Is it a 'cold' or is it an 'allergy'?

I thought DD had her first cold. She started with watery eyes, sneezing then a runny nose which dripped like a tap all day and night. Day 2 still had a slight runny nose and a bit of sneezing and no worries that night. Woke up this morning with no sign of any mucus at all...now suddenly at 3pm we are right back where we started...and coincidently...DD spent the past hour in the kitchen area while I was preparing dinner, which is the only area of the house our dogs have access to and they were all soaking wet? Interesting because she hasn't been in the kitchen area for the past two days as we have better heating in the separate lounge room. Just got me thinking that maybe it's not a cold at all? How do you know? Any thoughts / advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well, DS has had a perpetual runny nose, causing coughs & bit of wheezing needing his puffer... even the dr said she's disappointed, coz my kids are usually so healthy! LOL. She's put it down to allergies, and I do tend to agree.. he isn't sickly at all.. gets tired I guess when he's getting wheezy... but otherwise he's just constantly got a runny nose & occassionally a cough. She's said just try and keep his mucus dry with demazin until possibly end of Oct... end of allergy season. Needless to say I'm not giving him much demazin.. have found an echinacea tonic and trying that.. not happy to keep giving demazin.. only when it's getting bad and affecting his sleep iykwim.

From a tiny baby he's had very dry, almost exzema-ish skin during this season, so it could well be allergies for us.

TBH tho, I couldn't tell you the difference between a cold and allergies, only that his won't let up and fluctuates in intensity but he doesn't seem to be sick.

Has she started any solids yet? I would be observing for food intolerances too, as i always thought i had allergies until i stopped eating dairy. I no longer have watery eyes or a running nose or IBS symptoms unless i consume dairy. Just something else for you to consider :)

I found this on an opposition site. Unless the discharge turns milky or yellow/green I'd suspect an allergy.

It's a Spring too so the perfect time for allergies to surface! So too there are always so many allergens in the house too, even things like dust mites. Allergies do take some time to develop depending on the allergen.

The dogs do sound like a reasonable culprit too.

ALLERGY
Lasts longer than a week or is recurring
Usually no fever
Nasal discharge is thin, clear & watery
Sneezing frequently or in bursts
Blocked nose
Watery eyes
Itchy, rather than sore throat
Itchy eyes, nose, throat


COLDS
Usually lasts up to a week
Sometimes mild fever
Nasal discharge is thick and cloudy, perhaps coloured
Infrequent sneezing
Blocked nose
Unlikely watery eyes
Sore throat
Unlikely itchy eyes, nose, or throat

Thanks for your replies! SB that's a great list, thanks for finding it.

Yep...I think it's allergies. She has been in the lounge with me for the past hour and a half and hasn't sneezed once and doesn't sound mucusy at all? She's happy...doesn't seem 'sick'...laughing, playing...mmmm....going to wait a little longer then take her back in the kitchen/dining area and we'll let the dogs in and see what happens. Funny that it has only happened since they've been playing in the rain the past few days! Oh and she does have exzma...so the Dr thinks?