Children often contract the common cold faster than any body else.  This is because children often have a weaker immune system and because they are exposed to more germs than adults.  When you think about it, every time your child goes to daycare preschool or school, he or she is barraged with a whole host of cold germs in the air.  The common cold can make your child feel tired and cranky.  Here are some suggestions for helping your child get through the cold season.

All children can be treated for the cold much in the same way as adults. Pain relievers such as Tylenol can often help ease the worst symptoms associated with the common cold in children.  There are many wonderful cold medications on the market that are specially designed for children.  You will want to use some caution when using these types of medications to make sure that you are giving your child the correct dosage.  In addition, recent studies have shown that using cough suppressant with children is a bad idea and should be avoided altogether possible. In fact many companies are pulling children’s cough syrups off the market.

If you have an infant under the age of six months, you will want to pay special attention to any illness.  You may think a common cold is harmless, but in infants, a cold can turn into something more serious, such as RSV.

Most children who have the cold will not need to make a trip to the pediatrician.  However, if you notice that your child has difficulty breathing or is running a fever, he or she may need to make a trip to the doctor.  In addition, severe coughing that causes vomiting or choking may also require a trip to the doctor’s office. Colds can also turn in to ear infections, so stay on the look out for that as well.