Advice needed doctor keeps fobbing me off

[Firsttimemum892]

My 6 month old baby has since birth had very watery eyes at her 8 week check I was told the tear ducts will develope and this will eventually stop it’s not stopping it’s getting worse , people constantly ask if she has just been crying. It’s got to the point where they are really gunky I am always cleaning them as recommended but in the morning they are nearly stuck together ! I’ve been again to the docs a few weeks again and got told she will grow out of it this doesn’t seem normal to me. I have an appointment for her today to speak about this again aswel as something else. What shall I do if I get told she will grow out of it ? Does this seem normal to you ? I have never been one to argue with a doctor but I feel like today I want to stand my ground abit more ,Any advice would be great thanks

Have you tried massaging the duct? They sound like they are blocked. My son had blocked ducts as a baby - massaging helped.

Be more assertive with the doctor, suggest about massaging the ducts and ask to be shown.

If the eyes are stuck together tho - I'd be leaning to infected ducts? Defo sounds like your baby needs to be seen.

Be assertive :)

Blocked tear ducts are reasonably normal in a baby, as they grow, the ducts get bigger and it settles down.
They won't do anything about it before she is a year old.

Keep going with bathing with cotton wool and cooled boiled water, you're doing everything right, but there's no quick fix unfortunately (A&E doctor, adult and paediatric), mines the same, getting fed up of everyone pointing it out!

My son had this up to about 13 m my go gave him eyed tops though as they were infected he's 16 months now and touch wood been fine

Forgot to add, gunky doesn't mean infected, if the eye starts to look red (either the actual eye, or around the eye), that's when she needs seeing by a doctor

The doctor is not 'fobbing you off'

patient.info/health/tear-duct-blockage-in-babies

My son's were like this, watering constantly, repeat infections. Told it would clear by 12mo and it did! Almost to the day! We'd been referred to eye hospital so took him to appt at 13mo but it had completely resolved by then. Blocked tear ducts are not normal, but certainly not unusual either and standard practice is to leave until 12mo as very likely to resolve without intervention.

The condition is called congenital epiphora and we don’t treat this until 12 months as research shows the vast majority of cases resolve before this age. Treatment involes a general anaesthetic and so is t recommended under 1 year. If still an issue at 10montha request an ophthalmology referral

Thanks everybody, her eyes are sometimes red and puffy and she does rub them a lot which suggests they are causing some irritation. I am going to the docs about her ezcema so I will ask about her eyes whilst there.

You could try and bathe the eyes with cooled chamomile tea. This worked a treat for DD a few weeks go when she had gunky eyes and it hasn't re-occured.

When did not getting the answer you want irrespective of whether it is medical correct, become synonymous with ‘being fobbed off’

Makes me so mad.

Saline solution works as well. And massage.

Ok I agree my words of “fobbing off” were unreasonable but that’s how it felt when I have only been told she will grow out of it and no other advice. I’ve seen some health visitors and they always point it out and tell me to see a gp so I would have expected to receive some treatment or advice. Wasn’t a personal attack on health professionals

@Firsttimemum892 you are doing the right thing advocating for your baby's health. My gp always says what he thinks about my baby and then follows up with 'if you get home and you still do t feel it's right then come back. I've seen your child for 5 minutes but you are the parent and I will listen to you'
Although it's wise not to bother a doctor for every sneeze and sniffle, if you feel genuinely concerned about a child's health then be assertive. Good luck, I hope it's resolved soon

When did not getting the answer you want irrespective of whether it is medical correct, become synonymous with ‘being fobbed off

When it comes with a lack of explanation. The OP has demonstrated on this thread that she can listen and take on board helpful advice.

It’s fobbing off to just say ‘oh she’ll grow out of it’ to an anxious mother who is concerned for her baby. If the answer ‘the tear ducts generally mature further by 1 year, if they don’t there is a treatment option available but it would do more harm than good before then’ is also true then that is much more reassuring and helpful.

NB i’m Not a doctor and have no idea if that is correct medical advice or not

My son had this and I totally understand your frustration. We were actually referred to eye team at hospital as standard but I would say, although they were fantastic and just doing their jobs, it was totally unnecessary. He had a full eye test, drops to dilate his pupils, all sorts that just wasn’t needed. His resolved pretty much straight after his second birthday.

Massaging the tear duct is great advice-I think what finally cleared it is he had a long spell of colds and conjunctivitis and we were massaging the duct gently every few hours-it was right after this that it disappeared completely.

He also got a sore, red eye. Best way to manage it was to gently bathe regularly with cotton wool and then apply a little lansinoh lanolin that you use on nipples when bf. Stopped it resticking for a while and stopped skin getting red and chapped.

Your GP doesn’t have anything else to offer you just now as the only treatment really is either time or surgery and they won’t operate on this in an under 2.

Hang in there and hope it resolves soon.

My first baby had blocked tear duct. The advice was always to bathe them with breast milk so that’s what I did. They had cleared up before six months unless she got tired or sick then one would weep a little. It’s still the first sign I get that she’s sick now she’s five.

Sorry the doctor didn't give you much detail about what was happening. My ds2 had this for around 9 months. His eye would get really gunky and we used saline on make up pads to wipe the muck away regularly through the day every day. Our doctor gave us a good explanation that it was a common issue in babies and not a cause for concern, but that they do treat the blockage if it continues over a certain age.

Dd had a blocked duct and the advice was to massage it which we did.

We then had an appointment with a paediatrician (unrelated) who asked to see how we were doing it and I showed how I’d been doing a gentle circling motion in the corner of her eye. He showed me how to do it properly by starting at where the boney bit of the nostril starts and pushing up with a gentle pressure towards the corner of the eye. The eye snot was coming out as he showed me and it was cleared up completely in a couple of weeks.

My daughter had this. Grow out of it around the 6 month mark though hot weather did seem to make it worse.

My DN had a blocked tear duct from birth, they kept saying it would clear up by itself but it didn’t. He’d wake up with his eye glued shut from gunk. He had one operation to try to clear it, which didn’t work, he then had a second operation at Great Ormond Street when he was about 2 and a half to fully clear the passage and they put some wire in to keep it open (short term) which did finally work. So hopefully it will clear by itself but occasionally they don’t, so if it doesn’t clear by 18 months push them.

Seen a different doctor today who was lovely and actually had a proper look at her eyes said there is no infection but told me what to look out for and also how to do the massages

That’s great OP, glad you’ve had some good advice and reassurance.