Administering eye drops to a wriggling 6yo monster - any tips?

[dippica]

Help! Have a six year old with conjunctivitis. Have had this numerous times before when they were little enough to be forced into things but I have just spent half an hour trying to get the first dose of eye drops in. He's very resistant, won't open his eye, and I just can't get anywhere near. I try to talk him round, persuade him that it will make it better, bribe him etc, nothing seems to work. He's supposed to be having them several times a day until it clears up.
The worst of it is that he is due to have an operation next week to correct his squint - and he'll have antibiotic eye drops after that too, so I need to sort this out quick!!!

Does anyone have any tips or lessons learned from painful experience?!

could you bribe him with a sweetie

lie him down
get him to look at sweetie as you hold it behind his head

he gets the sweetie after you put drop in

pull his bottom lid down and pop drop in

loads and loads of praise

next sweetie

failing that go to your surgery nurse and ask them to do it

sorry bugger all help I know

DS loves having eye drops - weird child!

He had conjunctivitis too recently and I was told NOT to put the drops in the eye put that he should close his eye and I should put them in the corner and then have him tilt his head slighlty to let them run gently to the other corner. Would that help?

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There is a technique that is fool-proof (not the kindest, but there you are). You sit on floor, legs straight and spread in V. Have DS lay on his back, head clenched between your things. Your legs then go a bit over his shoulders, so he basically can't move at all. You then have your hands free, and his head (and body) can't go anywhere. Use one hand to open eye, the other to put in drops. Big reward afterwards, for you and him!

Cod's is much nicer! Keep mine for emergency.

Ok, my dd is only 3, but I've had this problem a couple of times now. I'll try to describe how I've done it.

Sit on a chair, and get your ds to stand between your knees, with his back towards one of your legs (eg facing sideways to your right). then, bring your right leg up a little, around his waist and left arm, and put your foot across onto your opposite knee (like blokes sit, sometimes) so that your ds is trapped in a triangle shape between your legs.

Now, put your left arm around his back, and across his shoulders, pinning his right arm under your armpit.

Get him to lean back a little against your left arm, and with your righ hand holding the drops, reach up and put drops in. You use your right hand to pull down the lower lid, while your left hand can reach over from the top of his head and pull up his upper lid.

then reverse it all for the other eye.

It sounds really complicated, and you do need to be quite flexible (!) but I managed to get dd co-operating using this method, as after I'd really pinned her down a couple of times (she's autistic, and REALLY struggled) she realised it was over so quickly if she didn't struggle that she got her chocolate quicker!

everyone else has really nice methods

mine is same as cod's,except replace look at the back of your head with look at smartie

Thanks MN, all sounds so easy - I sure am making a pigs ear of it. best option for now seems to be putting the drop in the corner and kind of steering it in by angling the head ... but a bit hit and miss. DS generally traumatised by the whole experience - I am the worst Mummy ever apparently. Again.
Will persevere!!!

wait till he is sleeping then lift up his eyelid and drop it in.