This information on what to expect in the second trimester of pregnancy has been taken from the hse.ie website. There are aspects of it that may not apply or may be carried out differently because of current restrictions due to the Coronavirus but check with your local GP/antenatal clinic.
https://www2.hse.ie/babies-children/vaccines-your-child/
Vaccines for your child
Vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect your child against certain diseases. These diseases can cause serious illness or even death.
How vaccines work
When your child is given a vaccine, their immune system makes antibodies. These antibodies remain in the body.
If your child comes in contact with an infection in the future, the antibodies stop them from getting sick.
Vaccine safety
As a parent, you might not like the fact that your child has to get an injection.
But vaccinations:
are quick, safe and effective protect your child from disease help your child to fight diseases
If you do not vaccinate your child, there is a chance they could become very ill, or even die.
Be ready with a feed or a hug for your child and the vaccination will be forgotten soon afterwards.
Vaccines your child will get
At 2 months
PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/othervaccines/pneumo/)
6 in 1 vaccine
This is a single vaccine which will protect your child against the following diseases:
Diphtheria (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/pcischedule/vpds/diphtheria/)
Tetanus (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/othervaccines/tetanus/)
Polio (inactivated poliomyelitis) (Link: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/polio/) Hepatitis B (Link: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/hepatitis/)
At 4 months
6 in 1 vaccine (second dose)
MenB vaccine (meningococcal B vaccine)
Rotavirus oral vaccine
At 6 months
6 in 1 vaccine (third dose)
PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine)
MenC vaccine (meningococcal C vaccine)
At 12 months
MMR (measles mumps rubella)
MenB vaccine (meningococcal B vaccine)
At 13 months
Hib/MenC (haemophilus influenzae type B and Meningococcal C combined vaccine)
PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine)
Talk to your GP or your public health nurse (PHN) if you have any questions.
At 4 to 5 years
Children in Junior Infants will be offered:
4 in 1 vaccine (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/schoolprog/4in1mmr/) – diphtheria, polio, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough)
MMR (measles mumps rubella) – second dose
In Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim these vaccines are given by your GP or practice nurse
At 12 to 14 years
Students in first year of secondary school will be offered the following vaccines:
HPV (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/schoolprog/hpv/) (human papillomavirus vaccine)
Tdap (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/schoolprog/4in1mmr/) (tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough booster)
MenACWY (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/schoolprog/menacwy/) (meningococcal A, C, W and Y vaccine)
School immunisation programme (Link: https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/pubinfo/schoolprog/)
Flu vaccine
Children aged 2 to 17 can now get the flu vaccine for free. This is given as a spray in the nose.
The flu vaccine will help protect your child against flu and reduce the spread of flu to others. For example, their brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents.
The flu season is from the end of October until the end of April.
COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine
Children aged 6 months and older can get vaccinated against COVID-19.
If your child is sick before vaccination
If your child has a fever, vaccination should be delayed until they have recovered.
If your child gets sick after a vaccine
Common side effects after vaccination are redness and soreness where your baby got their injection.
They might also become irritable.
A child may have a fever after MenB vaccination (Link:
https://www.hse.ie/eng/health/immunisation/hcpinfo/othervaccines/meningococcalb/) at 2 and 4 months. Infant liquid paracetamol is recommended at the 2 month and 4 month vaccinations.
Contact your GP if:
you are worried about your child after vaccination There may be another reason they are sick. |
How long vaccines take to work
It usually takes 2 weeks for vaccines to work. Your child will not be protected immediately.
Why your child needs more than 1 dose of a vaccine
Most vaccines need to be given several times to build up long-lasting protection.
For example if a child received only 1 or 2 doses of the whooping cough vaccine, the child is only partly protected. They may still catch whooping cough if the full course is not completed.
Booster doses are also recommended for some vaccines. The booster dose stimulates the immune system again and gives your child better long term protection.
More information
Page last reviewed: 2 June 2022
Next review due: 2 June 2025
As parents we know rules are important but sometimes we can get the balance wrong. We can get too intense about rules that really aren’t important and let really important rules – like showing respect – slip. The team at Parents Plus have some very good tips here in the Parents Plus Children’s programme. Remember that if you are finding parenting very challenging you can talk to one of the Family Support Workers or Youth Workers on the team at the Donegal Parent Support Line. You can phone 1800 112277 (free of charge) or PM the Parent Hub Donegal Facebook page and one of the team will be in touch.
Here is some useful information from the HSE.ie website about recovery from Coronavirus. You can find up to date information on Coronavirus here https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/
These resources were developed by the Rotunda Hospital as a refresher for parents who had already attended their antenatal classes.
Here are some good tips from the HSE.ie website about preparing your body for labour and birth.
This is an interesting piece on how listening well is the foundation of good communication with our children.
The Parents Plus Parenting When Separated programme offers important tips for helping children to cope when the relationship between their parents breaks down and there is a separation. If you are finding parenting challenging because you are going through or have gone through a separation you can talk to one of the Family Support Workers on the team at the Donegal Parent Support line who have experience running the Parenting When Separated programme. Freephone 1800 112277 Monday – Friday 9am to 3pm or PM the Parent Hub Donegal Facebook page with your name, number and brief description of the issue you would like support with and one of the team will be in touch.
There is useful information in this piece from the HSE.ie website about what to expect during the last three months of your pregnancy. There may be changes to some aspects of care due to the restrictions surrounding the Coronavirus but check with your GP or antenatal clinic.
Your antenatal care
Week 28 until the birth of your baby is known as the third trimester. Your GP and hospital appointments will become more frequent in this trimester.
The first trimester is from 0 to 12 weeks. This is the beginning of your pregnancy and is a very important time for its development.
Here is some good advice from John Sharry in the Irish Times Parenting section about how to deal with a child who is inclined to whine.
Do you remember the nursery rhymes you learned as a child? Do you know that as well as being fun, nursery rhymes are a great way to build our children’s language and literacy? Here are the words of lots of the favourite nursery rhymes, from the Early Childhood Ireland website.
The Early Childhood Ireland website has some great information and resources for families like these ideas for supporting literacy and numeracy skills at home