“Your healthy baby blog” by Shelley Weiss, MD

You’ve heard it from your friends, your neighbors, your family members.  One baby has been suffering from a severe cough for the last 3 days.  Another baby was in the emergency room overnight;  it’s a bad virus, and she is going back to the doctor again today.  Yet another baby was put in the hospital for 4 days because he was having too much trouble breathing. Yes, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is here, and spreading around the community.  RSV is a virus, more common in the winter, which causes infection of the lower respiratory tract, known as bronchiolitis (not to be confused with bronchitis). This is an inflammation of the small airways deep inside the lungs, called the bronchioles, which can cause severe breathing distress in infants and young children.  Sometimes the swelling and mucous buildup be severe enough to require a young child to be hospitalized, and can be life threatening.   

How can I know if my child has RSV?

 The symptoms of bronchiolitis can range from just a cough