When is a cold not a cold?

[melli]

My ds is now in his third week of what has seemed like a really bad cold, he is 10 months old. his appetitte and energy is back but he is still coughing and restless in the nite and has loads of green snot. I had thought it would have cleared up by now , is it normal for a cold to go on like this or could it be an allergy of some sort, wuite worried about it all now.hes main milk source is BM and he enjoys a variety of solids.any advice?experiences would be much appriciated. thanks

Melli - The actual cold virus itself causes an infection lasting 3-4 days. However, the mucus might take much longer than that to clear out. Also, as there are so many different strains of the common cold virus it is possible to catch one after the other. It's awful and that's why we can sometimes feel like our colds last for weeks.

Allergies tend not to produce this thick green snot (gross!!!). The runny nose from an allergy is usually very watery and mostly clear. Green snot indicates an infection, such as the cold.

All you can do really is aid in the speedy clean-up of the mucus, I'm afraid. Like Dino suggests.

HTH.