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Expert Q&A

	By John Dorsey, M.D. Pediatrician

My 2-year-old son has recently started playing more with other children. Since then, he's gotten sick more often. What can I do?

Yours is a common question. It's a problem all parents face as their kids branch out and begin to socialize with other children. We also see it a lot in young school children. In the old days, kids who were sick would stay home from school. Now there is a popular mindset to keep them going, even with mild fevers and illnesses.

The same is true of your 2-year-old. He is around kids who carry these mild infections, and they pass them back and forth among each other. Touching the same toys, coughing and sneezing on one another, etc.

The truth is, there's not a lot you can do. There are no wonder vitamins that will protect him from these little sicknesses. Just make sure he eats a nutritious diet and drinks lots of liquids. Over time, his immune system will develop more defenses, and the incidents of getting sick around others will decrease.

If he continues to get sick time after time, mention it to your pediatrician on your next visit. That way, you can be re-assured it's just part of growing up and that he's not continually carrying around a low-grade bacterial infection that just doesn't go away."

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