Goopey/sticky eyes - won't go away!!

[kiwicath]

Hi. My 11 week old has had goopey sticky eyes since the day he was born. Was told that it was normal for a new born but this is getting crazy. I have tried drops from the Docs and wipe each eye seperately with saline but within 30 minutes it's all back again. Until now it's been a creamy/yellowish colour but now it's getting worse and becoming more brownish. Poor wee mans eyes are completely gummed up in the mornings. He doesn't have any redness and it doesn't seem to be bothering him but I'm at a loss to know what to do. Any magic potions or similar experiences???

Ds2 suffered quite a bit from sticky eyes. There was never any infection but he used to lokk as though someone had welded his eye shut. Our HV's only advice was that no matter how tempting it is, try to limit the number of times you wipe his eyes. Apparently as soon as you wipe it away it re-stimulates the tear-glands and the eye ends up even gooier. It did eventually calm down, but I'm not sure if the HV's advice had anything to do with it.

I must admit, I'm a bit of a "picker" and can't seem to stop myself from poking, picking, inspecting and generally hassling him - especially when breastfeeding. Poor wee man, never gets a moments peace!! Will try hard to leave him alone and try not to clean him up so much but it's going to be hard. Listen to me, I'm sounding like Monica off "Friends"!!

Oh I know how you feel! Even when the HV was in the room telling me about not wiping too often I was thinking "Well, maybe just a quick wipe so he can see better....."

kiwicath, ds had something similar and after 3 goes of anti-biotics, we took him to a specialist and it turned out to be blocked ducts. we were told they would clear themselves in due course, which they did shortly afterwards. can you persuade your gp to refer you to a specialist?

message withdrawn

No specialists in my neck of the woods I'm afraid (Sinai). Would have to fly up to Cairo which costs silly money and can't face the 8 hour drive. At what age did things start to clear up?

message withdrawn

Now that I can do Twiglett. Exclusively breastfeeding so will try it when he wakes from his nap. Cheers everyone.

I second the breast milk, kiwicath, it worked for my dd, too. If it works (it should!)keep going for at least 24 hours after the infection seems to have cleared up.

Dd had recurring stick eye until she was about 5 months. Ds had his for aout 8 weeks. Can be caused by small or blocked tear ducts - you should clean with cooled boiled water and cotton wool and then massage the inside corners

wow kiwicath - Sinai is some distance from NZ.

I am kiwi too and live in Switzerland.

My dd has got goopey eye abit too. The massage that Grommit suggested helped her. Massage under the tiny bum in the nasal corner of each eye in a downward and inward direction toward nose (6 times)

whoops!
bump not bum

DD1 had this for two years. She had blocked ducts, and had to have them probed to clear them (twice).

DS2 had this from birth and I kept being told that it wasn't a problem and that it wasn't an infection. BUT eventually when he was about 10 months old I got fed up and insisted he got some antibiotic drops for it - and it cleared up almost immediately!

echo what grommit recommends - btw breast milk is great for infections, but won't do anything for blocked ducts, if that is the issue.

DD2 had this for what seemed like months (probably only till about 5 months), and it got very gunky. I got some cream from the docs; this was very difficult to administer but when it did go in, it cleared up the problem.

Although it was blocked ducts, the wee lamb seemed to produce volumes of tears from the word go!

Wow!! - great advice, thanks. Have already started to try the breastmilk way and will stick with that for a bit then start trying the others. Twiglett, was going to express then dab with cotton wool but thought what the hell, I'll just put a wee sqwirt in while feeding. Surprisingly enough he didn't skip a beat (or should I say a suck) and didn't mind a bit. Maybe the little pimples on his nose will clear up as well as that's where most of it landed!!! Cheers all!! Papillon - wow! another kiwi lass. Anymore out there you know of??

not that I know of kiwicath... but I suspect that that most of them are online in the evening (NZ time) from messages I have seen where the lingo come across as either NZ or Aust..

Hi Kiwicath -- I'm sorry to say this, but if you're picking at the goop, you're spreading the germs and spreading any bacteria that like to live there. DD has had full blown conjuctivitus many times and the best thing is to leave it the heck alone. The easiest way to kick start conjuctivitus with her was to wipe her face or try to wipe the goop away. So I really think... don't touch, don't wipe, don't attempt to clean; maybe splash it off in the bath if you cant' stand it any more; because otherwise all you do is spread the germies around and feed them with whatever sweat/water/nutrients etc. is on your hands or the towel you wipe with.