Putting eye drops in a 1 yr old - how???

[MillionPramMiles]

My dd has mild conjunctivitis and was prescribed antibiotic eye drops. We can just about get them in her eyes if both of us are home but how do you possibly do it alone?? She closes her eyes, puts her hands over her eyes and turns her head away (and screams blue murder).
Am hoping it will just clear up with regular cleaning (which she also hates).

I go for the squirt and hope for the best approach....catch DD when she's doing something else, and very quickly squirt a teeny bit at each eye (aiming for the corner of her eye)...my theory is that just enough to count as a dose should actually go in her eye and there are relatively few tears (on both of our behalf's). If I tried to vaguely hold her in a position where I could accurately get one drop in each eye, I think it would end much as you're finding it!!

Bribery with a couple of chocolate buttons also helps (but that's very un-MNetty, so strictly between you and me!)

Wrap her arms up and hold her head between your legs.

Or, I used to support her body on my knee. Hold her arms down with my hand, and clamp her head in the crook of my arm. Then squirt in amid much much squealing.

Like trying to wrestle a live octopus....

Bean bag is your friend! Try to straddle her and use legs to pin down arms and use hands to secure head, the bean bag helps to protect the neck!

Failing all the above and if unable to prise eyelid open, tilt their head back and squirt on the inner corner of their eye where it is currently shut, then try to prise open eyelid again. Sometimes you'll open the eyelid a crack and the drop will slip in!

Thankfully we were able to do it before work and at bedtime when we were both home with the promise of choc button after. But as not possible for you could try the advice I was given to put it in while she was asleep! No way I was going to try that but it may work for you? Good luck - feel for you I hated it.

Do it when she is asleep, we did this with our 14 month old and it is so much easier!

OR, do what we did and after months of recurrent bouts of eye infections passed back and forth between the Dcs and me, went and got oral antibiotics. DD is very prone to eye infections and even if we got them in (with various types of headlock), she'd just wipe her eyes after so it was hopeless.

We got the ointment in the end, as took 2 adults to hold daughter down and 3rd to do the drops and even that didn't work after a couple of times. So in the end we went for regular cleaning and ointment if/when we could

Clamp childs head between your thighs, put their arms under your thighs. Et voila. embolized child and you still have two hands free.

P.s. chid will not be happy.

Thx all. We've really struggled, she squeezes her eyes shut so tight!

I used to swaddle in a bath towel.

Ointment is the way forward.

I asked this a about a month ago. My DS6 is still a nightmare when it comes to drops. Some one on here said to put the drops on the eyelashes when their eyes are shut, and when they open their eyes the drops just fall into their eyes. It worked for me

Hello Millionprammiles,

it's funny you mention this. There is a woman called Patty Wipfler whose experience with putting eye drops in her sons eyes, is what inspired her to create an entire parenting approach!!

here's an article about what she did.

The Day I first Partnered with my child