What you need to know:
The very common cold
Babies and kids get six to eight colds a year, but sometimes they sound sicker than they are. "What parents usually hear are the random snorts and sniffles of air passing through mucous and secretions in the nose and throat," says pediatric pulmonologist Peter Scott, M.D., of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. There's no need to worry as long as your child seems reasonably comfortable and active, continues to eat and drink, and starts to get better after a few days. In the meantime:
- Try saline drops to loosen nasal congestion. They're especially helpful for babies too young to blow their noses. Use three or four times a day.
- To relieve a nightime cough, elevate our child's head with a wedge beneath the mattress.
- Offer liquids to lubricate an irritated, cough-prone throat. For babies, nurse or bottle-feed more frequently. For children, give water or diluted juice (semi-frozen if you want, for its pain soothing chill). "But there's not need to push fluids---normal intake is fine," says Dr. Scott.
- Go easy on cold preparations. Never give babies under 6 months decongestants or cough suppressants, says Dr. Scott. Some decongestants can act as stimulants and keep an older child (and you) awake if taken within four hours of bedtime. Some moms find that over-the-counter cough suppressants help their kids, although studies haven't shown them to be effective. If coughing interferes with your child's sleep for four to five nights, talk to your doctor, who may prescribe a stronger prescription cough suppressant.
- See the doctor if your baby is under 3 months and has a fever over 100.5 degrees. And call if a child of any has symptoms --cough, congestion, mild sore throat--that linger for longer than a week.
RSV: a risk for infants
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is either a minor nuisance or an emergency. Most kids get it by age 1, but parents usually thinks it's a cold. But around 2 percent of the time, the virus causes bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the small tubes of the lungs. Even this condition is not usually life-threatening, but it can be in some babies under 6 months, and in preemies up to 1 year.
Maribel Lewis, a medical technologist in Palisades Park, New Jersey, suspected RSV when her 3-month old daughter Aiyannah, developed a persistent wheezy cough but no fever. "Her extreme lethargy tipped me off," says Lewis.
Aiyannah's pediatrician gave her an inhaler with medication to open her airways. But over the next two days, Aiyannah stopped nursing and became even more listless. When Lewis took her baby back, the pediatrician sent her to the hospital, where Aiyannah received intravenous fluids and intensive respiratory therapy (inhaled steroids).
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