as it only takes one cough for a baby to contract this preventable disease. It took 3 tests for the final positive diagnosis for my daughter. When the cough came is when she went blue pretty much straight away, I had taken her to the doctors and the hospital and we were sent home with "it's a dry cough, there is nothing we can do" until I refused to go home. The main problem is babies ARE ok in between coughs and being blocked up. At the start she would cough, go blue and stop breathing occasionally, but as this disease progressed this happened everyday, many times a day.

Today she is 10 months old and still coughs, it has lessened alot down to two or three times a week now. I am surprised you were told 3 months, as every child is different. You are one extreme lucky lady for Cade to make it through the way he has.

[gemini_girl]

Congratulations Aussiegirl. So glad you got the all clear.
Enjoy your little man!

[Mildez]

Disy thanks for sharing your story of the fight your DD had with WC. What a mightmare. Its so hard to see your bub struggle I can only imagine the heartache it must have been to see your DD fighting like she was again WC.

Aussie how is Cade now?

J is making a good recovery. No blue episodes for 8-9days now and no big vomits related to the coughing for 4-5days. Her coughing now is back to been dry and its now only very occassional (no more then a few times a day) The pnuemonia is almost gone so I think this has been the biggest contributer to the coughing and blue episodes. I think we have seen the worst of it but I'm not getting to excited yet. Its week 10 since the cold started or week 8 since the coughing started.

[Aussiegirl777]

Disy - WC is such a horrible and frightening disease. I'm glad that your DD survived it because at 4 weeks old the prognosis is not good. I am very lucky that I had a fantastic GP who agreed to a swab on the basis that Cade had a blocked nose for 1 day!

Cade is 6 weeks since diagnosis and I've stopped 'officially' keeping a record of things now. In fact he is 11 weeks old today and just as a normal little baby should be. He is even getting out and about in the world again too. (which has been very nice for Mummy as well)

Mildez - It sounds like your DD is coming to the end of her battle as well. I hope that things progress smoothly from here on in.

[gemini_girl]

Ausiegirl can you tell me please what your doctor said about contracting whooping cough. I think you might have already said this and I will try to locate it in a minute, but I just wanted to ask because my MIL rang my husband the other night and said she tested positive to whooping cough, I don't think we have seen her since my birthday (1st June) but I took Brianna to the doctor anyway as I panicked when I heard. He didn't do the swab because he said she doesn't seem unwell and the time frame means she would have been sick by now! I am freaking out, I thought he would do a swab anyway just to be sure. DD1 has been coughing for a while, but he didn't want to swab her either because apparently she is covered by whooping cough from the injection...
Doc says it would not take 4 weeks to see signs of WC, is that what your info says too or should I get a second opinion do you think? I can't believe that MIL didn't even let me know that she had suspected Whooping Cough, to think she was going to come over the other night before she found out that the test was positive. DH says she was only going to come up if the test was negative, but I am still so mad that she hasn't bothered to inform me before hand.
Brianna has had a couple of coughs here and there where she looses her breath momentarily, like she is choking, but she is not choking on food or anything. She has been quite unsettled at times lately. We've been giving her mylanta that the doc prescribed for reflux.

[Aussiegirl777]

Firstly I'm so sorry to hear this, secondly what the hell is wrong with a doctor who will not swab just to be sure. I would definately be going elsewhere and INSISTING on another swab. There is no downside to having the swab done.

As far as I know there are 3 stages to WC. The first is the Cattharal stage. That is where the person presents symptoms of a cold etc. In this stage they may start to cough here and there but nothing that seems serious. This stage normally lasts 1 or 2 weeks before moving into the next and most serious part of the disease.

....the paroxysmal stage. This is the most serious part where the coughing becomes paralysing and it normal comes on around 3 or 4 weeks after contracting WC. This is where your baby can lose it's breath or turn blue. The third stage is the recovery stage, this part takes weeks or even months to get over and has coughing, less severe than the 2nd stage.

There is a limited window for testing for whooping cough. The swab needs to be done as early as possible once the cough has started the disease becomes less contagious and by the 4th week the swabs may come back negative because the bacteria is dead.

Gemini_girl don't take no for an answer. I hope that your little one is O.K. Please keep me updated.

[gemini_girl]

Thanks Aussiegirl I will try to get her in tomorrow. She had a coughing fit this evening and stopped breathing for about 10 seconds, it scared the hell out of me. She was about to have a bottle, but didn't want it after that happened. She seems settled at the moment, but if she does it again or anything similar I think it will be a trip straight to hospital. She has been a bit snotty, and sneezing a bit too but other than that she hasn't been to bad, just the occasional cough. I don't know if the cough is part of the reflux thing, but her reflux had been improving - she hadn't been vomiting as much. I have noticed over the past 3 days or so that she has been drinking a lot less of her milk. I have been keeping a record of her feeding etc, and she gets quite unsettled in the evenings, although in saying that she is sound asleep on DH chest at the moment. She starts crying when we put her down.
I am waiting to hear the result from FIL test.

[Aussiegirl777]

Good luck with everything Gemini_girl. I'd definately take her to hospital if she has another breathing episode like that. Regardless of what is the cause she might need assistance. Take care. xoxo

[zap]

Your thread has given me hope. My 3&1/2 year old and 8 week old have being diagnosed with whooping cough. While my 3&1/2 year old has the cough my 8 week old has no cough it was my demand that he be tested straight away. We are all on antibiotics and I am just praying that the cough never presents.

[Aussiegirl777]

Zap - It's a scary time but you just stay strong. Thankfully you insisted on the swab for your youngest. I can't understand why when your 3.5year old was positive they wouldn't swab the baby automatically. Hopefully you have caught it early enough. Also did bub have his first vaccination yet? (if you chose to vaccinate that is) They say that with the vaccination that sometimes you get a less severe case of WC so with that and early detection with antibiotic treatment and fingers crossed, here's hoping the long road ahead won't be so tough.