Yellow discharge from eye

[purplejuly]

My daughter (3 months old) has had the occasional tear coming from her left eye for the past couple of days.

Since this afternoon she’s had some yellow discharge in the inside corner of the eye, and even though I wipe it away, it’s back 20 minutes later.

I thought it could be conjunctivitis but the white of her eye is fine - there’s no redness.

What’s the best thing to do?

Make an appointment with the GP for some antibiotics

Clean it with cooled boiled water or breast milk if you’re breastfeeding

Im a nurse - get it checked out properly. It involves the eye, its not something that can be left to develop

Im a nurse - get it checked out properly. It involves the eye, its not something that can be left to develop

@Letsallscreamatthesistene could it be serious and have I waited too long already? I’m panicking a bit now!

Both my DS's had underdeveloped tear ducts so had sticky eye a lot but the general rule was if anything went yellow we were straight to the GP's for antibiotics.

DS2 has had conjunctivitis twice and he's not even 10 months yet. Antibiotic eye drops make a difference really quickly.

Thanks - I will ring the GP first thing tomorrow. It’s not likely to be anything more serious than needing antibiotics is it? I’m a bit worried as my GP is useless at the best of times, and is still not offering appointments due to Covid.

Would you accept a prescription over the phone for this or should I insist on being seen in person?

I cant say much without having a look at it, but if its just yellow discharge, antibiotics should deal with it.

I dont think your GP needs to see your baby face to face for this.

I called the doctor this morning and they’re getting back to me - but strangely after wiping baby’s eye this morning with cool boiled water, the gunk has completely disappeared and the eye is still clean now Surely it can’t have resolved itself just like that?

Most likely bacterial conjunctivitis, it can be self limiting and clear on its own generally. The redness is normal only present in viral conjunctivitis. Because little ones tear ducts are so small and they rub their eyes a lot it's really not uncommon.

If you are breast feeding a little milk on a clean cotton bud over the area will help. If not cooled boiled water on a bud to help keep the area clean.

If it gets worse or baby seems in discomfort the gp may be able to prescribe drops, but when they are that little they do try and avoid it if they can

Could it be a blocked tear duct? DS had this, although it was earlier on from a few weeks old, the gunk was always yellow as it dried but no infection (swab was taken).

It cleared up on its own eventually.