
By doing so, she will pass some short-term protection to her baby until they can get their own vaccine at two months of age.Ĭocooning, in combination with getting a whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy and making sure the baby gets their vaccines on time, provides the best protection possible to the baby. Since cocooning does not completely protect babies from whooping cough, it is even more important that women get vaccinated while pregnant. Also, it can be difficult to make sure everyone who is around the baby has gotten their whooping cough vaccine. This is because cocooning does not provide any direct protection (antibodies) to the baby. It is true that cocooning may indirectly protect baby from whooping cough, but it might not be enough to prevent whooping cough illness and death. Cocooning may help protect baby from whooping cough These studies also show that there are many other people who could get babies sick, including grandparents and caregivers. They determined that in most cases, someone in the baby’s household, including parents and siblings, got the child sick. In some studies, they have been able to identify how a baby caught whooping cough. Researchers investigate reported cases of whooping cough to better understand the disease, including how it spreads. Baby is most likely to catch whooping cough from someone at home Vaccines for illnesses such as diphtheria, rotavirus, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, also called pertussis, and others are given in the first year of life. Anyone who is around babies should be up to date with their whooping cough vaccine. By Mayo Clinic Staff Part of taking care of kids is setting them up for a healthy future.

Next time you get this shot, it will likely be Tdap, which stands for tetanus, diphtheria. When their baby’s family members and caregivers get a whooping cough vaccine, they are not only protecting their own health, but also helping form a “cocoon” of disease protection around the baby during the first few months of life. There is a relatively new vaccine that adds whooping cough to the familiar diphtheria and tetanus shot.

Moms can provide indirect protection to their baby by making sure everyone who is around them is up to date with their whooping cough vaccine.
