Are you catching colds often? Check for allergies
Dear Dr. Donya,
I notice that my twin girls catch colds (coughing and runny nose) more often when they are in school and during the end of the year (October to December), or the middle of the year (the change of season). During these periods they will get a cold almost every month for about three months or so, then they will have a six-month healthy period before getting another cold.
The other thing is the Ping-Pong effect (they sleep in one room). Normally one gets a cold first, the other will get it after about five days or so. Then the recuperating one will be OK for a couple of days only to start getting a stuffy nose again. Is this possible?
Also could you give a recommendation as to how to improve their immune systems. Thank you.
--Inge
Dear Inge,
My first response to your question is yes there is such a thing as a cold and flu season, and yes colds and flus can be passed back and forth (Ping-Pong) and yes schools are a great place to catch colds as well. But I am a little concerned by the fact that the children get reinfected after already having the cold once. Typically a natural immunity will be in place after the initial infection. There is the possibility of some sort of allergy.
My advice is to visit an immunologist, who can ask you more questions about how the twins feel, and can look for signs of an allergy. If the doctor suspects an allergy, he may be able to give you medicine or perform immunotherapy.
-- Dr. Donya
Dear Dr. Donya,
My daughter is 9 weeks old and has had problems with her bowel movements for three days now. It seems she is constipated. Over this period, she has only had one bowel movement.
This situation has made her cranky because she usually has two to four bowel movements a day. Moreover, two days ago she had a slight fever (37.4 Celsius). Could this be due to her constipation?.
I am wondering about the cause of this and whether I can do something about it.
-- Pauline
Dear Pauline,
Generally, constipation refers to a hard stool that is difficult to pass, not the number of bowel movements each day, as long as the movement is still soft. Breast-fed babies commonly have infrequent movements after the first few months. But if your baby develops firm stools and seems uncomfortable, you can give her a little sugar water (one teaspoon of sugar to two ounces of water) or prune juice (start with two teaspoons) and see if that helps within three days maximum. Do not use any type of laxative. As for the fever, what route did you use to measure her temperature. If rectally, more than 38C is considered a fever, if you took her temperature under the arm pit then 37C is considered as having a fever. Constipation does not cause fever unless the baby is experiencing dehydration.
I hope this will help you.
-- Dr. Donya