Advised to put breast milk in baby's eyes?!

[MonChoufleur123]

Hi all. I went to Boots today to get drops for 5 month old's eyes as one is red, slightly swollen and very gungy. Pharmacist said she couldn't sell me anything for a baby over the counter and I'd need them prescribed.
The GP this afternoon refused to prescribe anything and has instead advised putting breast milk in baby's eyes three times a day!
Is this a thing? Has anyone done it? Did it work??

What? Really? Dr, midwives and HV always told me the exact opposite. Surely it's better to start from the tear duct? Why would you push all that shite towards the bit that gets infected? I don't get the logic at all??

Oh yeah! Def believer in magic milk!

Yup, its magical stuff. My doctor said to try it on my dd' s gungy eye and it worked a treat.

It works, but also try massaging the tear duct gently.

Yep it works! Cleared up a couple of sticky eyes that way. Also sorted DD’s baby acne. Great stuff

Echoey in here but...yes, works brilliantly! Used it on both my babies. Squirted it up blocked noses here too.

My DM even had a gungy eye once that wouldn't shift. I laughingly offered her some BM in a sterilised syringe. In desperation, she actually tried it and it was sorted in a day after five 1mL doses. She asked for another 5mL the following day just to make sure the job was done properly.

Yep. Works a treat! I miss those days.

Just echoing everyone else as has just worked on DD. Took 12 hours.

Sorry to be a dick but the only evidence that suggests this is the case is anecdotal. It's essentially an old wives' tale. Studies have found that colostrum is effective against certain bacteria (though not as effective as antibiotics) but there's no evidence that mature milk is helpful. Even La Leche League seem to admit this.

Generally blocked tear ducts will clear on their own, so it might look like breast milk has helped, but it's just confirmation bias.

Of course it wouldn't do any harm.

This worked for me too.

Amazing stuff.

I'm loving @GummyGoddess' controlled test!

Worked for us. I expressed onto cotton pads - use a new pad for each wipe so you’re not spreading gunk around.

Yes it works. Squirt away!

The one post saying it hasn't been proven in a study (paid for by a pharmaceutical company) and therefore can't be true is funny.

Which pharmaceutical company paid for the study?

Those bloody old wives with their hundreds of years of experience .....worked for me too completely cleared conjunctivitis

The study quoted upthread is this one: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9009556 I can't find any suggestion that it's paid for by a pharmaceutical company.
But either way, this other study onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijd.12764/abstract found that breastmilk was as effective as a medicated ointment for treating babies' eczema, so I bet it is effective for other things too.
Even if there was only anecdotal evidence, it clearly has worked for some people so why wouldn't the OP be one of those lucky ones?

(And at risk of being a total nerd, the study that found it didn't have any healing properties is older, was less well conducted and less reliable than the study that found that it did. So I'd go with the latter )

All I said was that there wasn't any evidence - and there isn't. Squirt away.

It's a joke @fartnisseverbeans... As in no one will be lobbying for a study to prove that a squirt of breast milk will cure the gunky eye! Leaving a gunky eye certainly doesn't work and is quite painful so claiming it is confirmation bias seems a bit odd!

It does work. You could also try gently massaging the tear duct (thats the spot between the edge of the eye socket and the nose) with your little finger.
Tear ducts are not fully formed in babies and can need a little assisstance to flush out the gunk.

another - that study that you've quoted only says that its only colostrum that provides any antibiotic effect on the most common cause of neonatal conjunctivitis. The OP baby is 5 months old.

There isn't actually much research about it. (I've found a couple more very small scale papers, one that said it worked and one that said it didn't.)

Its not something you should do if you have thrush on your nipples and the massaging action definitely helps to clear any blockage in the tear ducts. You want to be wiping away from the tear duct, though, not towards it and using a separate pad for each eye.

@MrsTerryPratchett can you tell I have a science degree? thankfully I've never had to use it on dc as they've only bruised themselves so far.

If it doesn't do anything, one half of a cut wouldn't have healed faster than another when bm was applied.

Gosh! Anybody a bit skint for Christmas could make money from this. I can see it now on Gumtree.

Have you got sticky eyes or a cut that's taking time to heal? I have breast milk for sale.

I've had a long term groin itch due to diabetes. I've tried allsorts. I'd buy some to try! 😀

I always struggle to skirt it in the right spot straight from the boob. end up getting it all over ds's face!! use a small sterile syringe, pipette or from clean bottle with expressed milk instead. much easier.
but agree breast milk is the best. works a treat

I've used it for all kinds, even DH has had it in his eye when he got something in it at work, he said it took alot of the irritation away almost immediately.

The easiest way to get it in their eye is when they are asleep, put a drop or two at the inside corner of their eye and gently open the eye a tiny bit and it will go in.