Never ending bacterial pink eye....help!

[girlsmamma2]

Hi everyone. How do I handle pink eye, our first experience, in a large family? All 4 of my kids have caught it. First my 3 yo ds got it along with a double ear infection. It was cultered as H. influenzae. Then my 5 yo got the same ear ache and eye goop. Then my 7 yo got just the pink eye, now after I thought we were in the clear my 19 mo has it. I am going FRIGGIN crazy. I thought it was finally over. The washing machine has been running non stop. I even did preventative drops for all of us (except the 19 month old who now has it) when my 7 year old came down with it because I was so DONE!!!!! Now I have to do it all over again. I've cleaned and washed and cleaned and washed and it's still not enough. The lysol wipes have been a permanent fixture on my counter for the last couple of weeks. What am I doing wrong and is this just going to keep happening again and again? I obviously dont' have a handle on it and with 4 kiddos I just don't know how to prevent it. Since I've had the drops as soon as I've seen the goop I've gone after it before they can even call a perscription in. And for 3 of my kids this is the first time on any medication. I'm going nuts. I'd be ok if I felt like ok, all 4 have finally had it, it's over like other illnesses. But I feel like it's going to come back and back again. Can't their body recognize this next time or am i in for a constant battle with this stuff? I"m soooooooo not happy right now. I know it's a simple thing but for some reason I can't get perspective on it because this year it's been one crisis after another and as soon as we get a break now this......what do I do?

thanks

[Llyra]

Are you using a separate vial of drops for each of them, or at least being careful that there's no contact between the dropper and the kids' eyes? Is it possible the dropper itself is spreading it? Are the kids getting oral antibiotics-- honestly, if they aren't, with something that persistent I might consider it.

Are you breastfeeding? Breastmilk in the eyes three times a day can help, to treat it as well as prevent it from recurring.

[Mom2M]

I second the breastmilk, it worked awesome for us!

[JaneS]

Similisan Pink Eye relief is fantastic. One day of it and pi was gone.

[amcal]

We use Soft Saline contact lens solution. I know it sounds crazy but, if you google, you'll find it's a very effective method for treating pink eye.

It must be soft contact lens saline solution. I've read it must be the kind with boric acid. That's all we've ever used and it works like a charm.

The saline solution is designed to kill bacteria on your contact lenses and it does the same thing in the eye.

It's perfectly safe for the eye.

When we get pink eye, I flood the eye multiple times a day - like every hour or two I just quirt it in our eyes. It's so soothing, washes the gunk away and within 24 hours we're always significantly better.

Personally, if I were you, I'd start using it every couple hours for the next couple weeks just to make sure you get it good and gone.

[Mamato3wild ponnie]

Get some breastmilk....even if it's someone else's.....works very quickley.

[girlsmamma2]

so is it unusual for it to come back like that? Now my 5 yo (the second one who got it) looks like she's getting it again!!!!! She said her eyes are gritty feeling, watery and she's looked puffy. Just a matter of time before she goops up. So I called and THIS doc I talked to actually said she'd give them each their own vial and it should knock it out. I've been using the same vial on the kids who already have it, but I am very careful not to touch anything but who knows really, because none of the docs I've talked to wanted to give them all a script. its so annoying. if they'd have done it the first time around mids wouldn't be on more drops than they should. i hate that. now I'm doing them all at the same time, but they still wouldn't add dh and I. And with my 19 month old getting it yesterday he was ALL OVER ME so I know I'm next and dh. I'm soooo over this. I hope I don't have to resort to putting them all on orals, and this takes care of it. 2 still have no signs of it but i know my kids, they are all over each other and within each others space all the time, plus my 5 yo is like a hands on mamma with the 19 mo so I know that's why she's got it again.

I jsut don't know why it was such a big deal to get all of them medicine. I mean they do it for pinworms, strep in a big family etc. why not this? so annoying. if it's so benign then what's the big friggin deal.

and i stopped nursing of course about a month ago but it was a long slow wean so my milk is seriously gone. And it's bacterial so I thought I needed the drops, cultered as H. Flu when my son first got it.
thanks everyone. will this ever end? The bad parts of large families I guess. I guess I'm lucky it's not something worse. but right now i'm too stressed to appreciate that.

[seemfrog]

I use a drop of silver at the first symptom, really it only takes one or two doses of 1 drop and works immediately. I really didn't do any crazed washing, just washed their pillow cases after a few days (my boys and I all got it last summer). We have used a few of the other drops mentioned by other pp, including bmilk. I tend to rotate and treat a lot.

[newmum35]

silver

There are many brands out there. I linked to the kind I have used myself (for another type of bacterial infection) - it worked like magic

[nichole]

I second the contact solution.

[girlsmamma2]

Update and advice needed pinkeye/ear infections HIB

Ok, so now here we are, all 4 of my kiddos got pink eye, 2 with ear infections. My oldest, 7, just got the pink eye. My youngest is on the last day of his eye drops (called in by the doc) and in the meantime everyone has come down with a very mucusy cold with a heck of a cough that we are all coming out of. The cold has just manifested in a relentless cough but is now easing up. My youngest 19 mo, never really had a cough but he just stared a few days after his pinkeye came on with a runny nose that didn't start clear but started out yellow and greenish. Now after several days of it it's lessening and starting to go to clear, except in the AM when they are all mucusy.

Ok, so here is my question. I haven't taken him to the doc as he doesn't have a fever, his eye is better and now what I was worried was a bacterial infection because of the color of his snot is turning clear. My question is if I cleared the eye what if there is still an underlying bacterial or bacterial ear infection, or was his mucus from his nose simply his version of the cold we all got but he couldn't blow his nose? i worry once he stops his drops his pink eye will all come back and we will start all over. (I also had all of us on drops while he had it because it would have been a mess and my kids would have all got it again).

Ok, so I know this is confusing. But my question is I hate to take him to the doc because even if they see something in his ears it's obvious to me his body is taking care of it. The medicine took care of the pink eye but I worry I'll go through this all again if he gets it and spreads it to them all again. however, I hate to put him on antibiotics if his body is taking care of it. Do I just let him come off the drops and hope his runny nose stops soon after and he doesn't reinfect everyone else? Am I overthinking it and my other dc will be fine since they've had it before even if he gets it again? I can't tell the difference between the cold and the bacterial infection (with my oldest ds who got it first it was cultured as HIB ear and eye infection but everyone handled it different, my oldest didnt get the ear affects just the pink eye so I'm hoping this is the case with my 19 mo).

Should I just let him go off the drops and see what happens instead of needlessly putting him on antibiotics for something his body is taking care of? I worry it will come back if the bacteria is still there and I'll be washing, washing, washing again. I can't take it!

And the next go round (hopefully never but who knows) i will use the silver suggestions and soft saline solution. good ideas. it'd be nice to not have to get a perscription all the time.
thanks for listening , i know i'm confusing.

[nichole]

Is there an update?

This is what my dr said which I thought was reasonable.

Regular pink eye and ear infections can be part of a cold. You can let the ear infection go for a couple of days and let the pink eye go for a few days if it is not swollen up.

If we already had the drops here, I think I would use them, but I wouldn't share a bottle of eyedrops amongst family memebers. For my son, his eye got swollen and had to have Rx drops. When the pinkeye came back, we still had some drops so I used the rest of them For me, the contact solution did the trick.