Please help! Ds' gunky eye getting sooooo sore :0(

[sushistar]

He's 15 weeks. He's had a gunky eye since wk 3, and has been on antibiotics 3 times for it. Each time it clears up while i actually put in the eye drops, but as soon as the course is finished it comes back worse. It's now red and constantly weeping yellow gunk. The drs don't listen when i tell them the antibiotics aren't working. I know babies get this, but does it really last 12 weeks and is it usually so so gunky? I tyhink the gunk is starting to make the skin around the eye sore too now .
I've tried breastmilk but doesn't seem to help. how long did it take to get better if you used breastmily in you LO's eye?

Please help, it's really strating to worry me

Poor chap, that can't be v nice for him

DS had permanently gunky eye for at least first three months, prob more like 6 months, but we never had anti-bs for it. Has doc taken swab for infection?

I used copious amounts of bm, handexpressed directly into his eyes, still use it occasionally now.

Sorry not much help...

~Thanks Mae. When he was 3 wks the hospital took a swab to check it wasn't an std transmitted at birth. They ndver got back to us, so I guess they found nothing.

The GP/health visitor just switch off when I mention a 'gunky eye' saying it's normal - they never really look at it iyswim.

Sounds like DD. Have they said anything about a blocked tear duct? DD had one and she either looked like she wasn't taken care of because she had so much gunk in her eyes, or her eyes were perpetually red, because I had to wipe them off several times a day. She was given drops (not antibiotics, because they don't help) once or twice to try to help a bit, but they never did. They usually won't do surgery to unblock them until they are 14 or 15 months (at least here where I am in the States), but they did it at 10 months because she was so bad, the Dr. said it was the worst case he'd ever seen.

I was told it was a blocked tear duct and that it would sort itself out (which it did), not red and sore here tho, just gungy!

yeah, blocked tearduct was what one of the drs said. I just dont know if i should be more pushy and go to drs again, or just accept it's normal? Thing is, when they say 'gunky eye is common', how much gunk are they talking about?

Wiping with a bit of saline helped my DD's gunky eyes when she was tiny. Doc said no to anitbiotics.

My ds3 turned out to be allergic to the eye drops and made it much worse - took him ages to get over it - mainly due to a) getting an appointment to see doctor b) getting antibiotics c) using anitbiotics d) him reacting to them e) getting different antibiotics f) him reacting again g) seeing doctor again h) me ignoring doctor and let it heal on own. Nightmare!

If not using bm as pps have suggested, my mw advised putting a tablespoon of salt into a pint of water with some balls of cotton wool and boiling/microwaving for 7-8 mins. Once cooler use a separate piece of cotton wool to swab each eye. Having done it myself when I caught dd's conjunctivitis I can say it's very soothing and effective.

One of DS's eyes was worse than the other, and his eyes were always watering.

After a while I stopped wiping out the gunge with cooled boiled water and cotton wool as I think it was making it worse. I did the bm thing fairly regularly, as I thought that being sterile it couldn't do any harm, and might do some good.

I think mainly he grew out of it tho... Was a bit annoying everytime I went to clinic to have someone saying 'ooh, hasn't he got gungy eyes!' all the time...

It's only ONE eye - other is perfectly clear - which makes me think it's not bacterial.

Mae, interested that you stopped doing the wiping thing - i do sometimes feel like i'm making it worse. I struggle with the bm thing - i'm a bad aim!

Heated, maybe I'll try the salt thing once a day and just leave it the rest of the time?

I just have a nightmare about deciding to leave it, it getting worse and worse, then taking him to drs and them saying 'WHY didn't you bring him before?!?' What if it damages his eye? [paranoid]

I got pretty nifty with the 'special eye drops'

Do you have a 'minor illness clinic' at your surgery? I've taken DS a few times to ours, it's run by the practise nurses, who seem to be good with babies, and also don't make me feel like a neurotic first time mum... Might be worth a try?

nah, there's the crap health visitor or the v patronising gp. I might ask the nurse when i go for ds' jabs. I just want to be sure i'm not being negligent!

You sound v far from negligent sushistar

cold tea works well.

It didn't damage DD's eyes at all, and you can't find a picture of her before she was 11 months where her eyes aren't gunky or red or whatever.

They usually have you wait to see if it sorts itself out before they do anything, as it usually does. DD's never did, and she was one of the few that had to have surgery done. If your DS is that young, they probably won't have you do much more than wait. They didn't refer DD to the eye doctor until she was 9 months, and the Dr. said it looked really bad, or he would have waited until she was 12 months.