Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffThe common cold is an upper respiratory tract infection caused by one of more than 100 viruses. The rhinovirus and coronavirus are common culprits, and are highly contagious. Other viruses that may cause a cold include enteroviruses and coxsackieviruses.
Once your baby has been infected by a virus, he or she generally becomes immune to that specific virus. But because there are so many viruses that cause colds, your baby may have several colds a year and many throughout his or her lifetime.
A common cold virus enters your baby's body through his or her mouth or nose. Your baby may be infected with such a virus by:
- Air. When someone who is sick coughs, sneezes or talks, they may directly spread the virus to your baby.
- Direct contact. The common cold can also spread when someone who is sick touches his or her mouth or nose, then touches your baby's hand. Your baby can then become infected by touching his or her own eyes, nose or mouth.
- Contaminated surfaces. Some viruses can live on surfaces for two hours or longer. Your baby may also catch a virus by touching a contaminated surface, such as a toy.
- Stopping germs at home, work and school. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/germstopper/home_work_school.htm. Accessed Aug. 5, 2008.
- Common colds and young children. American Academy of Pediatrics. http://www.aap.org/pubed/ZZZN097VA7C.htm?&sub_cat=107. Accessed Aug. 5, 2008.
- Pappas DE, et al. Patient information: The common cold in children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 6, 2008.
- Common cold. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/commonCold. Accessed Aug. 6, 2008.
- Klein JO, et al. Patient information: Ear infections (otitis media) in children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 6, 2008.
- Public health advisory: Nonprescription cough and cold medicine use in children. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/advisory/cough_cold_2008.htm. Accessed Aug. 7, 2008.
- Hoecker JL (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 8, 2008.
- Feeding infants: A guide for use in the child nutrition programs. U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/feeding_infants.pdf. Accessed Aug. 15, 2008.
- FDA statement following CHPA's announcement on nonprescription over-the-counter cough and cold medicines in children. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01899.html. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
- Statement from CHPA on the voluntary label updates to oral OTC children's cough and cold medicines. Consumer Healthcare Products Association. http://www.chpa-info.org/10_07_08_PedCC.aspx. Accessed Oct. 9, 2008.
