The Daycare & Preschool Reality.

Your child finally gets over a cold, everyone sleeps through the night again…and three days later, the runny nose is back.

If your child recently started daycare, preschool, or elementary school, you may find yourself wondering: Is it normal for my child to be sick this often?

For many young children, the answer is yes.

Why Does It Feel Like They’re Always Sick?

Young children are still building their immune systems and are being exposed to many viruses for the first time.

Add a classroom full of little kids sharing toys, touching their faces, sucking their fingers, coughing near each other, and occasionally putting things in their mouths – and viruses have plenty of opportunities to spread.

It can also feel like your child has been sick for months because illnesses can overlap. A cough or runny nose from one virus may linger just long enough for the next one to arrive.

Silver Lining.

Young children do build lasting, virus-specific immunity by being infected early in life and this is an expected and necessary part of immune system development. Each cold and stomach bug produces an “immune memory” so that over the course of childhood, vulnerability to these viruses decreases and protection is kept for decades of adult life.

When a child gets many colds, it’s not that they are failing to build immunity to a specific infection, it’s that they are encountering many different viruses.

Sadly, our arch nemesis Rhinovirus (the common cold) has so many subtypes that one can be positive for it hundreds of times before true immunity is built.

How Often Is “Normal”?

It is not unusual for young children, particularly in the first two seasons of daycare or preschool, to have one to two viral illnesses per month in the fall and winter months.

The good news? As children get older and their immune systems encounter these viruses for the second and third time, many families notice that the seemingly endless cycle of illnesses begins to slow down.

Does a Runny Nose Always Mean My Child Is Sick?

Not necessarily.

Runny noses can linger after a viral infection, and children can also have congestion related to allergies or irritation.

The color of nasal mucus can change during the course of an illness, too. Yellow or green mucus alone does not necessarily mean your child has a bacterial infection or needs antibiotics.

What About a Cough That Won’t Go Away?

Coughs frequently outlast the other symptoms of a cold.

A child may be back to playing, eating, and acting normally while still having an occasional cough – especially at night or first thing in the morning.

What matters is how your child is doing overall.

A cough should be evaluated if your child is having difficulty breathing, breathing unusually fast, wheezing, experiencing significant chest pain, appears very ill, or if you are concerned that the cough is getting worse rather than better.

Can I Actually Prevent All These Illnesses?

Probably not – and that’s okay.

But a few simple habits can help reduce the spread of germs:

• Encourage regular handwashing.

• Prioritize sleep, regular meals, hydration, and physical activity.

• Teach children to cough and sneeze into their elbow.

• Avoid sharing cups, utensils, and water bottles.

• Keep children home when they have symptoms that make them unable to comfortably participate in school or when they may be particularly contagious.

• Keep your child up to date on recommended vaccinations, including seasonal Flu vaccine.

There is no supplement or “immune booster” that can prevent every daycare or school virus.

When Should I Be More Concerned?

Frequent colds alone usually do not mean that something is wrong with your child’s immune system.

However, we want to hear from you if illnesses seem unusually severe, your child is not recovering as expected, has difficulty breathing, is becoming dehydrated, has persistent or recurrent high fevers, is losing weight or not growing appropriately, or simply seems much sicker than you would expect from a typical cold.

And, of course, if something about your child’s illness doesn’t feel right to you, give us a call.

The Bottom Line.

If you feel like someone in your house has had a runny nose since school started, you are definitely not alone.

For many young children, frequent viral illnesses are an expected part of starting daycare or school. It can be exhausting for the whole family, but it usually gets better as children get older.

Not sure whether your child’s symptoms are just another daycare cold or something that needs to be checked? Call Beverly Hills Pediatrics. We’re happy to help you decide what to do next.

Beverly Hills Pediatrics is open Monday through Friday at our Beverly Hills and Valley locations, with Saturday and Sunday appointments available at our Beverly Hills office. Our nurse triage team and on-call physicians are also available for guidance after hours.