Cold Treatment
Treating a child’s cold is like treating your own. All you can do is ease the symptoms. We recommend the following remedies to help your child feel better:
- Be sure your child gets plenty of rest.
- Give your child lots of fluids to drink.
- Over-the-counter saline nasal drops and sprays can help clear congestion. For infants, insert saline drops into one nostril, and then gently suction that nostril with a bulb syringe. Saline nasal sprays may be used in older children.
- Many physicians advise against using over-the-counter cough and cold medications in children under age 6. Talk to your doctor before giving your child any type of cold or cough medicine, even if it is labeled for children.
Influenza/Flu
The flu is a contagious infection of the nose, throat, and lungs caused by the influenza virus. Flu occurs most often during the winter – flu season – and is generally spread by breathing in droplets from coughs or sneezes. Less often, it is spread when you touch a surface such as a faucet handle or phone that has the virus on it and then touch your own mouth, nose or eyes.
Sometimes people confuse colds and flu, which share some of the same symptoms and typically occur at the same time of the year. However, the two diseases are very different.
Know The FACTS To Recognize The Flu
- (F) Fever
- (A) Aches
- (C ) Chills
- (T) Tiredness
- (S) Sudden Symptoms
WellStar Corporate & Community Health offers flu shots during flu season for adults and children ages 6 months and up. To learn more, contact your WellStar physician or use our Physician Finder to find a WellStar physician near you.
Symptoms
Flu usually begins abruptly, with a fever. The fever generally lasts a day or two, but can last up to five days.
Other symptoms include:
- Sore throat
- Chills
- Runny nose
- Dry cough
- Loss of appetite
- Muscle aches
- Tiredness
- Dizziness
- Flushed face
- Headache
- Nausea
- Vomiting
These symptoms (excluding cough) usually disappear within a week, though sometimes, the fever returns. The cough and tiredness often last for weeks after the rest of the illness is over.
WellStar recommends that you call your child's WellStar pediatrician right away if your child is younger than three months and has a fever. For a child older than three months who has been exposed to the flu or shows signs of the flu, call your child's doctor within 48 hours. Also, call your WellStar pediatrician if your child experiences any of the following:
- Trouble breathing
- Blue lips or nails
- A cough that will not go away after one week
- Earache
- Fever that continues or comes back after three to four days
- Your child has asthma, diabetes or any other health condition
Flu Treatment
If your child has a mild case of the flu, and is not at risk of complications due to asthma or other health conditions, treat flu with these steps: