Weepy eyes... conjunctivitus, or just the remnants of a bad cold?

[Toothache]

Dd (8mths) has had a chesty cough and gunky nose for a couple of weeks now.... as we all have! But just as that is clearing up her eyes have started to weep horrible yellow gunge!!!

I've seen this with people who have conjunctivitus, but their eyes are usually red, swollen and very painful. This doesn't seem to be bothering her at all and her eyes aren't red.

i've been bathing them with warm salt water and will keep doing that over the weekend. If it's still bad on Monday I'll take her to the Doc.

What could it be? And is there anything else I can do at home to clear it up??

TIA

We have had the same with DD2 (whos the same age) the doctor told me that it was just the cold in her eyes because babies of that age rub their noses and then their eyes the cold spreads. DS had conjunctivitus and his eyes were painful. HTH

Hello toothy, not spoken for ages.

All the gingerbear clan have had the same dreadful cold thingy too.

I went to docs with DD - both had weepy eyes - antibiotics for chest/sinus/eye infection seemed to clear it all up.

It is a really horrible cold bug isn't it?

My DD just had this following cough, cold (her eyes were completely stuck together each morning took her to docs who said it was bacterial conjunctivitis and gave her antibiotic ointment for them. We had to bathe them with salt water and put ointment in 3 times a day. FUN FUN FUN!!!! Oh and it's very contagious!!

I always understood that if the whites of the eye were white and not pink or red then it wasn't conjunctivitis. Another name for conjunctivitis is pink-eye. Have just bathed and cleaned my childrens eyes if not sore or red.

DD has had this on and off since birth - we sorted her out most effectively most recently by bathing the eyes regularly (morning, night and in the middle of the day) with cooled boiled water and a couple of drops of tincture of euphrasia (also called "eyebright")

we also gave a dose of the homeopathic remedy pulsatilla once before bed and again in the morning

this cleared it right up although it had been lingering like your DDs for ages before that

DH has just reminded me that when DD was your DDs age we would have used lint free gauze (buy it at the chemist) and just do one sweep of the eye with each piece before discarding, as it is contagious, even from eye to eye

good luck, it is upsetting to see

DD has ongoing probs with her eyes and we are waiting to see the specialist (thats another story) but we either get some saline solution which you could get from the nurse at your gp's or from the chemist.

For home remidies you can use a mild solution of Johnsons baby shampoo. My mum uses it at the hospital she works at for patients who are allergic to the antibiotics.

Aw thanks everyone! Thats put my mind at rest. I'll carry on with the plan of bathing morning and night and if she's worse by Monday I'll take her to the Doc.

It's a right b@st@rd of a virus eh????? S'cuse the language, but I haven't been able to taste food for 3 weeks!