Sticky eye newborn washing

[KarlaP123]

Hi ladies, I’m worried that I might have harmed my baby. He has sticky eye from this morning and I spoke to the GP who advised me to come tomorrow to check if it’s an infection. I cleaned my baby’s eyes a couple of times today using a cotton wool squares and warm tap water instead of boiled water! I just read that the water should be boiled, and I started panicking that I made a stupid mistake and I might have harmed him. Do you think that he’ll be ok if I start washing it with boiled water now or should I call 111?

It'll be fine

Its fine.
You can clean them with breastmilk, we encourage this on the nicu where I work.

Thank you so much! I’ll try to clean them with breastmilk!

When mine had this and saw pediatrician for something else, they didn't like idea of breastmilk. Another midwife said to boil a small pan of water, with a lid,with a pinch of salt in it. Leave to cool and use that and clean cotton pad to wipe eye - inside to outside (using a new pad each time) and a few times a day. Make fresh boiled water twice a day. This worked a treat.
If whites ofeye are red, it may be conjunctivitis and need medical attention or at least talk to a pharmacist

If you have breastmilk available that’s the best thing for it, it’s amazing stuff with natural antibiotic inside.

They tell everyone (not just babies) to avoid tap water in eyes because very very rarely it can contain a germ that can cause blindness. But the chances of there being that germ in that tiny bit of tap water the one time you wipe your baby’s eye is incredibly low and even if it was there then you are clearly monitoring the situation and you’d seek help. Have you ever got tap water in your own eye? I certainly have.