“Childhood asthma is very common,” says Dr. Chipps. In fact, about 50 percent of kids wheeze at some point during childhood. Why do they get it? Genetics, he says. “If one parent has allergic disease or asthma, there’s a 30 percent chance their offspring will have it,” he explains. “If both parents have it, it’s a 70 percent chance.” And while a recent study published in the journal CHEST blames incidences of asthma on antibiotic use in babies, neither Dr. Chipps nor Dr. Virant believe there’s enough evidence to prove this link.

If your child has allergies, sinus problems or gastroesophegeal reflux disease (GERD), his chances of outgrowing asthma are slim, says Dr. Virant. If she wheezes but doesn’t have allergies, sinus or reflux problems, however, she’ll likely outgrow the condition by age six. And according to Dr. Bradley E. Chipps, medical director of the Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Capital Allergy & Respiratory Disease Center in Sacramento, California, about two thirds of kids will outgrow their asthma by puberty.

The reason? “It’s not truly asthma,” Dr. Virant explains. Children have smaller airways than adults. As a result, they have difficulty clearing mucus out of their airways, as opposed to when they get older and their airways expand.