Post-exposure to Pertussis...

[beloved]

My family has been exposed to Pertussis and I'm hoping no-one will get it, but just wanted to know if there are any tips to help boost our resilience against it.

I'm thinking particularly of my baby who is 8.5mo. I'm not stressed, but would rather he didn't get it iykwim. He is a little sniffly and out of sorts, and has coughed/sneezed in the past 24hr. Hoping it's a coincidence! :eyeroll:

Should I give him a bit of vitamin C (if so how much for a preventative?) or is there anything I should take that he could get through my milk.
Just to help him do his best to fend it off.

I also have a placenta remedy for him - is it worth giving a little?
If so, can I do it orally or not? (It's made in brandy)

Thank you!!

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I chucked up a bolus of old posts from mothering in the pertussis/whooping cough disease forum. It's a bit indigestible, but might answer some of your questions.

My basic reaction is that don't worry about it. Just make sure that you are getting good levels of minerals and vitamins through decent food, and step away from the issue, because worry trashes the immune system, will upset the baby and is more likely to create a situation where whatever does (or doesn't) happen is harder to deal with.

Worry never gained us one more day of life, so we might as well be happy, until we have reason not to be...

Placental remedy? Now that's something I've no idea on. it conjures up all sorts of interesting mind pictures, like, going down the garden to eat worms: long thin skinny ones, short fat hairy one.... :blink:

[Spy]

Your family is likely to have been exposed to pertussis many, many more times than you realized. :D

Yes, you can take vitamin C and it will go into your milk, which can help even with a common cold (it will also help pertussis to look more like a common cold which it often does ;)).

[Serephina]

Placental remedy? Now that's something I've no idea on. it conjures up all sorts of interesting mind pictures, like, going down the garden to eat worms: long thin skinny ones, short fat hairy one.... :blink:

:giggle:

Now beloved please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that a placental remedy is a homeopathic remedy made from the child's own placenta. The idea being that is it the perfect constitutional remedy for that child.

[Spy]

That wouldn't be homeopathic unless being yourself is a disease. :LMAO:

Placenta is used in a large variety of preparations for an even larger variety of purposes, but most of what I was aware of, was for the mother.

[deesalie]

We had an exposure to whooping cough when J was 10mths. We gave tissue salts (Ferr Phos) & sodium ascorbate pwd. I think, from memory, we were giving him around 500mg a day. I just kinda guessed at the dosage & judged it on his stools.

It never progressed, if in fact we had the virus to begin with

[Serephina]

Good point Spy!

I meant prepared in the same way ie. diluted and succused, as opposed to how it might be used for the mother ie. fresh or frozen or dried and put into capsules. Does that make more sense?

[waiting]

My attempt to prevent my then 3 month old from getting pertussis (using vit C) came to naught, but then, he was heavily exposed from my older son.
In my experience with pertussis, there was a fake sounding occasional cough that preceded the whoopy cough. That 'fake' cough ran for about 2 weeks.

hmmm, which would you prefer? apricot brandy or placenta brandy? :LMAO:

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Good point Spy!

I meant prepared in the same way ie. diluted and succused, as opposed to how it might be used for the mother ie. fresh or frozen or dried and put into capsules. Does that make more sense?

Nope. for me, it came cut fresh, in long strips about 5 mm wide and 10 cms long. After a long silence, I opened wide, dropped it down the back and swallowed, after disconnecting both smell and taste buds.

Isn't that how the whole world does it? ;):p

[beloved]

There you go, placenta remedy was an odd thing to mention...you learn something new every day! :giggle:
I guess I'll stick with it on his skin like I have before.

I might as well take some vitamins and minerals doesn't hurt - thanks. Mightn't bother giving them to him... not sure... it was only 2 exposures and she didn't kiss him or anything... Maybe a tiny drop of vit C if I can get him to take it (he doesn't really like much except bm).

Thanks for the threads MT, I did read them but as they were for people with whooping cough, I thought they weren't really applicable, yet at least...

I'm not really worried as such. I just thought I might as well do what I can to help build him up because there's nothing lost in it! :lol