9 month old has eye infection and it’s difficult! :(

[dreamerkr]

Hey guys. My 9 month old DS has an eye infection since the last 3-4 days, it’s his right eye and it’s red and it’s a little itchy at times too. It seems to be painful for him as he’s moody which he never is, he’s always such a happy baby. We took him to the out of hours GP yesterday and they prescribed an antibiotic ointment which we are trying to put in his eye but he won’t let us! This morning it took me 10 mins to try and put it in his eye and even after 10 mins half of it was out of his eye and idk how much even went in! He’s feeling really sad which is making me so upset 🥺 this is the first time he’s been ill apart from after his immunisations. I’m giving him calpol for the pain, and I’m cleaning his eye with cooled boiled water (if he lets us). What else can I do and how long will the infection last? I can’t see him like this 😭

Honestly I'd utilise my DH and have one of us hold the little one still and the other one pop some ointment into the corner of the eye. Gently massage the closed eyelid a bit and enough ointment will spread across the eye.

No idea how long it will last because I've no idea what kind of infection it is!!

That’s how we managed to pop it in this morning but it was so difficult even then because baby just wasn’t staying still! It’s conjunctivitis in one eye

I would recommend the burrito method. Wrap baby in big towel or blanket, one adult holds him and one put the ointment on. Lots of praise and cuddles afterwards.

It's hard, but use Dh, you must just do it, as many times as possible.

I sympathise as my DD was about 2 and had conjunctivitis and she just kept putting her hand over her eye and saying 'no mummy'!

Thank you so much guys! He moves about so much and the main thing is he shuts his eyes tightly and doesn’t even open them when we try to put the ointment in 🙄

Try again when he’s asleep.

It's tricky, because they close their eyes, but you get the ointment ready, close, then Dh had 2 hands, you have 1, (your other has the cream close) and it feels a bit brutal, but you just pride his eye open with your 3 hands, hold it open, and squirt a long line across the bottom of the eyelid. It's hard, but be brave. Just do it!

Prise his eye open. And then hold it open.

You prise the eye open and pull the lower lid right down and get a good smear from end to end. If you’ve pulled it down far enough it won’t come out or be rubbed out.

Wrap them tightly with arms in so they can’t paw at you as you are putting it in, and leave them like that for a few good blinks after you put it in. You can do this easily with one person but need to be organised and sit on top of them (absolutely NO weight on them though!!!), with your knees/thighs holding them snugly so they can’t wiggle out of the wrapping while you apply the ointment. They will sqwark a lot but ignore as it’s more important to get their eye infection under control.

Thanks so much guys!

The towel burrito method is the best. If you have another adult to hold whilst the other does it then even better. Understandable that he doesn’t like it but he’s never going to understand why or be reasoned with so it’s just one of those things you have to force for his own good.

how can I stop baby from itching and rubbing his eye? He won’t stop 🥺

Give calpol to ease the discomfort, put a sock on his hand and change it regularly so it’s clean.

Hi OP, sorry about your little one’s eye.

My 5 month old had bacterial conjunctivitis in both eyes last week, the doctor prescribed us drops rather than an ointment, do you think the doctor could do the same for you? It made it so much easier, DH would hold his arms down while I hold his eyes open with one hand, and one drop in each eye with the other. It seemed to be quite soothing as after the first few he stopped fighting it or crying. Also cleared up completely from both eyes in 5 days. The drops we were prescribed are Optrex antibiotic drops for infected eyes x

Doing it while he's asleep could be a tactic. He will very likely wake up afterwards but you'll have got the drop in.

Wrapping up and pinning down is also an option. This needs two people to do. One holding still and one doing the drops. I can verify this approach works for cats too.

Yep definitely try drops for sure, ask the GP tomorrow to prescribe them instead.

DS has had this a couple of times, it's tricky! We found with the ointment that even getting a bit of it in his inner corner/lash line somehow got in there and helped the infection, same with drops. It did clear up really quickly once the treatment got to work so hopefully your little boy will be back to himself soon!

I would contact gp and ask if you can have drops instead of it is just conjunctivitis. Much easier to administer on a child than ointment.

if it’s any consolation my DD gets conjunctivitis after almost every cold and it does clear up very quickly once the drops are started. Usually within a day it’s much better.

Tue ointment is more effective than drops as it ‘sticks’, whereas the drops wash out fairly quickly.

I was going to say the opposite! I absolutely hate the chloramphenicol ointment because it just beads around my eyelashes and comes out. I use the drops and have never had issues. I've gone to a different pharmacy if they only have the ointment, as I refuse to put up with the mess they make and I do wonder how effective an ointment that immediately comes out of the eye and clings to my eyelashes could be?

OP- if the ointment isn't working, get the drops! As effective and far less messy!

You can’t get drops into a baby though, they close their eyes but a least the oint sticks around for a bit longer and get get between the eyelids even if eye is closed.

we don't get oint for baby anymore just use water to clean eyes really well and the infection will eventually pass. I think chloramphenicol only reduces the infection by 1 day or something.

is there green stuff or gunk in the eye? As could be viral if not? This means the oint wont work anyway?

I was going to say the opposite! I absolutely hate the chloramphenicol ointment because it just beads around my eyelashes and comes out. I use the drops and have never had issues. I've gone to a different pharmacy if they only have the ointment, as I refuse to put up with the mess they make and I do wonder how effective an ointment that immediately comes out of the eye and clings to my eyelashes could be

The issue is you are not putting it in correctly. If you put it in correctly it can’t immediately come out and cling to your eyelashes. You need to pull the lower lid right out and down so there is a big gap between the lid and eye and a large margin between the ointment and the entrance of the lower lid. If you get it far enough down no way it can just immediately come out. It’s trickier doing it on yourself, granted, but easy when doing fir others including kids.