To try to administer eye drops to my 16mo DD?

[MagicNappySack]

She certainly seems to think so.

She has conjunctivitis and the doctor told me to put the drops in every 2 hrs for the first 2 days. I am exhausted after the first round, which DD clearly won as I hardly managed to get any in at all.

Is Doc BU expecting me to manage to get any in at all? Or is there a knack to this?

[SecretSlattern]

As horrible as it sounds, the only way I could get eye drops into my DD was to literally pin her down and hold her eyes open. She screamed and cried, I cried, it was awful but it was only short term and it did make her better.

DS has just got over it and he was an absolute angel by comparison

[Elemental]

I sympathise, 10mo DS is suffering from this at the moment and cries so piteously when I put the drops in, shutting his eyes so tight and flapping his head around that it is almost impossible.

[BrigitBigKnickers]

Drops are tricky. I used to find the ointment a little easier as it doesn't trickle away.

The stuff you can get from the chemist (we use Golden eye) has the same ingredient as the stuff the Dr gives you (chloramphenicol) or I'm sure the Dr can give you this instead of drops if you ask.

[Pineapplechunks]

Could you try when she is sleeping? Just gently pull her bottom lid down and drop some in? Do it towards the end of her nap then if she wakes up it won't affect her nap too much.

Poor you, poor baby.

[Morloth]

It sucks but if medicine has to be administered then it has to be administered.

Also had to pin DS down once or twice and force him to take something. I hated it but sometimes needs must.

[Milkmade]

There is apparently a knack to this. We had a similar problem with my dd, couldn't get them in at all, much screaming, me pinning her down while dh put them in etc. MIL came round, and with her 30 odd years experiance as a nurse in pediatrics, put them in in a split second, no tears nothing. Still don't know what the knack is though...

[bluesheep]

Put this on the other thread, now I'll put it here!!

It's pretty hard to get eyedrops into kids unfortunately, but you'd be surprised at how much is actually going in. Try this:

What you do is have your toddler lie back in your lap and close their eyes. Try to relax (your child and you!) and tell them what you are doing. Next, apply two drops in the corner of their eye with their eye still closed. Now, have them open their eye. As soon as they open their eye the drops will enter the eye and it will have the same effect as if you had administered the drops with the eyes open.

Copied directly from our leaflet from the hospital I work at!

Give it a go - it does work and it's a bit less stressful then trying to pull out the eyelid!

[piratecat]

yep, what bluesheep said. my gp told me this, it's less scary, cos they don't have to look!!

[bluesheep]

Also, the 2-hourly administration should only be her waking hours, so I hope you're not stressing yourself out trying to put them in at night (unless your doc has told you otherwise).

[MagicNappySack]

Thank you. I will try bluesheep's method at 12.15 and let you know how it goes. I presumed that I only needed to put them in while she was awake. I am glad I am not the only wussy mother that cried at the trauma of having to do this! It reminded me of that scene from Clockwork Organge. DD has a cookie and the lego box now and seems to have gotten over it. Until next time anyway.

[bluesheep]

Good luck MagicNappySack - hope it works!

[5Foot5]

bluesheep: I wish someone had told me that when DD was a baby!

Going a bit off topic here, but a few years ago I had conjunctivitis and had to put eue drops in myself. The weird thing is that a few minutes after putting the drops in my eyes I always got this really nasty taste in my mouth. How do you explain that?

[MagicNappySack]

Round 2 to mummy. I couldn't get her to relax on my lap though. I settled for pinning her between my knees while she was standing up so that she couldn't bat me away with her arms. Then I had to pull her eyelid up and quickly squirt. It's good to know that the drops that go on her top eyelid will roll down into her eye when she opens them. Poor DD seemed marginally less traumatised.

Elemental - Sorry your DS is suffering too.

How long does this usually last? Also - when is she safe to go out in public again? We had a date at a soft play centre this weekend but I suppose that's off now.

[bigcar]

5foot5 yes, they taste absolutely horrible! I could well be wrong but I think it's to do with the sinus system. So make sure you have a drink ready for afterwards. Definitely drop them into the corner of closed eyes and use all methods of bribery and corruption that you can. For really little ones that flail their arms about you can wrap them with a big bath towel as a gentle way of keeping the hands away.