October 2015 Moms

Mother/Step Father Vaccines and TDAP

Advice?

I'm stationed overseas active duty air force and my mother and step fathers plane tickets have already been purchased. They will be here 5 weeks from now. Hubby is deployed until Jan so that's why she volunteered to come be with me for a few weeks when little man is due, staying for 6 weeks. She has just informed me she cant get her TDAP shot because she's allergic to penicillin and she wont get the flu shot. She says she's never gotten one before and never gotten sick. Her husband (my step dad) just does whatever she wants. He believe he has had TDAP in the last few years anyway, and since its good for 10 years I'm not too worried about him for that. We argued on Skype for it for awhile. I know I can do nothing about TDAP for her but I am very pro-vaccine and will fight her on this one but she's so hard headed she wont budge. I cant say, sorry don't come, because the tickets are purchased and she is my only support and birthing partner. I am super grateful she is willing and able to come and help but I'm so worried about the baby getting the flu. Ugh! Advice?

Re: Mother/Step Father Vaccines and TDAP

  • VioletandRoseVioletandRose member
    edited August 2015
    I posted a few weeks ago about this; my mom is suddenly very anti-vaccine (this came totally out of the blue, definitely a new outlook for her) and refuses to get the TDAP. I was pretty furious with her for a while, especially since she plans to stay with us for about a week after the baby is born. She smokes, so she has a persistent cough anyway; who's to say what's pertussis and what's not?

    Anyway, I spoke to my doctor about it very candidly and she said, let it go. It's nothing to start a family argument about. Most important is your husband and YOU, because when you get it there are antibodies passed on to the baby. A lot of the horror stories you hear about babies contracting whooping cough, the mothers aren't vaccinated, or were vaccinated too late for the antibodies to pass to your baby (i.e. during labor). The doctor said that as long as MOST people who will be around the baby are vaccinated, it's enough of a shield. And in my case they will be – the baby's aunts, uncles, cousins, all of his/her other grandparents, etc.
  • I don't believe she cannot get the vaccine because she is allergic to penicillin. I am allergic and my OBGYN is telling me to get it. I'm waiting on a call back from my regular doctor about setting up an appointment to get it. Also i found this chart showing that you can get it with an allergy to penicillin according to the CDC

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