A Brantford family is speaking out about vaccinations after they say their baby nearly died from whooping cough earlier this year.

Scarlett Ronbeck was one-week shy of getting the immunization shot meant to protect her from whooping cough when she became infected by the highly contagious respiratory disease in January.

At first, the baby’s mother said she thought her daughter had a normal viral infection but the child’s condition soon worsened.

“There was at one point when I kind of heard what I thought was her choking, so I looked over and … her lips and her forehead was blue. She was not breathing at all,” Rebecca Stonham told CTV News Toronto.

Scarlett Ronbeck, diagnosed with whooping cough, which is also known as pertussis, spent two weeks in the hospital, including more than a week in paediatric intensive care.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, pertussis can cause serious coughing fits that can result in choking or vomiting.

“It's like an out of body experience to see something that's so tiny and so helpless and just … we can't do anything to help and there was nothing we could do to make her better,” Stonham said. “We just got to sit and watch it was just awful, just awful.”

Both parents said they were up to date on their shots, but the baby’s father still managed to contract the illness as well.

Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization suggests that women receive a booster shot while pregnant, something Stonham said she was not aware of.

“That has been shown to be really effective to prevent the newborn from getting pertussis because the anti-bodies from the mother get passed on to the child,” Toronto Public Health Associate Medical Officer Dr. Vinita Dubey said.

“But we know that not all pregnant women are getting vaccinated it’s a new recommendation so it's going to take time for even doctors to come on board to provide that vaccination.”

Stonham said she wants more people to be aware of their vaccinations and to ask questions if they are going to come in contact with a young child.

“If you are going to be around a young baby at all, you need to make sure you are up to date because it’s so easy to have one of these sicknesses. “

Health officials say if you’re unsure about the status of your vaccinations, speak with your doctor.

With files from CTV News Toronto's Scott Lightfoot