Whooping cough is most serious for babies under 12 months old. Older babies and children can also get very unwell from whooping cough.
Baby under 12 months old
Urgent advice: Take your baby to a GP urgently if:
they are under 12 months old and have:
- symptoms of whooping cough
- a cough for more than 3 weeks, or which is getting worse
Baby or child of any age
Emergency action required: Go to the emergency department or call 112 or 999 immediately if:
your baby or child:
- has periods of stopping breathing and their face or lips go blue (cyanosis)
- is finding it hard to breathe properly (shallow breathing)
- has chest pain that's worse when breathing or coughing – this could be a sign of pneumonia
- cannot be woken up
- starts having fits or seizures
Doctors can usually diagnose whooping cough by listening to the cough. You could take a recording on your phone to help with this.
Phone ahead to let them know that you think your child has whooping cough.