How on earth am I supposed to get conjunctivitis ointment in a wriggly, crying 1-year-old's eyes?

[weebump]

Conjunctivitis has officially been diagnosed by GP today. I tried for a couple of days to get drops in her eyes, but she just clamps her eyes shut and cries, so drops don't get into the eye, let alone under the bottom eyelid. Doc has prescribed ointment which I have to put in under the eyelid which is more difficult than the drops - at least I could land a few drops in the corner of her eyes.

Has anyone got some tips on getting the ointment actually in the eye? The poor wee mite is sick and tired of me poking at her sore eyes.

Have you tried when she is asleep?

Try when she's asleep

Can you do it when your DP is home so there are 2 of you to hold her still?
I've done it in the past and have held DS flat on his back across my lap. One person holds him still and I hold his head still, open one of his eyes and quick drop the cream in!
Do the other eye then a massive dance and song and chocolate button, she'll soon get the hang of it after a couple of go's!
Good Luck!

Ooh, I haven't tried it when she's asleep. She tends to sleep face down, though, so I'll have a peek later and see if I can do that. Thanks for that.

Here is my patent eye ointment technique:

Lie the child on the floor

Srraddle the child with their arms under your thighs

Quick quick quick make like Zorro with the ointment then pick up and cuddles

Child will squeal but the faster you do it the kinder it is

I used to have the same problem as you with eyedrops. I found that the ointment was easier. Make a game of it at first, with a blob of ointment on your finger. Try flying the finger in as an airoplane, and then fly by his head a few times, before going for the landing in the corner of his eye. If that fails you can try pinning him down on the bed - via a tickling game - or doing it whilst he is asleep.

Awful, isn't it? However, conjunctivitis is horrid when it is really itchy.

(Of course, if you are still bfing, then forget the ointment and go for cotton wool covered in breast milk - works just as well as antibiotics and is much easier to apply)

Good idea about the song and dance and treats too. Don't want the poor thing to be traumatised by being pinned down by her parents!

BoysAreLikeDogs - I had to laugh when I read your post - this is exactly what I used to do when DD had conjunctivitis - and until she was 3 she had it ALOT.

Eventually when she saw with the ointment she would start crying but just lie down and accept it all the while saying "Don't like medicine in eyes" - I would of course give her huge cuddles afterwards and tell her what a good girl she was. The things we do!

I too would do it asleep rather than awake as even holding a child it is a battle to get the drops/ointment in both eyes - after one they usually won't let you near the second.I think drops are easier.

If not possible to do when asleep. If child is lying down or tips head back can put eye drop in the inner corner of both eyes when the eyes are closed ( can ask the child to squeeze their eyes shut - which they are usually willing to do!) then if the eye is then opened and blinked the drop flows into the eye.Could, if they won't lie back, put a 2 or 3 drops of the top eyelid near the eyelashes which will go in the eye on blinking also.

ds runs like the wind as soon as I bring the Brolene out. He's still having a bottle of milk in the mornings and evenings so I have it hidden in my pocket and while he's glugging away blissfully unaware I get the drops out, unscrew the lid with one hand (out of sight) and then from a height drop them in to his eyes... don't always get loads in but enough to get rid of the conjunctivitis. The other time I tend to pin him down like BALD says and do it quickly, I figure even if his eyes are screwed up tightly when he opens them the drops that are sitting on his eye lids will fall in

Thanks for all the replies. Thankfully it's the weekend, so DP and myself both at home to apply the ointment. One holds the hands down and opens the eyelids, the other promptly squeezes in the stuff. Quickly up with lots of hugs and kisses and a wee chocolate treat. It's working so well that this evening there was no crying, in fact she almost laughed when she could see the goo dripping down into her eye. Thank god!

weebump, are you still breastfeeding by any chance? If so, breastmilk is just as effective and not half as stingy as chloramphenicol!

If it's any help, I'm an optometrist and still had awful trouble getting drops into my own dc's eyes. Ds1 is 12 now but remembers me singing to him to distract him while I put the drops in!

ABs not necessary for conjunctivitis...usually self limiting so don't fret if you can't get any in.

If you want to try, swaddle in a towel or sheet to pin arms down by her side.

I have to put chlorophenicol in dd's eyes loads (prescribed nightly to prevent infections cos she doesn't always shut her eyes when sleeping). I wait till she is asleep and just pull lower lid down

I used breastmilk on ds and also used it on dd for a while (was feeding him) When I told her paed this he laughed in my face and told me that was most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard shut up yr not the god of everything emoticion MW had told me about it. Worked for ds.

I find it shocking how little some paeds know about breast milk!

I am with Scotland (and AM in Scotland ): antibiotic drops/ointment not necessary for conjunctivitis.

Otherwise also agree with be firm, be quick, be loving afterwards approach !!

You might find this informative:
www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068712/

Also no need to get ointment "under eye lids"; just drip it into inner corner anywhere of eye and as child blinks it will go into all the right places!

Have you got 2 bottles; one for right, one for L eye, to not crosscontaminate? And remember, lots of handwashing, your own and your childs (we managed to infect all of us, and then DS2 again, who had started it all!)..

It's messy, but it will pass.

DD (now 5) has suffered from conjunctivitus quite a bit since being a baby and we have tried every bribery trick in the book before finally resorting to pinning her down and her getting(unsuprisingly)very upset. She now gets hysterical at the mention of eyedrops. A doctor recently prescribed the ointment and suggested doing it when asleep - not sure why I didn't think of this before as it seems obvious! What a difference this has made, can't believe how much easier this is for all of us!

My GP no longer prescribes ABs for conjunctivitis - unless they are no better from day 3. Just bathe in cooled boiled water at least 3 times a day. Honestly it is all you need to do.

Well, our poor little mite has been suffering for 5 whole days now. Doc prescribed oral antibiotics (I presume that's what AB means) but said only if all else fails, as they're pretty useless! So hopefully this lotion will work.

Chipmonkey, unfortunately I'm not breast feeding any more, but I wish I'd kept a stash in the freezer for times like this.