getting eyedrops into child

[Tudormum]

Does anybody have any tips at all about putting eyedrops into a robust 5 year old?
I have to take DD to Hospital for an eye test on Monday, and I am dreading it. She HATES the eye drops that have to go in before to dilate her pupils, so much so the hospital now give me the drops to put in before the appointement, since the time before last she nearly screamed the building down.

She has this test once a year, and I managed to trick her into it after her bath last year, but she is now a lot more whiley about these things and is getting harder to surprise.
She is very short sighted and had a general test yesterday ( the one where they show them letter cards at the other end of the room )and the result is she will need new glasses (she got all the letters wrong ), so now she has to see the specialist and has to have it done!
DD is tall and strong for her age, and I do not want to hold her down. Help ?

I used to 'bribe' my ds by buying him a comic or something afterwards

I used to lie him down on the floor and get him to look at the wall behind then I'd quickly put a drop in. He'd start howling and I'd have to calm him down to do it again. tis very grim as it stings.

Thanks - maybe I could make it into a game to get her to lie down and look up - Yes I was going to use a bit of bribery too, and the hospital have given me anaesthetic eye drops to put in before to stop it hurting, but on the other hand its just more eyedrops to try to get in! I am hoping if I explain to her that with these extra ones it won't hurt, but heaven knows if she will listen. Thanks anyhow

My DS (5) had to have a course of eye drops recently. And hated them! What worked for us was warming the eye drops (just keep them in the pocket of jeans for 10min so they're not cold/room temp), as its less of a shocking feeling going into the eye. I just kinda said....you have to have them in and I've got to keep trying until I do. So we need to do this together. What if I do this...? Or this??? And discussed options of what exactly I was going to do. What worked for us was:

• warming them
• he shut his eyes and I dropped them in the corners near his nose and then he blinked so he had control of the drops actually going in his eye
• him holding his favourite little toy so that he looked at that as he opened his eyes
• me singing his favourite bedtime song while stroking his wee head (lol....yup, I may pander to him a tad!)

Thats very helpfull, she loves to be in control of the situation, so dropping them in the corner so she can have them when she is ready could work. I love the idea of holding her favourite toy in front of her to see when she opens her eyes, and singing a bedtime song - I will try that, she loves a singsong. I will have a go at warming them to, I always keep them in the fridge since you have to keep these drops there, but of course she might dislike it cold. Thanks v. much

Hi, just wanted to add that the drops do sting but there are anaesthetic drops they can give first.

Doesn't help as you then need to do double drops but would maybe help for next time when she remembered that having the 2 lots then didn't hurt.

Good luck

Sharon x

P.S. We are in the similar position but due to the amount of medical interventions my Lo has had he just doesn't have the drops. They use a very special machine instead. Only 1 in our area.
maybe you could ask about that.

Thanks I have got the anaesthetic drops - but like you say its just more drops to put in! I'm hoping that she will understand that they won't hurt as much with these drops. Special machine sounds good - I'm hoping that if I go through it with her step by step slowly maybe she won't panic so much, and get as upset. But I will ask them about machine when I am there. Sorry to hear your little one has had a lot of medical stuff to put up with. Thanks lots

Am just reading this thread because my 4 year old needs eye ointment for Blepharitis (inflammation of eyelids) which is an infection so she really needs treatment. There is no way she will let me anywhere near her eyes, so may have to resort to doing it whilst she is asleep. Any more tips please would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

My 2.5yr old daughter has Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency, the cause of which is still under investigation. She has to have steriod drops 4 times a day, lubricant drops 4 times a day and an extra thick vaseline type ointment at night. At first I thought I would never get one drop in let alone 9 a day but we turned it into a game, we talked to her about it and pretended to put drops in they whole familys eyes first, we let her pretend to put drops in her dolly's eyes and she holds her brother or sisters hands or hugs my arm while we do it and sing her favourite songs. When the drops are in we make a huge fuss getting way over excited, clapping and dancing about the room, telling her how proud we are of her being so brave. Now we very rarely have any fuss and she even asks for her drippy drops at times! Warming drops/ointments first can sometimes help with stinging and the initial shock of them hitting the eye and in the case of ointments it makes it a little runnier so it doesn't just curl around the tip of the tube. My hands free way of doing that is to stuff it into my bra for a few minutes first! I know it's hard but they do get used to it eventually. I think it's worse for us Mum's to be honest, I doubt there has been any time I have given my baby her drops and not felt complete sadness that she has poorly eyes and I have to do it in the first place