Toddler with possible conjunctivitis - OOH or wait til Monday?

[AuntieMaggie]

DS looks like he might have conjunctivitis in both eyes - should I try and see an out of hours doctor or wait til Monday?

He woke up screaming this morning which is unusual for him and has been out of sorts all day and playing with his ear. I thought it might be hayfever related but now not sure...

Also of it is conjunctivitis will the childminder take him Monday?

Brolene drops will treat conjunctivitis and are available over the counter in the chemists (well they are here in Ireland so I am presuming it's the same in the UK! ) . My dd has had conjunctivitis twice now and both times it cleared up within 2 days using the Brolene drops.

wait
in the meantime wipe his eyes every so often with cotton wool/cool boiled water.
most cases will go away on their own

Optrex Infected Eyes is available OOC but only for 3yo+

Is it definitely conjunctivitis? My DS gets gunky eyes when he's got a cold.

You can see the pharmacist for that if they are over 1 (but don't quote me).

Conjunctivitis is very contagious so it would depend on your childminder. Mine did but the nursery we had didn't so best to get started on treatment as soon as you can.

Agree, I would go the pharmacists and get the drops. It clears up really quickly once you start them

Bathe in chamomile tea using separate cotton wool for each eye.

Wash your own hands a lot!

See the pharmacist.

Clean pillow case every day.

Our GP wont do anything for conjunctivitis unless its not getting better after a week - they just recommend cleaning regularly with cool boiled water. I'm not sure OOH will do anything, so I'd wait and see if it clears up.

Just be careful that the skin around the eye does not become swollen or red. I thought my son just had conjunctivitis, then on the Sunday morning his face was swollen so we went to OOH who said also had periorbital cellulitis and needed antibiotics. Now I use golden eye or similar from the chemist quite quickly though I don't think they sell it for toddlers.
Excuse the pun but keep an eye on it, keep it clean with cool boiled water & maybe take a photo of his eyes so you can see if they are getting worse. Mostly conjunctivitis clears up on its own, but can get worse especially if poorly already or run down.

Thanks. It's been a while but I know when I've spoken to a pharmacist about my own eyes in the last they wouldn't give me advice or eye drops... will try though

My ds is a bit older but pharmacist was happy to sell drops over counter.

I have had optrex infected eyes over the counter a couple of times. I thought it was 2+, and a pharmacist gave it to me for an 18mth old and said it would be fine. It has always worked really well for us.