Cold and Cough

Hi F.,
Strangely enough, a similar thing happened last year when I sent my daughter to preschool. We started early Nov. and it seemed like for 3 months the kid was sick. Cold after cold, ear infection and infection. I was at the end of my 2nd pregnancy and soooo tired too! (before going to school she hardly ever got sick & never had an ear infection either 'til 3yrs old-weird) BUT my point is this, she got better!! She went the rest of the year without a cold and this year has only had one bout of the sniffles.
Hang in there. I can only imagine how tought it is. You'll make the best/right decision.
S.

Sorry to tell you there is not a lot to be done, I once heard it explained (by a doctor on the TV news program) that there are more than 200 hundred cold viuses, (as in variation of cold viruses) and once you have had a cold you are immuned to that particular virus, but there are still 199 more to go. By the time your 80yrs old you should have gone through most of them. Thats why kids get sick more often than adults, and on average you can get 3 colds a year. Kids are going to get sick in school and bring it home, you can only do so much, but it going to happen. Cold do not respond to anti-botics because it a virus, unless it strep or ear infection, which is bacterial you just have to let it run its course. Flu is also a virus, and you can get the kids shot too if you want, it useually recommend for babies now I believe. If there is there is any disease of the immune stystem (fiber myalsia, ms, aids) that concerns you then you have to talk to your doctor.

Many changes in diet and supplements have tremendously helped my daughter because once she started daycare she was sick for 3 months straight with ear infections and sinusitis, and I finally figured some home remedies that actually worked out and also moved her to a smaller private daycare.

Anyways, if you can afford it pediatric chiropractor helps a lot for strengthening their immune system. I have a good chiropractor I can reccomend. My daughter goes 2-3x a month and it is $47 a month. It truly helps!

Some less expensive remedies are giving your kids extra vitamin C (you can use Emergen-C for Kids 1/2 pack a day in their drink), echinacea/astragulus and if they get ear infections you can do willow/garlic ear oil. Sprouts or Sunflower market carry a good children's brand called Herbs for Kids and they come in dropper form.

Another thing that helped my daughter stop producing so much mucus was to cut dairy out of her diet. She is now on rice and soy and that has also seemed to help. For the newborn I would not reccomend but for the 3 year old it should help. The best rice milk is Rice Dream, Vanilla Enriched and almost every store carries it.

And also a probiotic will help with many things. My daughter has been taking Jarrow BabyDopholis for a long time now and it has helped with her immune system and digestion greatly. That you can also get at Sunflower market.

I also found that "hosing and steaming the nose" helped tremendously. I did saline drops and sucked my daughters nose 3x a day and at night and naps put the humidifier with eculalyptus drops.

And then of course all the sleep they can get will work wonders.

And last but not least avoiding any vaccinations and antibiotics will help strengthen their immune systems while sick.

I hope this helps! Email me if you have any more questions:
____@____.com care- Meg

I know it can be very difficult. It is actually good for him to be getting this exposure now. When we put my son in daycare for the first time we had the same problem. He was always sick. Cough, colds, ear infections. I felt like I was always either on the phone with his doctor or at the office. The doctor said that it was good because he was building immunites (sp?) and that it would help further down the road. Hang in there I hope all turns out well.

M.

Great Remedies for cold and cough:

hylands "sniffles and Sneezes" and Boiron childrens cough medicine (Chestal I think).

Hi,just a thought about what may be causing the cough and runny nose with your 3yr. old.Could he possibly have allergies? He could be allergic to cleaners that are used on the floors,desks or bathroom at school.I get an instant runny nose and sore like throat whenever I smell pine sol or Mr. Clean.I'm also allergic to mold, whether indoors or out,which gives me a bad headache and sick stomach.You could ask the school what type of cleaning supplies they use and then ask your doctor or pediatrician to run some allergy tests on your child.I'm a 60 yr. old grandma that has trouble with allergies year round.Some of my children and grandchildren have them too.Some take allergy shots and others take over the counter pills.You might ask if a certain type of air freshener is used in the classroom.Food allergies might be possible,but they would have to have the same foods over & over,for your son's reaction to hang on so often.An allergy test should show if it's food,cleaning supplies,air fresheners,perfume,hand soap,etc.The runny nose & cough can be signs of different ailments.Your doctor could run tests to rule out certain things and might even get lucky and find the cause right away.Good Luck.J. K.

This is so completely normal if your child has never been around large groups of kids. I do agree to lessen the cold medicine as it is good to let the cold happen during the daytime, if it is disrupting his sleep is the only time to give him anything. The reason kids are having problems with cold meds is only because their parents aren't measuring correctly and giving it too often! Kids typically have 6 to 8 colds a year. I have found that some children's cold meds do help a ton if the child needs good rest but only at night. Try Vicks Vapor plugs to help ease him at night too. I keep telling my friend who is a germaphobe with her 2 1/2 year old daughter that it is so good for them to get sick now instead of when they get into Elementary school and be sick all the time. Each time his immunity system is building up and making him stronger. I would ask your Dr if it is okay to give him a Vitamin C supplement as that shortens the durations of colds with my kids. I kept my daughter at home until she was 3 and then put her in preschool when my son was born. My daughter was this same way in her third year and it is hard especially with a baby around but to be honest my son is healthier because of it (he is was a newborn when she was three) as now he has been around her and exposed and able to fight off more.
I agree with your husband. You cannot isolate him or prevent the germs, you are doing what you can with the hand washing but when kids first come from being at home all the time to school situations/playgroup type thing it is bound to happen. Just be glad it is now when his being home or absent doesn't count as much as when they are in Kindergarten. It doesn't hurt to ask the Preschool what their sick kid policy is and what degree they allow sick kids at school. Also ask them how often they clean the toys and so on. Good luck, part of mommyhood!

Definitely keep up the washing hands and keeping things clean and deoderized at home. (The non-toxic products are better for you and your family). Make sure he's eating healthy and taking a good multi-vitamin as well as add a probiotic to his diet. I use a liquid form that can be added to joice or water. As far as the runny, stuffy nose at night, get some cloves or powdered cloves and add it to boiling water. The steam smells wonderful and will clear up his nose - naturally! No meds.... I just leave the cup or pot of water in his room overnight (somewhere safe) and his whole room is filled with the aroma.

My 2 1/2 yr old is with me 24/7 and when we spend time in play group if someone is sick, he often doesn't get sick, but when/if he does it only lasts 2-3 days and it's not bad.

Best wishes,
C.~
www.TotalWellnessInfo.com

My family faces the exact same situation. One thing I have found to help is a good diet, a multi-vitamin, herbal remedies (one company I have found to make a good mix for kids is Wish Garden-Kick it Immune, found at pharmaca or whole foods or other health food stores) and homeopathics. The worst thing is that it really is time that makes the biggest difference....They need to build up their immune systems and getting sick is how they do it!

try using a humidifier to keep the nasal passages moist at night, try to avoid a bacterial infection moving in. If it comes down to anti-biotics, which we went through a lot of last winter, give yogurt or acidophilus to prevent yeast! Hang in there, it does get better as they get a little older. My 4 year old hasn't been sick yet and he was a mess last year!

It is good that you have your son in school. Though it may be tough, it is a really good thing that you son is exposed to these colds. Over time he will build up an immunity to a lot of this and wont as sick as often. Good luck to you.

The same thing has happened with my 2 year old daughter...she actually is running a fever again tonight. It seems like it has been non stop since we started her in school. I breast-fed her until she turned 1, and she really hasn't ever had anything as far as colds and being sick goes. I was told by my Dr that kids get sick a lot usually the first 2 years of school. So basically if you decide to pull your son out now it will just happen again down the rode when you enroll him at another time. Going to school and being around other kids just subjects them to more than they are uised to at home. So this is their immune system having to work. I hope your little one gets better. I've been pretty frustrated myself, but I just keep telling myself let her get this over with now so it doesn't happen when she starts Kindergarten!

I agree with most of what Josie said. My husband is a Physician Assistant and was telling me about the cold medication studies/information. We're overdosing our kids! In addition to all she said, I would focus on nutrition, as well. Whole foods and cut out the processed sugar and flour. It depletes our bodies and there's less resources going to fighting infections. Good luck.

Children's "Musinex" works very well for the congestion. You should keep him in school. Children are going to share colds. Whether they are 3yeras old, or 15 years old. Statistically children that go to a pre-school/daycare are sick more often as infant/toddlers, but they are building their immune system. As older children they tend to be sick less often, resulting in fewer sick days from school. Not only that, but by pulling him out of school you are sacrificing his education. Unfortunatly we cannot always keep our children from being sick or hurt, but we can Love them!

Hey,
I feel your pain. I just went through this with my three year old and one year old. They had a runny nose and cough for 2 months and also got the stomach flu once on top of that. I swear they just kept giving it back and forth to each other. Its finally gone now! But with my daughter being in preschool I'm sure they will get it back. I don't think there is much you can do. I just try and make sure that they eat really healthy, I try not to give them any sugar and I always give them their vitamins. At least this way there immune system will be more ready to fight things off. It is normal for them to get sick a lot when they first start school. They will eventually build up more and more antibodies to illness and get sick less. Hang in there and know this is normal. ;)

Have you taken him to the pediatrician to make sure it's just a cold? My 2 year old has had allergies and they started about 6 months ago when she started a new daycare (a home daycare). They apparently had something in their home she was allergic to...cat hair on the carpet? she was only sick when she was at that place. She's been a lot better since we changed daycares. You might look into checking to see if what he has are not allergies. They will make them have a runny nose and cough from the drainage. Good luck.

Vics Vapo Rub - However, rub it vigorously on the bottom of you little ones feet and cover with socks before bed and in the morning. This breaks up chest congestion and quiets coughs. Bleach, Bleach, Bleach....

Are you doing dairy products? They are the number one cause of this type of thing. Also, sugar is a huge culprit. It depresses the immune system for several hours.

My oldest child had colds pretty often when she was younger. We got her a humidifier. I'm not saying it totally has kept her from getting colds - but it's helped! Use one for the baby, too. It keeps all those membranes from drying out and letting germs in so easily. Now, we use a humidifier for both kids all the time!

I will feel the same way. Have you talked to the preschool. They are supposed to send the sick kids home. I have found that most medications don't work and it is best for the child to fight it off on thier own. I know that sounds harsh but it works for my two kids. well i hope this little bit helps talk to the school.

most kids do get sick more often when they first start a school or child care. Its difficult to deal with but pulling him out won't help ,uch because when you put him back in he will still get sick.

Although he does seem to get sick often when my son started day care he wasn't getting sick as often but it was often enough that it was hard and I had to work so it required calling in.

I also suggest vitamins if he doesn't already take them.

Hi there!
Have you tried any natural/homeopathy remedies? You can find these at any organic, naturalpathic stores, i.e., Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wild Oats. I'm a step-mom, and anything we give my step-son is all natural, or homeopathic. But my sister has a 3 yr old so she's really prepping me for when I have a child :) One suggestion would be, to get him a pro-biotic, which is acidophilus. You keep it in the fridge, they have children's form, in a powder that is flavlorless, you just mix in with his juice, he can't taste it. The brand is Jarrow. This helps to boost his immune system so it's good to use it every day even. And she uses Pustilla for his runny nose, they come in like pellot form, that tastes like sugar, so he'll like them; it helps break up the mucus. The brand name for this is Boiron. This has been VERY successful for him, he doesn't get sick around his cousin anymore, who seems to have a cold everytime they visit :)
If you're able to visit a homeopathy place, that'd be the best bet too to get what's right for your son. What you feel comfortable with him taking, and what not, that's how my sister has learned about this alternative medicine, just getting another opinion. I hope this helps :)

I have recently heard that putting Vick's Vaporub on your children's feet will help with cough and cold symptoms. Some of my friends and their children have tried it and found that it actually works.
I would advise you not to take your children out of school as the only way to prevent them having these colds in the future is to go ahead and get them now.
I know it is scary to see your children sick, but this seems to happen to them all. (Hopefully, less and less)
I would also cut down on carbs (bread, potatoes) and dairy products (and soy since he's a boy) and pump up the green leafy veggies and raisons (iron) and fruit that is high in vitamin C. This will help their immune system.
I would also advise against using "anti-bacterial" hand soap as it takes away the good bacteria and, I feel, leaves you more vulnerable.