Kids' Health Concerns Ease with Age Your child is coughing and
has a fever—again. You begin to worry: Didn't they just get over
a cold? When children are young, it's normal for them to have a
variety of childhood illnesses and problems. Most go away as the
child gets older. Here are some common health hurdles and when
you can expect improvement. Preschoolers tend to get six to 12
colds a year. That number drops to two or three a year by school
age. The reason: Kids come into the world with no immunity to
the 200 or so rhino viruses that cause the common cold. Immunity
develops only after infection. Expect improvement by age 7. Why
do infants and toddlers get ear infections more frequently?
Blame it on the eustachian tube, a tiny passage between the
middle ear and the back of the nose (nasopharynx). It is
supposed to drain and ventilate the middle ear. When an adult
stands, the eustachian tube is angled upward from the throat to
the ear at a 45-degree angle. This allows gravity to pull fluid
downward toward th