Baby inconsolable

[Lucyjturn]

Yesterday my 5 1/2 month old (exclusively breastfed) started to get really poorly, she’s got a snotty nose, runny eyes and is just generally upset. I phoned the doctor because one eye was swollen and they prescribed some antibiotics for possible conjunctivitis but as they can’t see her face to face they had to just go by the information I gave her and they think it’s viral conjunctivitis anyway, which doesn’t have any treatment for it. When putting her to bed it took two hours of crying and feeding to get her to sleep (she’s usually a very happy baby, goes to bed perfectly and she NEVER cries) she slept for two hours. Woke up at 11pm, stayed awake then inconsolably crying non stop every time she was put down until 5:30am when she finally fell asleep. She was refusing to feed and was screaming in pain. Any advice on what to do and if anyone else has been through this. Obviously with everything that’s going on I’m more worried than I probably should be!

I put a few drops breast milk in my babies eyes when they had conjunctivitis type symptoms on advice of midwife - entirely possible this is bollocks but maybe if her eye is irritated the moisture soothes it.

Has she had calpol? Is she having wet nappies?

If you think she is behaving oddly I would give your GP a call for more advice over the phone.

Sounds silly and random but hear me out - check she doesn't have a thread or hair wrapped round a toe or finger - my friends little one had to have one of her hairs removed from around his toe at the doctors becomes it got caught up under his baby gro and he was very uncomfortable with that and would not stop crying.

Hope your little one is feeling better soon.

Poor baby. Does she have a temperature? Try calpol for the pain. Is there any chance she's teething at the same time? It sounds an awful lot of upset for cold and conjunctivitis tbh as the cold itself shouldn't cause any pain for her.

Is the cry sounding the same as normal??

Has she had any of the prescribed antibiotics? I ask as when my dd was around that age she was prescribed antibiotics and had a similar reaction- screaming, inconsolable- and it turned out she was allergic to penicillin.

Other than that if she's snotting could she have an upset tummy/trapped wind from the disrupted breathing patterns/swallowing snot? coupled with general discomfort of a cold and conjunctivitis that may explain her being unsettled.

Try calpol if you haven't already and see if that helps. It's so hard when they're little and can't tell you what's wrong.

Could be earache?

Milk in eye for conjunctivitis, it does actually work. Calpol, steamy bathroom to help with the congestion. If she does charm down at all then I'd ring the doctors again. Good luck.

We were told to use breast milk in the eye for conjunctivitis too, worked great.

I tried breast milk in the eye when she had it at 8 weeks and it never got any better but I will try it again this time round, she’s had these exact antibiotics before for an horrendous case of conjunctivitis as a newborn. She’s been having calpol regularly, she’s hot to touch, her temp is usually 35.4 and it’s 37.1. Her nappies are wet regularly. No hair around the fingers or toes, that would be a lovely fix! She could be teething but she’s never been this upset with teething, her cry is very different, it’s like she’s having injections all over again with how upset she is:( thankyou everyone!