yukky eye in newborn

[mckenzie]

9 day old DD has a very yukky eye. Midwife says to bathe with salt water and breast milk.
I have 2 questions if I may?

how much salt to how much water?

how long should I give it to clear up before I take her to the doctors?

thanks wise ones.

[HUNKERMUNKER]

Can't remember the salt to water equation, but breastmilk worked better for DS anyway when he had gakky eyes when he was first born. Looks pretty gross as they blink it away (all...er...milky, surprisingly!), but is very effective!

[Tissy]

forget the salt water, breast milk will do the trick on its own.

[LIZS]

You could use just cooled boiled water for the time being instead and buy some saline tomorrow if it is no better. If it goes a nasty colour or perisists ofr a day or two then go to a dr.

[HUNKERMUNKER]

Also bmilk is much easier than fannying around boiling the kettle, dissolving the salt and waiting for it to be cool enough. Just squirt and go

[Catbert]

b/m is the thing that worked for us.

Icky eye (medical term?!!!) very common in newborns...

[HUNKERMUNKER]

Think the medical term is 'Oh, dear God, when's that eye going to look clear and beautiful so I can get some really good pics of you' eye, Catbert

[zippy539]

Give it a couple of days and then I'd get it checked out - doc might want to take a swab and check it's not infected - course in the year and half it takes for the results to come back it will have cleared up.

[Heathcliffscathy]

breast milk worked, and also we used an infusion of eyebright (hyperical?) which we got from neals yard (looks like real loose leaf tea, just a couple of spoons dissolved in boiled water and allowed to cool. tbh, i think it was the bm that cleared it. took a while tho (a few weeks if i remember to completely clear), but am v glad that we avoided the antibiotics that gp would have given us...

advice is right, if it looks really red and sore go to dr, if just gunky, (and ds was really ickky gunksville) then i'd persist with bm, i found that actually squirting the eye was best (bm needs to get to the tear duct, just wiping the eye with cotton wool with bm on it isn't as effective imo) sorry if grossing anyone out!

[Mum2Ela]

I think they also say to massage the tear duct as well? (not sure who 'they' are tho. . . )

[yoyo]

I agree with squirting straight into eye. I always worried about the loose fibres in cotton wool ecacerbating the problem. Breast milk worked every time with mine.

[mckenzie]

thanks all. friend has also suggested cold tea!!
Hope my aim is okay with the b/m!!

[highlander]

I was told that a blocked tear duct can become yucky very quickly - this was certainly the case with DS. I massgaed his duct at every feed for a week then left it. It blocked every now and then but totally cleared by the time he was 3 months. You can tell when it is blocked (but before the yucky stage) as the eye will appear very watery.

[mckenzie]

that's exactly what it's like Highlander. Where is the tear duct? where do i need to massage please?

[chipmonkey]

The tear duct is a tiny tube leading from the inner corner of the lower eyelid, into the nose. To massage, get some cotton wool, warm it in warm water (comfortably hot, not scalding!) and press slightly below the inner corner of the eye, stroking upwards.

[Newbarnsleygirl]

My mum who is a nurse uses Johnsons baby shampoo diluted down for patients with sticky eyes.
They use it if the patients are allergic to the drops.

I've tried it with dd and it works. Other than that ask your MW for some Saline solution.

[highlander]

that's exactly what I did chipmonkey, for approx 10 secs.

[highlander]

newbarnsleygirl, the Johnson's shampoo trick is great if you have blepheritis (sp??) - an inflammation of the eyelid surface