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Coughs and Colds

Dr Tanya Byron

On average every child will get around 3 to 8 relatively minor coughs and colds a year. A child's still developing immune system will always be more susceptible to picking up infections as it is just beginning to learn how to deal with these certain cough and cold viruses. There are 200 common cold strains so your child catching one isn't very difficult, but the common cold or flu infections don't tend to cause a serious illness.

A common time for your baby to catch a cough or cold is when they start leaving the home to go to nursery1. Here they're obviously more likely to come into contact with children who may be infected - Cold and flu viruses are easily spread around. When an infected person coughs or sneezes, the virally infected droplets become airborne and particularly hard to avoid. Also, children are very hands on with other children and just can't resist putting their hands in their mouth after touching something which could possibly be infected.

Common colds and flu can induce a cough. Coughing is a reflex action which, if productive, 'brings up' the mucus that clears the chest of dust and dirt particles. A dry cough is usually caused by an irritation to the lining of the throat and can be soothed by a cough linctus. A child's cough, if a symptom of cold or flu, should clear up within a couple of days. If it becomes a persistent cough it could indicate a respiratory tract condition such as Pertussis or whooping cough as it is more commonly known. If your child's cough does become persistent you should consult your GP as soon as possible. You should be aware of the symptoms of whooping cough which are long coughing bouts of around 20 to 30 seconds in one go, watery eyes, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, runny nose and mild temperature.

The main symptoms of winter bugs are sneezing, coughing, sore throat, runny nose, headache and slight temperature. The best way to minimise the impact of coughs, colds and flu bugs is to eat healthily and take plenty of rest and liquids. If your baby is young you could keep up their liquid intake by giving smaller, more frequent feeds. You can go to your local pharmacy and describe your baby's symptoms and obtain an over the counter remedy to help combat the symptoms of cold and flu. A trip to your local GP might not be necessary as most of these viral conditions clear up on their own after a few days, however if your baby's symptoms don't improve or indeed begin to deteriorate, you should seek professional advice straight away.

There are some benefits to your child catching coughs and colds as each time they do they build up a stronger immunity to it in future. While most bugs run their course without doing any real harm, there are some cases where you should take your child to see a doctor. They include:

- If your child has a chronic condition such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease

- If your child feels unwell, with temperature, headache and abdominal pain

- If your baby is vomiting but does not have diarrhoea, and has a rash in addition to fever

- If your baby is lethargic and stops drinking

¹ Source: Dr Jane, UCL Institute of Child Health

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