Seems like whenever your child gets over a sore throat, fever, cough, or bout of diarrhea, he immediately comes down with something else. "Children also catch between four and nine colds a year," says Thomas Powers, M.D., a pediatrician in private practice in Brooklyn, New York. "If you do the math, that's about one every six weeks." No wonder you may feel as though you spend more time with the pediatrician than with your spouse! Children under 3 are especially vulnerable: Their immune systems aren't yet fully developed, so they're less capable of fighting off illness. And when they do get sick, their symptoms can be more severe than those of older kids exposed to the same viruses or bacteria. So it's crucial to know the ailments your baby or toddler is most susceptible to and when you should call the doctor.
Laura Muha's last article for Parenting was "Your Baby's Amazing Brain," in the Fall 1999 special issue.
