Babies: 0 - 3 Months

Asking Relatives to Get TDAP Booster

Hi all! At my last OB visit, the nurse recommended anyone who would be around the baby (especially caregivers) to get an updated TDAP booster shot. I'd like to follow this recommendation, but I'm also concerned some of my family members won't want to do it. Thoughts on if it's okay for me to request they stay away until the baby is old enough to get vaccinated?

Re: Asking Relatives to Get TDAP Booster

  • It’s 100% okay for you to request that others get the vax. But it’s also 100% okay for them to say no. TDAP is a very normal and safe vaccine, there are very few reasons not to get it. I would make it clear 1) why you want them vaccinated, 2) the threat it poses to you baby to contract any bacterial diseases in infancy, and 3) any boundaries you will set for those who don’t want to get the vaccine. Make those boundaries clear and stick to them. 

    Personally, I didn’t ask anyone get the TDAP vax. My husband and I both got it because we are the primary caregivers. The extended family (my parents, my brothers, husband’s parents) may or may not be vaccinated, I’m not even sure. My logic is that they are not around very much to spread the bacteria that causes the conditions it protects against. They visit at most once a week. 
  • I have been trying to figure out the best way to approach this as well
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  • tish87tish87 member
    It is perfectly fine for you to ask family and/or caregivers to get the vaccine. My husband and I did. We just said that for those who were going to be around the baby frequently, which for us was family that live in the area, needed to be updated on their tdap vaccine. No one disagreed and they either showed us that their vaccine was already done or that they had just gotten it. They all understood that we are just protecting our child and as parents we have that right. Usually the tdap is given every 10yrs by your primary care doctor, but as some get older and don’t visit their primary care regularly, it tends to fall by the wayside.
  • I just told my parents when they visit (my mom will be here before baby arrives to help out) they need their tdap AND flu vaccines. And I want proof. Lol my dad has lied to me about being sick before visiting us (during peak covid too) so I told them they lost my trust on that front. 
    I of course got the whole I’m being such a FTM and being dramatic spiel but I put my foot down and said if ya wanna see the baby, ya gotta do what I say. 
    If relatives throw a fit, now is the time to have boundaries. Your babies life is more important than their feelings. 
    Also, I knew a baby who had whooping cough when I lived in an apartment. Poor thing ALLLL night would not stop coughing for like weeks. I don’t even know what happened to the baby. :/ but it is very dangerous and possibly deadly if baby gets whooping cough. You getting vaccinated is most important obviously but it doesn’t hurt to have relatives or anyone visiting vaccinated as well imo.
  • https://news.ohsu.edu/2016/03/22/study-shows-tetanus-shots-needed-every-30-years-not-every-10

    Just something I found that was interesting. But it’s definitely 100% okay to deny people access to your baby. For any reason. A baby isn’t a toy. If you don’t want someone around your baby for any reason, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be okay. I’m refusing to let anyone see my baby until he is 2 months old besides my parents and the father of the baby. I live with my parents and the father of the baby lives 45 mins away. Lots of people are mad at me but I feel like he’s much too little and doesn’t have an immune system built up yet. Most of my family lives 4+ hours away. The fathers family Lives nearby and are upset they can’t see him yet but it’s really just too bad for them. You know what’s best for your child. No one else does.
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