The Cold Facts: How to Prevent and Treat Your Child's Cold
December 13, 2024
What is a cold?
The common cold is a sickness that spreads easily and affects your nose and throat. The first symptoms can be a tickle in your throat, a runny or stuffy nose, and sneezing. Kids with colds might also feel very tired, have a sore throat, cough, headache, mild muscle aches or fever.
While most adults catch a cold from time to time, kids can get eight colds or more per year! Being sick from a cold is the top reason kids miss school and visit the doctor. A cold can make you sick for a week or more.
How do colds spread?
Not wearing a jacket or sweater when it’s chilly or going outside with wet hair do not cause colds.
Colds are the most common infections in the United States. A person can spread a cold for days to weeks after having his or her first symptoms.
When someone sneezes or coughs, infected particles can travel up to 12 feet through the air. When you touch a germy surface and then touch your mouth or nose, the virus can spread to you.
How can I keep my child from getting a cold?
There is not a vaccine to protect against colds because there are so many different viruses. For this reason, parents need to teach their kids some steps to help avoid catching or spreading a cold.
Kids should:
- Stay away from anyone who has a cold.
- Wash hands well and often, especially after blowing your nose.
- Sneeze or cough into a tissue or your elbow, not into your hands.
- Do not share towels, drinking glasses or eating utensils with someone else.
- Do not pick up other people’s used tissues.
How can parents help their sick child?
Should parents “feed a cold” when it comes to their kids? The best plan is to just make sure your child eats when hungry. Make sure your child is comfortable, gets plenty of rest and drinks extra amounts of fluids.
If your child has the symptoms of a cold and does not feel well, you may need to keep him or her home from school. Make sure to avoid contact with other children if your child is contagious.
You might want to put some daily routines aside until your child feels better. Cold symptoms should get better in 7 to 10 days. If the cold seems to get worse, please see a doctor for help.
Ways to make your child feel better include:
- Putting saline (saltwater) drops in their nose.
- Running a cool-mist humidifier to increase air moisture.
- Dabbing petroleum jelly on the skin under the nose to soothe rawness.
- Running a warm bath or using a heating pad to soothe aches and pains.
- Running a hot shower to create a steam-filled bathroom where your child can sit to help clear stuffiness.
- Giving acetaminophen or ibuprofen as needed if your child is 6 months or older.
Parents should never:
- Give cough or cold medicine to children under 6 years old.
- Give aspirin to a child.
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