Fluids Encourage your child to drink lots of clear fluids to prevent the mucus in the lungs from becoming sticky. Avoidance of cough triggers Keep your children away from things that trigger coughing, such as tobacco smoke, perfumes, or pollutants. Care of exposed persons All people in close contact with your child will be asked to take an antibiotic for 14 days. This includes people in your immediate household and any day care contacts your child may have. It is important to have your child and his or her siblings immunized against all preventable illnesses, including whooping cough, at their regularly scheduled health checkups.
Some parents have concerns about the neurologic side effects of the pertussis vaccine.
It must be remembered that pertussis is a dangerous disease, especially for infants. The risk of getting pertussis if a child is not immunized is 1 in 3000. The death rate for whooping cough is 1 in 100, and the rate of neurologic problems resulting from whooping cough is 1 in 200. On the other hand, the risk of having neurological damage from the vaccine is reported to be 1 in 2 million. Your child stops breathing with any coughing spells.