• Fever. If your child has a fever, even a low one, he is much more likely to have a cold than an allergy. Fever is not a common feature of allergies.



• Nonclear nasal discharge. When your child is dripping white, yellow or greenish mucus from his nose, he probably has a cold, not an allergy. A watery discharge is common for both colds and allergies, so it can be hard to tell which he has unless he's also running a fever.



• Sore throat. Children can have itchy or scratchy throats with allergies, but if they complain of actual throat pain (a sore throat), they most likely have a cold.



• Swollen neck lymph glands. Swollen lymph nodes in the front of the neck usually are a sign of a cold, not an allergy.



• "Looking sick." Children with allergies may be a bit more tired than usual, but they usually don't look very ill, whereas children with colds can appear sick and listless.



• Red, itchy, watery eyes. Eye symptoms such as these are more commonly seen with allergies than colds.



• Sneezing. Children with colds will sneeze occasionally, but repeated, prolonged spells of sneezing are much more likely to reflect an allergy.



• Cough. Both allergies and colds can cause coughs that can be worse at night, but the cough usually doesn't last as long with colds as with allergies.
  
  
• Duration. All symptoms of colds usually subside within a couple of weeks. Allergy symptoms, on the other hand, may last for many weeks or months.

• Snoring. Any cause of nasal congestion can lead to snoring, so this is not a good way to tell allergies from colds.



• Nasal, sinus, and/or ear congestion. This can occur with either allergies or colds and so it is not a good way to distinguish between the two.

• Age of the child. If your child is under two years of age, he is more likely to have a cold than an allergy, since allergies don't usually show up until after the second year.



• Exposure to infection. Many people may suddenly develop allergy symptoms when the weather changes, but when everyone seems to be coming down with something, it usually is a cold, since allergies aren't contagious.



• Family history. A strong family history of allergies might lead you to suspect your child has allergies, too.



• Other allergies. Children with other allergies (e.g., drug or food allergies) or asthma are more likely to have hay fever than other children.



• Seasonality. Although allergies and colds can happen anytime, allergies are much more common in the spring, early and late summer, and fall, while colds strike most often during the wintertime.



• Tests. Allergy tests (skin tests and blood tests) can sometimes help determine whether or not your child has seasonal allergies. Although laboratory tests usually aren't performed when the common cold is suspected, an elevated white blood count suggests an infection rather than an allergy. It's interesting to note, however, that elevation of a certain kind of white blood cell called an eosinophil, or the appearance of eosinophils on a smear of nasal secretions, may indicate an allergy.

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