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inspir8 
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 Topic: Whooping Cough - babies
Posted: 22 November 2009 at 4:41pm |
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I would love to hear from anyone whose baby has had whooping cough. Looks like our 3 month old has it and it's very scary. Would love to know how you coped. thanks
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pesky
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Posted: 27 November 2009 at 11:32pm |
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Hi
Sorry to hear that. It sucks in little babies.
Our 3 month old (bella) has had it since 3 weeks old and she's just improving now. It's been blardy hard! Especially as we've got 2 under 2, and Bella's been such 'high maintenance'!
It was most stressful while in Starship for 10 days, as she was coughing hourly and I had to rush to her each time and sit her up.. then watch her in pain. I was in survival mode for those 10 days, and I found it far less stressful hen we were allowed to come home. Sometimes she needed suction & oxygen to shorten the "attacks". She was on antibiotics for 14 days to stop it being contagious.
Let me know whether you're going to go to hospital or whether you're going to manage it at home. And if your baby is a good weight - because s/he will prbably cope better if s/he is.
Unfort there's not much you can do, but the things I found that helped were:
- Make sure medicine is at room temperature. The antibiotic is refrigerated, and this shocks the lungs, and brings on coughing. For a while we were also giving Bella Pamol, but usually that's stored at room temperature.
- Demand feed. When it was at it's worst I was feeding her little and often, coz she was so stuffed from all the coughing, she couldn't feed or stay up for long
- Keep toddlers away if possible. Mine would wake Bella just as I had got her settled and then it was a mish to get her back down.
- Keep the baby close at all times so you can sit her/him up as soon as poss. Lean her/him forward a little so he/she can bring up any mucous.
- Get help from family & friends so you can concentrate on the baby
That's all i can think of at the moment, will think about it some more tonight and let you know.
Take care, Jane
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pesky
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Posted: 27 November 2009 at 11:54pm |
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Oh and if you're breastfeeding and have the time & energy, you could express to try and keep your milk supply up. Coz it will prob go down while your baby is going through the worst of it.
I managed to express once a day for a few days. Plunket nurse said I did well to not use formula and keep my milk supply. Most mums have supply issues as a result of the illness.
And going out of the house was imposs for probably a month. So if you can get some help to give you a break that will help your sanity!
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bun_in_the_oven
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Posted: 28 November 2009 at 11:09am |
(((((hugs)))))))
dealing with any illness is never easy.. hope you have lots of support
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pesky
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Posted: 28 November 2009 at 11:21am |
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The doctor may have already told you this, but its worth keeping a coughing chart. Record time of day, whether the baby changed colour, how long the cough was, and what you did to help resolve it, whether baby had just been fed or woke up.
Then you can start to see a pattern and plan your days, adn see if things are improving or not. For us we started seeing improvement after 7 days in hospital, but then a nurse was rough with the suction and Bella had an 8min cough, so that put us back, and we were in there until she improved again.
I timed the coughs using the timer on my mobile. I added it as a shortcut, so I could time quickly when one started, coz otherwise you;re just guessing. Most of Bellas were around the 3 min mark when she was bad
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inspir8
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Posted: 29 November 2009 at 10:27am |
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thanks pesky for your advice - the medicine at room temperature makes so much sense - now that I think about it.
Poor you that has got to be so hard with a 2yr old as well, at least my other two are 4 & 7 yrs. It also seems like we have it a lot easier with the "cough" as we haven't had to go to hosp, and the attacks are not very long. She's a good weight (6kg) and has been feeding really well (about 2 hourly often during the day) which I guess has helped. Good luck to you and Bella.
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pesky
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Posted: 30 November 2009 at 5:01am |
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Oh glad to hear it. Hopefully your daughter has a shorter illness.
The other thing that may spark the coughs is perfume and similar smells. A friend who has had bronchial and pleurisy type illnesses says it hurts her chest and affects her breathing when strong smells like cleaners and perfumes are around.
So I stopped wearing perfume for a while, don't know if it helped, but worth a try.
And I read that ginger helps moisterise and nourish the lungs, but as I was in hospital I didn't get around to cooking with ginger!
ETA the other thing that has been our life saver is Dr Bill at Real Health in Takapuna. He's an osteo/chiro/kinesiologist and is amazing. While they're fighting this all their other functions drop below par, so they can get colicky (in Bela's case her diaphragm was kind of twisted & putting pressure on her stomach) and have trouble pooing etc, and get dehydrated. He resets all those functions so they have a fighting chance of improving. He also found that Bella's lymph nodes were working overtime and was the first to notice she was fighting a "virus" and had respiratory issues.
It may only take one or two appointments, but you;ll notice a difference. The first appt is an hour, but thereafter 15mins.
Edited by pesky
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inspir8
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Posted: 30 November 2009 at 1:01pm |
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thanks for that - I like the sound of Dr Bill will keep him in mind. I have also used BodyTalk for my baby as my aunty is a BodyTalk Practitioner and she has been balancing her lymph nodes.
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pesky
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Posted: 02 December 2009 at 10:37pm |
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sounds interesting, i'll google it!
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Whooping Cough - babies