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Children's health

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Original poster

Newborn Blocked Tear Ducts

7 replies

OnMyJourney · 08/12/2023 02:44

Hiya, I have a almost 5 week old baby and I think she's got blocked tear ducts, her eyes aren't red or puffy and they don't look sore, she just gets lots of eye goop, she didn't start getting it until about a week ago and it's a lot, a little bit wouldn't bother me but I'm constantly wiping her eyes and face because they get so gunky, I can wipe her eyes and they're filled with goop again in less than a minute, from what I understand doctors won't do a lot but does anyone have any recommendations for how to make them less goopy or how to get rid of blocked tear ducts? Any help is massively appreciated 😊

OP posts:

Jinglingallthewaytochristmas · 08/12/2023 04:16

You need a GP appointment to rule out conjutivitis. Under 6 weeks old need need to be seen by a GP.

CrikeyMajikey · 08/12/2023 05:01

Definitely go to your GP in the first instance. My DS had blocked tear ducts for about a year. It didn’t bother him. It finally cleared up when we were very diligent about cleaning them and he had a growth spurt. You must clean each eye with a fresh cotton pad, don’t allow any cross contamination.

Writerscompanion · 08/12/2023 08:20

I asked my health visitor about my newborn daughter's goopy eye and she said there isn't really a treatment and they mostly resolve by a year old. If they don't then it's surgery. I cleaned it - not too often - with water and then applied breast milk. I started doing some gentle massages down her nose I'd found by a doctor on YouTube (tear duct massage/Crigler massage). It sorted itself out in a few weeks.

DaisyChain234 · 09/12/2023 20:39

My daughter had this for about 8 months, we cleaned regularly and one day it just cleared up! If the eye is red, that can indicate conjunctivitis but in our case it was just eye gunk and it didn't bother her.

Sleepygrumpyandnothappy · 09/12/2023 20:45

If it’s genuinely a blocked eye duct then you just need regular cleaning with warm water and time. If it clears up in a couple of weeks then it’s an infection.

ASuitableName · 09/12/2023 21:02

My Dd had blocked tear ducts as a newborn. Her eyes swelled enormously because of this, and massaging along the side of her nose didn’t solve the problem completely, although some of the gunk occasionally came out. When she was five weeks old she had the ducts unblocked in hospital and never had problems again.

WhiskersPete · 09/12/2023 22:26

This can lead to infection. DD ended up in Alder Hey at 6 weeks old with cellulitis due to blocked tear ducts.

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