Don’t be fooled by the antiseptic smell. With all the runny-nosed, coughing, sneezing little patients who visit the doctor, especially during cold and flu season, you can bet your pediatrician’s waiting room is a virtual Petri dish. Here are three ways to keep your child from picking up a bad bug at the doctor’s office, or infecting others.

• Wash up. Wash your baby’s hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer before visiting the doctor so she’ll be less likely to pass something along to other kids. Even if she’s well, she could be harboring an infection but not yet showing symptoms.

• Use the well-child waiting room, if your child is just coming in for a check-up or a flu shot. There’s bound to be less of a germ load there than in the waiting room for ill kids.

• Bring toys from home. If your child is ill, bring along toys to keep her occupied in the waiting room instead of playing with the toys provided. “Your own toys will be infected with germs from your house, but at least they won’t be infected with someone else’s germs, which could expose your child to a different illness,” says Andrew Nowalk, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Read our related reports on how to boost your child's immunity, flu vaccine for kids, and tips for taking your baby's temperature.