the average 4 year old and many school age children may have as many as nine colds per year with viruses being the offending agent responsible for their illness. antibiotics will be ineffective in viral cases. what is needed is rest fluids time (could be a week or longer) for antibodies to develop within the body to fight off the disorder and possibly over the counter fever reducers. most childhood colds are best treated at home. with that said i believe that when in doubt take the child to the hospital for professional assessment. it is better to be safe than sorry. always consider the hospital er in cases where the child has difficulty in breathing has associated abdominal pains is refusing fluids and in cases where the child has a fever that will not decrease within 3 days or exceeds 103. 9 degrees. the family doctor or child's pediatrician may also be consulted on the best course of action to be taken for cold symptoms or as in your case when a cough has existed for two (2) weeks. the link below from a webmd article on the topic provides more detailed information. <link>
when should bring child to er for cold. my 4 year old has had cough for 2 weeks. we have tried tylenol cough and cold and other otc remedies and nothing is working. what do we do now?