Newborn with a gooey eye

[jenna13]

My 3 wo dd has suddenly got a really gooey eye, this morning it was so bad she could barely open it. It doesn't seem to be bothering her at all and I just keep cleaning it with cotton wool dipped in cool boiled water. Should I take her to the doctors? Does anyone know what might be causing it? Thanks

[UpsyDozy]

This happened a few times with mine. I just did exactly what you're doing and it cleared up after a day or two. They do tend to suddenly get weird rashes and blotches for the first few weeks, just their brand new skin getting used to being out in the open.

I seem to recall someone telling me to put breastmilk on it if it didn't clear up, can't remember if I did or not but I remember putting breastmilk on my OWN eye when I had an allergic reaction and it worked a treat!

[sallysparrow157]

Babies often have sticky eyes as their tear ducts are so small they can get a little bit blocked leading to a build-up of gunk - i only tend to treat if, once you have wiped the gunk away with cotton wool as you are doing, the white of the eye looks red or the skin around the eye is red and swollen. If you're concerned though, I'm sure your GP will see her

[lostinindia]

Has she got a cold? My son had a gooey eye right from birth along with a cold. Turns out it was just mucus. I treated it like you but as it persisted for 2 weeks eventually went to GP and was prescribed drops.

Conjunctivitis is the other one - there are 2 types. The one for concern is where the eye is red.

GP did say that another cause could have been chlamydia but we ruled that one out.

[fluffyanimal]

It could be viral conjunctivitis which can be cleared with eye drops, if you want to go down the route of trying to get eye drops into a 3wk old baby. Otherwise, your existing treatment is fine. Apart from that, it could be a blocked tear duct. My DS2 had this as a baby, when a gooey eye lasted beyond the course of eye drops I got for him. Eventually one GP showed me how to massage gently under his eye and when I got it right the goo disappeared overnight.

So I'd keep doing what you are doing with the bathing and try massage with your fingertip just in the corner of her eye by her nose: gentle slightly circular pressure and strokes away downwards, and see how that goes.

[Tinkerisdead]

I used breastmilk in my DD's eye, it worked a treat was cleared up within 48 hours but much improved within a day. I too have used it in my own eyes!

[fannybaws]

breastmilk, or if that doesn't work, diluted johnsons no tears baby shampoo on a cotton wool ball worked for DS

[happygilmore]

Sounds like conjunctivitis, you are doing the right thing but if it doesn't clear, you need drops from the GP. We had to use these a few times with DD and it cleared it very quickly.

[Ohforfoxsake]

A squirt of breastmilk will do the job, or cooled boiled water on a cotton wool ball - remember one swipe and then a new one.

I'd be very wary of using shampoo, even if very diluted. Sorry to contradict your advice, but I really don't feel that is sensible when cleaning a baby's eye.

[Romilly70]

definitely breastmilk - squirt directly onto eye area - works within a few hour; I used it on DS when he was a couple of weeks old

[chester21]

my son also suffered with this and i tried the cool boiled water and for me it didnt quite do the trick, so we tried a little milk in cool boiled water and that seemed to clear it up .

[PKO212]

My son had the same thing. I cleaned withh cotton wool/ cool boiled water. I did take him to the docs tho! She took a swab to ensure there was no infection. There wasn't. It cleared up in a few days. Mind you by then I was frantic about something else.......

[MmeBucket]

If it doesn't, it could be a blocked tear duct. DD had this when she was a baby, and her eyes were constantly gooing shut all the time. We ended up having to have them do surgery (it isn't bad for surgery, all they do is take something like a silicone thread and use it to unblock the duct) and she finally got all better.