A COCKERMOUTH mother is raising awareness of the rise of whooping cough in the area, after her new-born daughter fell ill with the condition.

Ava Hodgson, who is seven weeks old, has been diagnosed with whooping cough -becoming the first case of the disease the West Cumberland Hospital children's ward had seen when she was diagnosed earlier this month.

The new-born started with congestion at around two weeks old, after mother Abigail Horner and dad Chris Hodgson suffered from a cold during the pregnancy.

Initially doctors and midwives believed that Ava was just suffering from the cold that her parents had previously suffered with, and that the virus would clear up.

"The symptoms of whooping cough are that all of their vitals are fine, they won't have a temperature, they won't have a rash, they will be feeding and everything like that completely normally, at this point," Ms Horner said.

After repeatedly taking Ava to see doctors and nurses, there were no further answers as to what was wrong with the tiny baby. However Ava was starting to go blue, with Abigail and Chris having to shock her by blowing in her face so she could catch her breath.

Due to Ava's vitals still showing that she was completely fine, doctors and nurses were still thinking that the baby just had a cold, Ms Horner said.

On day 11 of her symptoms, the then four-week-old stopped feeding and was sleeping all of the time. At this point Abigail said she had an 'absolute gut instinct' to take her baby to A&E.

Within an hour of walking through the doors Ava was on oxygen tubes and feeding pipes.

At this point the family were seen by a specialist, who had seen cases of whooping cough 25 years before during the last outbreak. She diagnosed Ava with whooping cough and carried out a test on the new-born and began treatment.

The treatment was carried out before Ava had her test results, as she was approaching the three week cut off where antibiotics would have been effective.

Ms Horner said: "As a new born parent with your first kid it is absolutely terrifying. You do always worry about the risk of SIDS and things like that, so you're always on edge as a parent anyway. But then when the baby is coughing to the point where they can't breathe, and you're being told that it's normal, you do doubt yourself.

"It's kind of taken the pleasure from the new-born stages. When I did go in and seen all the tubes down her it was a relief, because I thought - 'thank God, I have been listened to'."

Ava had symptoms such as a tickly sounding cough that isn't raspy. The baby produced a lot of saliva and a very noticeable snotty mucus within the first three days.

Ms Horner said she would recommend that if other people have a baby who is suffering from similar 'coughing fits' they should record them as evidence to show doctors and specialists.

Speaking about advice to other parents, she said: "Hearing what I said, if the symptoms do match or your gut's telling you something's wrong and you're just being told it's normal, just push for the whooping cough test.

"You and your partner and family will know your baby the best, so just don't let it get to the point where you can't sleep because your baby is so poorly."

NCIC has been approached for comment.