Viruses

Well, the baby has his first cold. It has been going around the house so I’m not exactly surprised. But it is interfering with our sleep and my blogging time. In light of his cold and since we are entering the winter when our kids get sick more often and I thought I’d write several posts about respiratory viruses, fever, seasonal influenza, and ear infections. First, respiratory viruses.

There are many kinds of viruses:
• rhinovirus
• coronavirus
• adenovirus
• enterovirus
• respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
• coxsackie virus
• echovirus
• orthomyxovirus (influenza virus)
• paramyxovirus (parainfluenza)

Facts about respiratory viruses:

• Children usually have 6-12 viruses a year, depending on how old they are and if they are in daycare or school.
• A cold usually lasts 7-14 days. So, if you have a 1 year old in daycare you can expect 10-12 viruses a year and if each virus lasts 2 weeks, then he could easily have cold symptoms 20 weeks of the year. This is annoying but completely normal.
• Kids will have runny nose, cough, possibly a sore throat or headache.
• Antibiotics do not kill viruses so they do not help with a cold.
• The color of the mucous or runny nose does not automatically indicate if the infection is viral or bacterial. Just because the baby has a green runny nose does not mean he needs an antibiotic.
• Often a fever will accompany the first few days of a new virus. Fever is not necessarily a bad thing. It means that the immune system is fighting the illness. Click here for more information about fever.

Here is my video on clearing out a baby's nose.  Be prepared to make baby MAD!

Click here to see what you can do to prevent your child from getting viruses.
Click here to see how to take care of your child while they have a virus.