Conjunctivitis- GP or not?

[EauRouge]

15mo DD2 has conjunctivitis (accompanied by a stomach bug and a cold) and I think I'm coming down with it too. She's pretty annoyed but has moments of perkiness. She isn't eating much solid food but is still breastfeeding plenty. I am not worried about her.

DH has suggested taking her to the GP but I am hesitant- the NHS site says it will go away on its own and I don't want to spread it about everywhere. I don't think the GP will be able to do anything about it.

WWYD? Thanks in advance :)

Clean it with cool boiled water when it gets bad for 48 hours. If no better then then go to gp

go and ask the pharmacist if there is anything you can use, thats what i did when ds got it.

i'm not sure if 15m is too young for golden-eye drops though.

Breast milk in the eye like eye drops is good for conjunctivitis. If it's not getting better then see gp for some drops.

i would go to the gp, dd had this (ok she is 17 but has sn) and it got really bad, only cleared up with AB eye drops

My DS had conjunctivitis when he was about 6/7mths. I couldn't leave it untreated or to go away on its own as he is in nursery and they wouldn't have taken him. I spoke to the pharmacist who told me there are drops available, but i'd need a prescription due to DS age. She said if I just phoned GP surgery and explain what it was for, i wouldn't need to make an app for him. So that's what I did and he got much better. Oh and pharmacist said it was to do with the cold he also had at the time - rubbing his nose then rubbing his eyes.

Thanks everyone :) I've been squirting her in the eye with milk, it doesn't seem to have done much yet. I think I'll see how she is in the morning.

If you are using milk I reckon she'll be a lot better in the morning.

Now trying to squirt it in your own eye is a whole other ball game...

You will be able to get drops from the pharmacist as she is over 1. Dd got them when her eye was very bad and had been for 3+ days. No need for a prescription.

You'll need chloramphenicol eye drops.

Where I am its only available on prescription but there is a scheme called the Minor Ailments Scheme which allows you to get certain prescription medicines without the need of visiting a doctor. Its usually only available to those who are exempt from prescription charges.

Have a look at your local NHS site and see if they support this.

Does she regularly get conjunctivitis? If so, is the doctor sure its definitely conjunctivitis? The Only reason I ask is that my DS2 was constantly getting discharge from his eye that anti-biotic drops would not shift. Turns out that he has a blocked tear duct. Took months and a very on the ball locum to pick this up.

She had it when she was born (as did DD1) but she's been in rude health ever since.

Thanks for the info about the MAS, my local pharmacist is listed so if there's no improvement I will contact them in the morning and save my Gp the trouble.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine- I've been doing target practice but my aim is still rubbish

NHS website advises to leave both conjunctivitis and blocked tear ducts alone...

Really ItsAll?

DS2 is booked in for an operation in July to fix his.

Consultant advised us that they usually don't do anything in the first year as it usually sorts itself out but will fixed acute cases as it can cause other problems later on

That's the website I was reading, it says conjunctivitis should clear up on its own in 1-2 weeks.

Conjunctivitis is quite often viral in origin and so antibios won't do anything to help that. Might be worth leaving it for a few days and if it doesn't improve then go to GP...

After it took me ages to unstick her eyes yesterday morning, I phoned the GP and they told me to come in. She's got eye drops now and she looks and feels better already.

Thanks everyone for your help :)