Conjunctovitis, 3yr old and baby

[merryberry]

This has been diagnosed in 2 kids at ds1's pre-school. Figured it out at lunch time why he looks so rough, ie not just cold hanging around. Baby just starting it now by looks of gunky yellow eye corners.

GP closed until Friday am while they move premises.

Anyone suggest something to ease them along until I get them to docs? Is there anything worth going to the chemist for?

Many thanks

Are you breastfeeding? Breastmilk worked wonders for conjunctivitis in ds - I put some on a bit of cotton wool and wiped his eyes with it (separate piece of cotton wool for each eye). If not you can try the same with cool boiled water, can help with the gunk. Could try pharmacist but I'm not sure you can get anything for babies over the counter.

ds (5.5 months) had conjuntivitis last week - GP prefered not to give out drugs (but gave a prescription to use if not clear in a few days) gp also said cool boiled water on cotton wool usually does the trick (I also used breastmilk as well) and all is cleared up now. Hope they get better soon - it's horrible to see them miserable - ds hated having his eyes cleaned.

You can buy antibiotic (chloramphenicol) eye drops for bacterial conjunctivitis from your chemist but only age over 2.

Agree with happy2bme re the cool boiled water for your little one.

Just spent the day visiting three pharmacists and a doctor on this exact issue!

Pharmacists varied in their advice. Two said we can give you antibiotic drops/ cream only if over 2. For the littlie, you have to go to the doctor and get them prescribed. They said they could as second best offer something called brolene or something else called goldeneye which they could sell over the counter for a baby. The third pharmacist said we don't recommend brolene, better to use cooled boiled water. She thought it would be better to go to the GP to get drops rather than start with one kind and then move onto the other. Apparently "there's a lot of it around at the moment".

Don't ask why I went to three pharmacists, it's a long story.

I couldn't see a GP in person, only talk to her on the phone. She said she wanted to do an exam to see if there was a foreign object in the eye, and that she would be slow to prescribe antibiotic drops as it only started this morning, her eye isn't very very red (more sticky) and it might clear up itself by tomorrow.

And I have just spent five minutes holding down a seriously pissed off baby trying to squirt breast milk in her eye.

at domestic slattern, thank you for breaking the ground for me!

well, i'm using the cream on the toddler who has it bad. left over (unused) from ds2 who had it a few months ago, as i used breastmilk when i was still breastfeeding.

baby not looking so bad at all, will see what the morning brings. they were both given a good sluice down with water as well after tea. did they say often to do that, if that is what i do wiuth the baby?

ps - i expressed and did an eye bath while baby laid down head held in my vice like grip...

thank you everyoen for your time.

More than 1/2 of conjunctivitis will clear up without antibiotic eye drops although they often help the speed of recovery.If you ask enough professionals you often get different views on treatments for different conditions hence your different pharmacist views.

Brolene and golden eye ointment aren't antibiotics but do work against alot of the bacteria causing conjunctivitis.Pharmacists are allowed to prescribe these for under 2's.

Have you thought about visiting a local optician if you have one who is good with children.I'm one and we do alot of diagnosing eye health conditions and could by looking at your 3 year old on a piece of equipment called a slit lamp (something most GP's don't have) see whether it is likely to be conjunctivitis.

re the breastmilk

good idea re: optician for ds1 tomorrow. there are 2 indies on our high street. will be ableto drop in, which can't at GP!

May need to ring ahead for an appointment but the NHS gives you it free.