Hi,

I have two questions to ask of you, first being, I have a 4 mth old son that has had cold like symptoms for over a month now.  These symptoms consist of runny nose, sneezing, coughing and congested chest, aside from these symptons, he is otherwise a healthly baby, eats and sleeps normally.  He is not lathargic whatsoever.  I just wanted to know if these symptons are consistent with those of babies who are allergic to cats or dogs ( I have one of each).  I just put the two together a few days ago and I would like to know what can be done to see if it is the pets that are causing him to have these symptoms.

Well, that is my first question.  My second is concerning my other son who is 3 yrs old.  I believe that he has stuck something up his nose.  I started noticing a while ago that there was a bad odor coming from that area of his face, at first I thought it waqs his breath, but then noticed it was coming from his nose.  I bought a spray that did dislodge some dried lood from his nose (which also had that odor).  Now the odor is gone but I can see something up his nose, I am not sure if it is mucos or a foreign object.  His breathing is fine, so whatever he has up his nose is not blocking his air passage way.  Should I be taking him to the hospital or just leave it alone, seeing that it does not seem to be bothing him at all and the bad odor is gone.

Thank you for any advice you can give me,

Maria