Ok Ladies so my daughter started with a runny nose. The next day I saw boogers coming out of her eyes. When she woke up from her nap her eyes were shut close. I took her to pediatrician and he said its due to the congestion she has that is blocking her tear duck...so he prescribed eye drops. Well my little girl (1 yr old) wont let me put it in her eyes & today she woke up today worse. Have any of you heard of this & if so what home remedies did you try? She looks super sick but doc said she is fine. No signs of infection or anything. Mind you her bday party is this Sat so I really want to make her feel better soon. Any suggestions??
Using a warm cloth can help with the tear ducts and help get teh eyes open a bit. To give her the drops, have her lay down on her back, nice and comfy. Then position the dropper at the bridge of her nose so she cannot se the actual dropper coming into her line of vision. Put the drops in the corners and have her close her eyes and "look around". This will get the drops spread out. I have to do this with all of my kids and my husband.
Hold her down and use the eye drops.
Or you can try to get them in when she's asleep.
Just gently move her eyelid up a little and drop a drop in.
What some vets do when working on a cat is to wrap the cat up in a sheet so only the part that needs work is uncovered.
Works well with small children, too.
Apart from the warm washcloth that other moms have mentioned, I've also found that using "used" (that is, after you have brewed tea with them) cooled teabags (especially chamomile tea) help as well. Something else that I was told is important is to use different cloths / teabags / swabs etc for each eye and to wipe from tear duct towards nose (all this is to avoid spreding a possible infection). The good news is that little ones tend to "bounce back" soon! Good luck with the birthday party!
I don't know if you are nursing, or if this would be too weird for you-but, breast milk will clear up eye problems. I had to do it for my daughter. I expressed a little milk into a dish and then used a dropper to put it in her eye.
I had problems with pink eye sometime ago. The optometrist recommended washing my eyelids with baby shampoo to clear any clogged ducts. Its gentle and you can do that while giving your daughter a bath. Good luck
on the drops-her is a tip-
have her lie down with her eyes closed put the eye drop on the corner of her eye near her nose and then have her open her eyes, the drop goes in.
also a warm damp wash cloth on the eyes can loosen up the gunk
Maybe I'm mean...but I really try to make sure I get the drops in - even if I have to sit on them (not putting my weight on them...you know what I mean)...or I have another adult/hubby hold down the child. I don't think a minute of holding them down for some eye drops will traumatize them for too long :). As far as congestion....I've done vicks vapor rub or Doterra essential oils "Breathe" on their feet and chest...and lots of warm baths...the warm humid air seems to help things drain and gets any crusty nasty snot off :p.
Use a warm wash cloth with salt water (or saline) and dab the eyes (do not rub) or use it as a compress. It will help draw out what is clogging the tear ducts. My daughter’s eyes get runny sometimes when she is sick.
I would also try the drops when she is sleeping.
That just happened to my 19 mo old this week. He had allergies that turned into a sinus infection and it backed up into his eyes. That is considered bacterial pink eye which is an infection. We have antibiotics for the sinus infection and antibiotic eye drops (vigamox) for his eyes. Use a warm wash cloth to wipe her eyes and massage the corner where the tear duct is. It can also happen from an ear infection because it is all connected.
I second exactly what Chrystine A said below. with the warm wash cloth let it sit on her eyes for a little bit. then use it to wipe from the inside corner to the outer. Not that she has an infection in her eye that might contaminate another but use a separate corner for the other eye just in case. Cotton balls dipped in warm water are good for that as well, one per eye and then toss them. With the wash cloth you will want to use a new one each time. Hope your LO feels better soon!
My daughter had clogged tear ducts in on eye since birth, so we had to deal with goopy green gunk a few times/day for about 10 months! It really is just the duct between the nose and the eye. I didn't know this, but when you cry, and your nose gets all runny, it's because your tears drain down your nose. When kids get stuffy, their ducts get blocked and backed up. They get green snot out their nose, and whatever's backed up goes out their eye the other direction. Gross - but it is just snot - not pink eye - as your doctor told you.
The best solutions we found were the warm damp cloth to loosen the goop every few hours. Also, our doctor showed us how to massage the duct. You can probably find it described online, but you can feel a tiny "ball-shaped" duct between the corner of your eye & the bridge of your nose. Gently press that spot a few times, and sometimes, you can get the duct to push some of the gunk out & clear itself. Otherwise, treat the cold symptoms - you can use the "little noses" nasal saline spray and nose syringe, a humidifier, etc. If she continues to have it after the cold goes away, go back to your doctor. There are a large number of kids who are born with particularly small ducts (like my daughter) that are chronically blocked. Most will grow out of it, but some will require a quick, simple surgery to unblock it. :-(
Congrats on your baby turning 1! :-)
Try a warm, wet washcloth on her eye several times a day. It will help to clear the congestion and keep her eyes clear. You can also gently massage the tear duct upward after you use the warm cloth. I had terrible allergies as a child and would wake up with my eyes shut from congestion. This is what my Mom would do and it worked.
If she is a sound sleeper you might try putting them in when she's asleep. I had to do that with my son when he had pink eye before he was a year old.
GL and hope she is better fast to enjoy her party!
I know this sounds weird but this happened to my son and his doctor told me to put breast milk in his eye. I did it and it cleared up within a day. Amazing. Not sure if you're nursing your daughter but if you are, give it a shot.
Our 3 year old son just had pink eye and we had to do the whole eye drop thing. I realize our son is older, but maybe what we did will work for you. As suggested by the Dr. we let him close his eyes and then put the drops in the inner corner of his eye, then when he opened them, the drops would go in a bit. We also called them raindrops. After about the 3rd day he was bringing them to us telling us it was time to put the raindrops in his eyes. Hope that can help a little, I know how hard it is;)
