WWYD? Conjunctivitis

[CrazyCatMom]

FTM here. DS is 10mo, not in nursery (I am still on Mat leave).

Last night his left eye started to look a bit sticky/swollen. I bathed with black tea and applied breast milk with a cotton pad.

This morning we woke up and his eyes were both very gunky and looked sore. I bathed them as before and called GP at 8am. GP called back around 8.30 and has booked a F2F appointment at 4pm today, but advised they likely won’t prescribe anything as it only started yesterday.

A lot of the soreness has gone down now and they haven’t really gunked back up. DS seems happy in himself and I am more than happy to continue with home care for the next couple of days to see if it clears without antibiotics. Think I just panicked seeing my baby with yucky eyes first thing!

Considering cancelling the 4pm appointment so it can go to someone who needs it more. What would others do?

I would keep the GP appointment. They think it's worth seeing him, so believe them.

I would stop bathing with tea because I don't understand why you'd want to introduce tea to an infected eye. I would wipe with cooled boiled water when needed, and breastmilk if you can get it in there!

Pharmacists can now prescribe antibiotic eyedrops for conjunctivitis for future reference, but as your little one is very young I think you're doing the right thing seeing the gp. Good luck.

Why are you putting tea in his eye??
You can use breastmilk but otherwise stick with cool boiled water.

Conjunctivitis can be viral or bacterial. DS used to get the viral type what felt like every time he caught a cold, cleaned with cool boiled water it used to clear up on its own. Bacterial needs antibiotics and the ointment is available over the counter but only for over 2s, it’s the same stuff as you’d get on prescription so you could tell the pharmacist it’s for an older sibling, but I personally wouldn’t for a 10MO that hasn’t had it before and you’re not sure if it’s viral or bacterial. The doctor thinks it warrants an appointment, otherwise you wouldn’t have been given one, keep it and let them look at it.