Diagnose the common cold in your baby

Diagnosing a common cold is a great parent skill to have because one, you won't panic when you don't need to (the common cold isn't scary) and two, you'll know when it's something worse than a cold which means you'll know when to call the pediatrician. The common cold is basically a viral respiratory tract infection that lasts for about 72 hours. IF it's the common cold you'll see some to all of the following symptoms...

• A mild cough.
• Tiredness or irritability - more than usual.
• Runny nose with clear mucus that could turn yellowish or greenish.

You can easily treat the common cold at home. A common cold and its symptoms will start to improve after 72 hours and should completely vanish over 5 to 7 days. Cold symptoms shouldn't last longer than 10 days and if symptoms vary from the above or get worse after a few days you should call the pediatrician, because it could be allergies or something more than a common cold.