A mum has shared a video of her baby suffering a coughing fit, to warn parents of the importance of whooping cough vaccinations.
Rebecca Harreman, from Brisbane, Australia, posted the footage above, of her four-month-old son Austin struggling to get his breath, on Facebook.
'I'm tired. Damn tired. I've been on duty for over three weeks having to wake every single time my baby boy coughs for fear he will stop breathing. Every. Single. Time," Harreman wrote.
Rebecca Harreman said this is what a "good" coughing fit looks like
"I cannot and will not pass that duty to anyone else, because I just can't sleep," Harreman continued.
"So for those of you sitting on the fence on whether to vaccinate yourself and your kids or not... maybe this video will convince you."
Harreman filmed the footage 23 days after her son developed a cough. She explained the video captured what she considers to be a "good" coughing fit.
"Now when I say this is good... I mean that's absolutely nothing," she wrote.
"Nothing compared to watching him turn blue from coughing for so long and so much he can't take a single breath."
"The doctors said he has his age and size and his first vaccination on his side to be able to fight this because there is no real way to treat it - you can only try and get some oxygen in them - that is if they breathe it in - and they have to do that all on their own.
"I don't care whether you want to try and prove to me that vaccinations and herd immunities don't work. I don't care that vaccinations have side effects, because every person in this world reacts differently to all types of food, products and medicines. I could not care less, even if it is ever proven one day that they don't work.
"You know why?
"Because at least at the end of the day I tried to do something to prevent this and not sit there and say, 'oh well, vaccinations don't work so I'll just sit here and do nothing,' because doing nothing goes against every cell in my body as a mother.
"Doing nothing is just wrong.
"So please share this and spread some awareness. Not nonsense. This is getting worse because people are not vaccinating.
"Oh, and no matter what you believe - if you have a cough while out in public - cover your damn effing mouth."
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In the UK, children are vaccinated against whooping cough at two, three and four months of age, and again with the pre-school booster at the age of about three years.
Immunity can fade with age, so all pregnant women are also offered vaccination against whooping cough when they are 28 to 38 weeks pregnant.
The NHS advises that getting vaccinated while you’re pregnant could help to protect your baby from developing whooping cough in its first few weeks of life.
"Although the number of cases of whooping cough has fallen dramatically since vaccination began, it is still possible for children to get the infection, so having the vaccination is vital," states the NHS Choices website.
"The more people are vaccinated against whooping cough, the less chance of passing on the infection to a young baby, which could cause serious, and possibly fatal, complications."
Harreman received some criticism on Facebook for recommending parents immunise their children.
"While I'm completely overwhelmed with messages of love and support from strangers and friends, I really didn't think that people would personally message me to tell me I am wrong," she wrote.
"I didn't intend to offend anyone in particular with my views. Because they are just that - MY views."
