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Amanda Wilde (Host): Does it seem like your child is always sick once winter rolls around? In this episode, we'll get to the truth about sniffles, viruses, and what we can do to support kids' health with pediatrician, Dr. Leslie Young from Memorial Care Medical Group. This is Weekly Dose of Wellness, brought to you by Memorial Care Health System. I'm Amanda Wilde. Dr. Young, welcome to the podcast.

Leslie Young, M.D.: Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about this important topic.

Host: Yes. Well, thanks for being here to help us understand why kids are especially vulnerable to illness in the wintertime. Does cold weather actually make kids sick?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Well, indirectly. The cold temperature doesn't necessarily lower your immune system or make someone more vulnerable. However, when the weather turns inclement, people's tendency is to hide indoors and when people are gathering in an indoor space, especially if it's crowded during the holidays, that does promote the transmission of pathogens from one person to another.

Host: Yeah, that totally makes sense that we're indoors and during holidays, like you said, we're together and we're in lots of different groups of people. So what are the most common viral infections children pick up during the colder months?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Well, I tend to think about this in two different categories. One is the common cold or respiratory illnesses, and the other one is the gastrointestinal illnesses, which is also very common during the winter. So the respiratory illnesses include your common cold, influenza, RSV, and the most infamous COVID-19. And the gastrointestinal illnesses; there's several viruses, but the one that's predominates during the winter, there's a norovirus that tends to cause outbreaks and also rotavirus that tends to cause outbreaks during the wintertime. However, with the advent of the vaccine, more than a decade ago, rotavirus is no longer as a significant threat during the winter.

Host: Well, I was going to ask about flu shots. Adults get them. Are they helpful for kids? And what about vaccinations? Keeping kids healthy during the winter season?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Vaccination plays a vital role in keeping children healthy and they work for adults. And influenza in children also can be pretty serious and life threatening at times.

So in fact, over our experience through the pandemic, we understand that influenza actually poses a much greater threat for babies and children than COVID-19 infections.

Host: So can flu shots be helpful for kids?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Absolutely. Flu shots is given annually, as you know, and I just want to just emphasize the fact that if someone is under eight years old and this is the first time that they're getting the flu vaccine, they need actually two doses. And it will offer significant protection from getting sick from the flu.

Host: So speaking of the flu, how do we tell the difference as parents between a cold and the flu?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Yes, the cold and the flu, the biggest difference is that influenza tends to cause a lot more complications, but merely from a symptom perspective, I would say if you find your child being sick and she continues to be playful and still has a relatively good appetite, or appetite is relatively unaffected, then most likely it is the common cold.

Influenza is much more likely to cause lethargy and anorexia or reduced appetite in children.

Host: What practical steps can parents take to protect their kids from getting sick or boost their immune system?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Well, we've already talked about the importance of getting their annual influenza vaccine, so that's one thing. Meticulous hand washing is also very important, and you can do this by modeling hand washing yourself, so all the parents and caregiver around the children you should wash your hands carefully and intentionally. Children learn much more by observing than being told what to do. So if they see that everyone is very mindful about good hand hygiene, then they will do the same. And in addition to that, I would just say simply avoid going to public places when you're sick, when your child is sick, when you're sick. That will prevent the spread to the community.

Host: So you've mentioned some really good prevention techniques, but even so, kids still get sick. So what should a parent do when their child wakes up sick at 2:00 AM and and how long should symptoms last before parents should start worrying?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Right? Because we're talking about more than just a single type of virus. So the duration of the sickness can vary and also what could be done can vary to some degree also. I would say as a general rule of thumb, when it comes to cold symptoms, children under the age of four very much have a, a limited option in as far as managing their symptoms.

The best bet is usually for younger children, children under four is to use the cool mist humidifier and I advise parents to not leave the humidifier on all day because it can increase the humidity of the room so much that it could cause condensation on the furniture, on the wall. And then before you know it, you have a mold problem. And for children over four, you can have greater options when it comes to the over the counter treatments. Things like Dimetapp, sudafed, robutussin, Delsym. These are the common ones. But as far as the duration, RSV is notorious for causing very prolonged symptoms. The cough associated with RSV tends to last more than two weeks and sometimes even more than three weeks. So, depends on the type of virus.

Host: What are the options Memorial Care offers in terms of urgent care and quick care visits? And how might these services make it easier for families to get help?

Leslie Young, M.D.: It is important to know that your job as a parent is to love your children unconditionally and take care of them, but you might not know how to triage a condition when your child is sick. So, you can leave that up to us. You can call for advice nurse. You can schedule an on-demand virtual care video appointment.

You can bring your child to urgent care. You can also have a virtual online chat with a medical professional, or you can schedule an appointment with your primary care doctor. All these are options.

Host: So actually, if you have worries and you're debating whether to take your child in for urgent care, maybe a phone call is the option there.

Leslie Young, M.D.: Absolutely right. The nurse will help you triage a situation. I would say there are different levels of urgency. The least serious is when the nurse can simply offer some reassurance because everything seems okay and complication is unlikely. One level above that will be schedule an appointment with a primary care doctor the following day or sometime that same week.

One level up above that when it comes to severity, is you may have to schedule an appointment in urgent care, and then again, when the situation is even more urgent, you may have to bring your child to the emergency, or in the worst case scenario when it's very, very urgent, you may have to call paramedics.

Host: So that's a good, outline of the different levels. When a child keeps getting sick back to back to back, is that normal? What's going on with that?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Well, one of my favorite saying is that getting sick is part of growing up. Every time your child gets sick, your child's body learns how to fight off against that germ. So it's inevitable that when your child grows up, he or she has to get sick and get sick enough times so that there's sufficient immunity.

Most people know we don't have vaccines against everything. So most common colds, they don't respond to vaccines. They're not protected by vaccination.

So on average, a child under the age of two will get sick approximately once a month, during the wintertime, during the first winter season.

And that number goes up higher if your child is enrolled in a daycare setting. So getting sick over and over, it is considered normal, because it typically takes about weeks to get over each cold. Sometimes it does seems like your child is sick continuously for several months, but in reality it's just basically one cold after another.

Host: Yep. And as you said, the recovery period sort of depends on the virus. And you also mentioned, the humidifier as one possible way to help ameliorate the effects. What's the best way to care for a sick child at home? Are there other tips you have to keep them comfortable?

Leslie Young, M.D.: Well, good nutrition and adequate sleep is always important. Ironically, having cold symptoms sometimes disrupts eating and drinking and disrupts sleep as well. So you may have to work extra hard to ensure that your child is getting adequate nutrition and getting enough rest at night.

Host: Excellent. And then parents, don't forget, you need some rest too if you can get it.

Leslie Young, M.D.: Well, yes, you usually the parent takes one for the team, so priorities of your child's health over yours, and it's not uncommon when I hear the mother will take care of three sick kids and stay healthy until everyone recovers and then she collapses with the sickness.

Host: Oh, that is so, so common. Well, like you said, part of childhood is being sick and so part of parenthood is dealing with that and your reward is getting sick yourself.

Leslie Young, M.D.: Right.

Host: But thank you for the preventive measures that we can take and for explaining this phenomenon of children being sick in the winter. You have pointed out what we can do to keep it at a minimum. So we'll try that. Thank You.

Leslie Young, M.D.: You're welcome.

Host: That was pediatrician, Dr. Leslie Young from Memorial Care Medical Group. Where can parents go to access care at any time? Care is available anytime by calling 877-696-3622 or visit MemorialCare.Org/getcarenow. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it on your social channels and explore our entire podcast library for more topics of interest. Thanks for listening. This is Weekly Dose of Wellness, brought to you by Memorial Care Health System.