Administering Eye Drops

[bluestar]

Has anyone got any good tips for getting eye drops into a 2 year olds eyes? He sobs his heart out and either hides his eyes under a toy or pillow or just squeezes them tight.

Bribery with chocolate. Gave ds a chocolate button before administering eye cream with the promise of a second if he let me put the eye cream in quickly without wriggling (although, to be honest, if I got it in without him having a tantrum and only pulling away a couple of times, then I considered that good enough for a chocolate button).

Wasn't perfect but meant that I got it in his eye without having to pin him down too much

I'm having a similar problem with my 5 month old (after a couple of days of drops he's worked out what's coming and cries and screws his eyes up as soon as he sees the bottle) - sadly he's a bit young to be bribed with chocolate though that seems a top tip and would certainly work with me! Anyway I asked the doctor when I went back to see her (conjunctivitis had mutated into ear infection and hacking cough, poor thing) and she said that it was OK to put the drops in when he was sleeping as they would seep though the eyelashes. Know 2 year olds sleep a lot less often (don't know much more as I'm a completely clueless first timer)but you might be able to get a couple of the sessions done this way.

It is a nightmare isn't it? For little ones a squirt of breast milk works - honest!! I've had two and both times when sticky eye or worse has struck, it worked every time.

For older ones, goodness knows. My 3.5 year old wrestled me to the floor when I tried a couple of weeks ago to get drops in his eyes, despite being able to talk about it, and he had agreed his eyes hurt and that drops would make them better!!

Wrapping in a towel is also good for little ones as their arms and legs are less lethal! Also it can make them feel more secure - good luck!

Another good tip I found on here I think when I was having problems before I sussed the chocolate bribery:

don't worry if you only get it on the outside or corners of the eye - their natural reaction is to then rub their eyes which gets the medicine further in - the amount that gets in will be "good enough".

I found that if you put it in the inside corner of their eye, that when the opened it it usually runs in. I have had to do this with my two. It is very hard when they know what is coming.

We were having this problem last week (with 2 year old with conjunctivitis), until my clever dh hit on a novel approach!

He asked my ds whether she wanted to have her medicine 'like cats do'. He explained to her that when cats need drops in their eyes, they are rolled up in a towel or blanket. She decided this sounded like fun and agreed to have a towel wrapped loosely round her arms, body and legs (!!). We then lay her gently on the bed, and, without her arms flailing about, were able to get the eye drops in really quickly. As a treat, my husband then pulled the towel off quickly so that she rolled over and over on top of our duvet.

We are lucky in that our ds is very articulate, and, at the moment, you can reason with her a bit. Also, I'm not sure how long she would have done on accepting the need to do this (she only needed drops on a further 4-5 occasions!). But it distracted her attention a bit, and meant it was a lot less traumatic for all of us.

Could you ask your GP to re-prescribe ointment if poss? It's so much easier to administer - just squeeze a line out onto your (squeaky clean) fingertip, pull down their lower lid and brush your finger down over it, so that the line is deposited inside their lower lid. This works particularly well with sleeping recipients.

Top tip: hold the bottle of eyedrops or tube of ointment tightly in the palm of your hand for a few minutes before administering, so it's warm.

Maybe at 2 your son doesn't drink from a bottle anymore? Otherwise I have found it to be a good time to administer drops. My son gets very calm and relaxed when drinking from a bottle and his
arms are out of the way. He keeps his eyes shut,
but the liquid gets into his eyes when he opens
them (which he has to do sooner or later !)