Pediatrician Dr. Amanda Kravitz joins "CBS Mornings Plus" to explain what parents should know about cold and flu season from newborns to school-aged children – and when's the best time to get the flu shot.

Pediatrician Dr. Amanda Kravitz provided advice for parents on managing cold and flu symptoms in children. She emphasized that newborns are particularly vulnerable, and any baby under two months with a fever should be seen by a doctor immediately. For toddlers, common symptoms like runny noses and low-grade fevers can often be managed at home, but persistent fever or signs of labored breathing warrant a call to the pediatrician.

Dr. Kravitz recommended frequent hand washing, adequate sleep, a varied diet, and staying up to date with vaccines as key preventive measures. For school-age children, most cold and flu symptoms can be managed at home, but parents should seek medical advice if symptoms persist, if there is exposure to illnesses like influenza or strep, or if the child shows signs of dehydration or difficulty breathing.

What parents need to know about cold and flu season

Alright, time for today's Health Watch. When you've got a sick kid, you might find yourself wondering whether you're fine with dealing with things on your own or if it's time to call in a professional, the pediatrician. As we head into cold and flu season, there are some things you need to know to make the right calls on this, so we made a call for you. The doctor is in. Joining us now is Dr. Amanda Kravitz, a pediatrician at Weill Cornell Medicine here. Doctor, thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Amanda, the scariest time for a kid to have a cold is when they're super little, newborns. When do you know when to worry, when not? Definitely. So newborns are our most vulnerable population for sure. They do not have a very strong immune system. In general, a newborn can have a little bit of a sniffle and that's really nothing to worry about. They can sound congested when they're sleeping. However, if they're showing any signs that they're working harder to breathe, so using their belly to breathe or sucking in at their ribs, those are signs that they're working harder to breathe and should be seen by the pediatrician. Additionally, if your baby under two months old has a fever, that's considered a medical emergency. So if your baby is under two months, has a fever, call your doctor right away and bring them to the closest emergency room. They're noisy breathers as is. They have like little pugs. Yes, definitely. Definitely. Especially when they're sleeping, they're very, very noisy. I forgot about that. They really are. They're so noisy. You're worried the whole time. You're like, this doesn't sound good at all. 100%. But if their color looks good and they're not working harder to breathe, the noisiness is nothing to worry about. You've brought back all these memories of me like lurching up in bed to like listen and look at them because they like sound nuts when they're that new. Okay, I have two toddlers. Oh, congratulations. I feel like they hate you. I feel like they're always snotty. Yes. So toddlers are number one culprits of bringing home colds, different viruses, especially if they're in daycare or in school. Oftentimes you can manage it at home. So they pretty much chronically have a runny nose, especially through the winter months. If they have a low grade fever, a cough, a runny nose, that can be managed at home. However, if they have fever that's lasting a long time, so lasting more than 48 hours, definitely call your doctor. You want to find out if there's something more serious going on. Similarly to our newborns, if they're working harder to breathe, they're wheezing, they're using their belly, they're tiring out. That's another good reason to call the doctor to get them checked out to make sure there's not something serious happening. Isn't there something I can do to try to reduce like the runny nose? Because it really does seem like it happens for months at a time. What else can we do besides hand washing? So hand washing is our number one thing. Also if we know that there are sick exposures at the school, trying to limit your toddlers to like have play dates with those children and stuff and children and stuff like that. But in general, hand hygiene is going to be our number one thing. Making sure that your children are getting 10 to 12 hours of sleep at night is really helpful I know in a perfect world. 10 to 12. 10 to 12 for toddlers. And eating a good varied diet. All the nutrients are going to be really good to help build up their immune system. Lastly, we do recommend following the childhood vaccine schedule. There's some really good stuff in there that's going to protect them from common cold and flu viruses as well. So back to the runny nose. Is there any way to teach young kids how to blow their nose and not just wait for the sneeze that releases like shot glasses full of snot? It's such a great question. Something that I am working on in my office as well. The really young toddlers, it's hard. It's hard to really get them to do anything I would say when you ask. Once they're a little bit older, you can demonstrate. You can put a tissue. Show them what you want to do. Help to have them mimic you when you're blowing out of your nose. But no, I would say saline nose spray can be really helpful. That can help flush everything out. Just a little bit of saline nose spray. If they let you get in there. If they let you. It might be a two man job. It's a two man job. It's a hold down and spray. Absolutely. Remember the snot suckers? Oh yeah. Oh man. Oh yeah. We still love those in my office. Jeez. Okay so when should you call in the professional with the older set of kids? When do you know it's time to call a doctor? Yeah. So school age kids, for the most part you can manage it at home. School age kids, they have most of their vaccines. Their immune systems are a little bit stronger. So often times if they have fever, cough, sore throat, you can manage that at home with pain relievers, fever reducers. If they have been exposed to something like influenza or strep throat, it is a good idea to call your doctor. There are tests that we can run in the office and if they're positive, there's medications that we can give that can help them feel better sooner. Similarly, if they have fever for a long time, like three days or more, or if they're having difficulty breathing or really not drinking enough, like starting to seem dehydrated, not using the bathroom regularly, those are also reasons to call the pediatrician. Dr. Kravitz, thank you. I feel so informed.

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