10/11 week old still has the sticky eye

[Gylli87]

I’ve been cleaning with breast milk since his first week when it started but it just won’t get any better and he’s nearly 11 weeks old. Any other recommendations?

I used very light camomile tea few times a day and it cleared out very quickly.

Oh and he is absolutely gorgeous!

My baby had it for months, nothing I tried helped then she just woke up one morning and it had gone!

Boiled cooked water as a gentle warm compress.
They are really common under the age of 1, seem to get better then

My baby had it for I think around 4 months. Then one day it just got better. I wish I’d spent less time worrying about it tbh as it never seemed to bother him at all.

Aww, cute photo 🙂 We found that gentle massage between the nose and the eye helps to ease the gunk out and make cleaning more effective

Yes, what @Penville says. It's all to do with ducts not forming properly I think. My youngest had it for ages, all the baby photos are him with only one eye open!

Yes gentle massage up the nose on the side from the bottom to top will clear out the tear duct temporarily, then just clean the resulting gunk with cooled boiled water and cotton wool. The gunk is wetter so easier to clean than the crusty dried stuff. We had to do it twice a day for about 6 months until the tear duct has grown.

Are you breastfeeding? Milk can help.

That’s conjunctivitis. You need to see a GP and urgently if he has had it since birth and he hasn’t already been seen.

Or a blocked blocked.

We're at 8 months with this with DS. Have a hospital appointment on Thursday as all medication hasn't touched it so they've said although it looks like conjunctivitis, it's actually a blocked tear duct.

PS. We tried EVERYTHING! And unfortunately they've said it'll either clear itself by about 9 months of he'll have to have it operated on

Thank you for the recommendations ladies 😊
I have massaged a bit and that seamed to help. Also my older son had this and he did grow out of it, guess I’m just too impatient 😬

I had this with my now 18 month old. I massaged it once a day in the evening (while breastfeeding for ease) to empty it. You could really feel that the duct was full, and a single gentle massage from nose to corner of eye emptied it out. This,I believe stopped it getting to the green gunky phase... she had watery eyes in between emptying,but the stuff I emptied was never yucky.

I was aware that if it persisted beyond 12 months then surgery is recommended but due to lockdown I didn't pursue it and it resolved literally overnight at 14 months. After 14 months of (non traumatic, v quick and easy) emptying, it just vanished!! Well, the duct opened anyway

Ps my ds1 had this only for a month or two so I'm aware 14 months is extreme!

@ablisha ... definitely not dispensing medical advice but if you see my story.... it wasnt causing any issues with her so I was in no rush, but was fully prepared to go down surgical route. The fact that our circumstances meant we waited an extra 2 months beyond the recommended 12 makes me very thankful!

My baby did just eventually grow out of this. He was about 16 weeks when it basically just cleared up overnight. It’s caused by underdeveloped ducts - once they’re bigger and the duct has developed fully it just stops.

Like @CautiousOptimist11 my youngest had this for months. I used to keep a (frequently changed) glass of cooled boiled water and the cotton wool by the chair I fed him in, and cleaned his eyes every feed till at least 4 months, and when necessary after that. It slowly improved by about 12 months. We never had any redness within or around his eyes so never needed to treat it - blocked tearducts probably do increase the risk of infections, but regular cleaning and very gentle massage at the side of the nose will help.

Later when he was at nursery, occasionally he'd get eye discharge again when he had a cold and a couple of times I had to reassure the staff it wasn't conjunctivitis.

A friend had this with her baby v recently. She was told it was a duct issue and would resolve by 9 months ish they hoped and they'd consider a minor procedure if not.

It cleared overnight at 5/6 months.

Thank you all for the helpful comments. I have tried everything but still here with the same issue. The GP gave some antibiotics to put in the eye to reduce swelling (his sticky eye has become a bit smaller than the other). It helped a bit while I gave the medication but once the course ended, it’s back to how it was. I have tried massaging, breastmilk, saline solution, boiled cooled water, and then the antibiotics. And nothing has actually helped. His 5 and a half months old now 😬
The GP didn’t seam to be concerned at all, and said either he’ll grow out of it or a procedure is considered once he’s like 1 .. should I get a second opinion?
I’ve attached a photo from yesterday morning.

I can't remember how long it took for DD to grow out of hers but I remember it being months not weeks... I'll dig out her red book and see if I can work it out as I remember asking the HV about it every single time we went and they were never bothered as it was gunk without redness or anything else.

Thank you! I guess I’ll just keep waiting, as you said he has also just gunk but no redness. Fingers crossed it will sort out on its own 🤞🏻🤞🏻