Q: My son is going to be two years old soon. His problem is that during winters he gets chest congestion, and pneumonia frequently. We are giving him the medicines for the last 5 months. For the last 2 months, we are giving him a syrup called theoped. One of the child specialists has told that he is suffering from TB infection and others (experts) told he is not suffering from that infection. Though he has lymph nodes, doctors say they are not significant. Also in summers sometimes, after taking bath, his nose runs. Kindly advise me what to do.

A:Your son seems to be suffering from a respiratory allergy, which includes allergic rhinitis i.e. runny nose and bronchitis which causes repeated chest congestion. This is not uncommon in this age group. You need to be in touch with a chest specialist or a pediatrician who is well versed with treating respiratory allergy. Syrup theoped is fine for intermittent symptoms but if the symptoms are very frequent and severe you may need to give him some form of inhaled treatment.