When do you take your child to the dr for a cold?

Caitlin has had a cold for the past 5 days. It is hard to tell if it is allergy related or something more, but we've had ALOT of windy and warm days lately and everything is just blowing everywhere. My car looks almost green from all the pollen!

Caitlin started off with a mild sore throat over the weekend. This week was our week for state testing so it was not a good week for her to get sick. She finished that yesterday. She is still coughing alot and the petechaie does not seem to be going away around her eyes or her chest and I think it's because of the constant coughing. She hasn't had a fever at all. Occasionally, she coughs so hard that mucus comes up! I'm a wimp when it comes to these things so I don't look to see if it is colored or not. Anyways, for those of you who are allergy sufferers or your children are...when does a cold warrant a trip to the dr? I almost took her two nights ago and last night to an after-hours clinic, but then didn't take her because she looked good at the moment. Gave her Mucinex DM and that really seemed to make the cough worse and it confuses me because the label says "cough exporant and a cough suppressant". Sometimes I wonder how a single medicine can be both!

Pauline - it never hurts to go. My friend just went through the same thing with her daughter and it turned out she had pneumonia. When in doubt - check it out.

That's what I'm a little worried about. Tried to get her in tonight but they didn't have any openings and they suggested I take her to the ER. I didn't want to take her bec I'd expose her to even more sick kids. I'm going to try again tomorrow as soon as I get home from work if she's still coughing alot. My other daughter has had pneumonia but was alot sicker and had a fever. Caitlin's is prob a sinus infection or bronchitis since she said the mucus is yellow. Surprised since she hasn't and still doesn't have a fever. Also said she's been "tingling" all over for 2 days now and feels dizzy every now and then. Some of her joints hurt too but i think it's a side effect from Nplate.