What Causes Cold In An Infant?

Posted on Wed, 1 Oct 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 1 Oct 2014 Answered on

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Baby is more than 3 weeks old today.Our baby seems like infected with cold as it sneezes sometimes everyday. Is any food diet of mother causing it.What could be the reason?
What are the steps that could be taken to cure it in babies?
Please advice.

Answered by Dr. Sumanth Amperayani (26 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Common cold, probably viral

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX this seems like a common cold which could most probably be viral in origin. Coming to your queries -

1. It is not at all related to the mother a diet. Usually it is climate related, especially more so in this season.

2. As I suggested, it could be cold weather or climatic/ seasonal changes or viral illness causing this.

3. You need not do anything... It is self limiting and will settle by itself. None of the anticold medicines are safe to use in such an young baby.

4. For nasal congestion or block you can use saline nasal drops every 4th hourly once.

Regards - Dr. Sumanth

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar