to ask for tips on getting eye drops into a nearly three year old

[MostlyMama]

She squeezes her eyes shut, screams and cries. I'm not certain much of these drops are getting in. She has conjunctivitus and I am really worried if she won't let these drops in it will be worse for her. What do I do? :(

Would she sleep through you doing it? Mine always did. I just gently pulled her eyes open whilst she was napping.

This will only work for the night dose but wait until she's asleep and put them in. It's what we ended up doing.
Not great for the daytime though. There was lots of pinning down between me and DH. Wasn't plesent but it got better quickly and all is forgotten.

I had to more or less sit on dd and pin her arms down and open her eye with my fingers not pleasant for either of us but it needed to be done.

She doesn't nap during the day anymore. She needs one drop in each eye four times daily. Do you think then it would be okay to leave the last dose till she has gone to sleep? She is mostly a heavy sleeper.

Probably not the best method but I used bribery, think it was chocolate buttons, and got him to lie down when I put them in. It worked for us. Hope she's better soon.

I'm sure I read somewhere that if you drop it on the inner corner of their eye when they are lying down, then it will fall in when they open their eyes.
But I have no experience of toddler wrangling, so I could be talking crap.
Good luck - hope her eyes clear up soon.

Get her to close her eyes, put the drops in the corner of her eyes and ask her to blink. Not the perfect solution but the drops will go in. A health professional showed me how to do it for a relative with dementia and have subsequently used the technique on assorted grandchildren

Put the drops on the corner of her eyes by her nose. She can open them when she is ready and they will go in.
I second a chocolate or sweet after.

X post with pp.

lie her on your knee and drop them onto her eyelashes and she will blink the drops in - be firm! this will pass!

Also it helps if you get them to lie down between your legs,so your thighs are holding her head in position.

Have tried bribing her with biscuits, we have to pin down and try and prise her eyes open, I feel awful doing it that way but it has to be done doesn't it. Have tried telling her to close her eyes, but she squeezes them shut and tries to roll away whenever the bottle comes near her.

Balloon and stars on the ceiling, firm grip and good luck.

The bottle doesn't help either it takes a good few squeezes to get a drop out, so in the meantime gives little madam time to escape and wriggle free!

This is very very simple. Ask gp to prescribe ointment not drops. They usually do drops by default but the ointment is one million times easier. You are supposed to get it under the bottom lid but there is no way in hell my 2yo would let me. But it's easier just to rub a finger load roughly in the eye area cos some of it will get in (it's stickier and has more staying power than liquid/drops).
I used the element of surprise whilst DP tried negotiation. Between us we got enough on to clear up the conjunctivitis.
You also need to clean her eyes with cooled, boiled, salted water. If she is resistant them you could try letting her do it herself or hold a piece of cotton wool. (Just wash her hands afterwards!)

Also I think you don't need to do as many doses as you do with the drops, which makes the element of surprise easier!

Second the above comments: hold head firmly while she's lying down, drop liquid in the inner corner of the closed eye, and wait for her to open her eyes. Alternatively, drop the liquid in the inner corner of the closed eye, and then have your DP force her eyes open while you hold her head steady enough that it doesn't just trickle away down her cheeks. Sounds horrific, but as you say - gotta be done.

Though ointment does sound a good option, but I don't know if you can get it over a weekend if your GP isn't open and it's a prescription item.

I was given ointment when my son had it, as he was 8mo. However the first time my dd had it, she was 7mo, and given drops, it was hard then, but even worse now

Either a large jelly sweet or something she'd have to suck to get any benefit out of - the point is as a distraction. And don't let the dog help.