Altitude sickness and children

Small children are more prone to altitude sickness than adults.

A note on baby travel to regions at high altitude (over ~2500m, or ~8000ft).

I never thought about this before until a friend, who happens to be a guide in Ecuador (with notoriously high-altitude areas), gave me the heads-up about the hazards associated with bringing B to Cotopaxi volcano that would involve a hike to base camp at 4800m (~15780ft).  Quito itself (the country's capital where the airport is) is at 2800m (~9350ft).

To summarize a lengthy report I found online and details received from our friend, children experience far worse symptoms of altitude sickness than adults.  Deaths have been reported on occasion.

This link from the Wilderness Medical Society based out of Utah states that a slow, graded ascent allows acclimatization among children, with a recommended rate of 300m/per day for elevations above 2500m, and a rest day every 1000m.
High Altitude and Children - Wilderness Medical Society based out of Utah

and an actual scientific journal examining infants and altitude:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17584005

This would explain B's rosy cheeks at the Columbia Ice Field, 3000m (~9850ft), in the Canadian Rockies at 3.5 months old, and her rosy cheeks and fussiness at Papallacta hot springs, 3300m (~10850ft) in Ecuador at 5.5 months old.

B & C at base of Columbian Ice Field, AB (3000m)