Baby woke up with swollen eye lid.

[Beauchamp]

My 11 mo woke up with a swollen upper eye lid. She rubbed her eye a lot at night, and I didn't notice anything in the dark. I just held her close and nursed, rubbed her back, until she could sleep. This morning her eye is swollen almost halfway shut.

What could do this? Do I need to take her to the doctor?

[texaspeach]

might be pink eye, put breast milk in her eye. if it's pink eye that will help it.

[Beauchamp]

The white of her eye is clear, not pink, no discharge. We think it may be a bug bite.

[tzs]

my guess would be bug bite as well. i mean, it's happened to me a few times

[1blueheron]

As a kid, my eyes used to swell shut from mosquito bites anywhere near my eye. Looked alarming, but was no big deal, and I don't react that way as an adult.

[RiverandJulie]

It could also be a gnat bite, It's gnat season.

[Blessed_Mom]

Have you considered an allergy?

[Beauchamp]

Yes, I thought about allergies. She ate a bit of whole wheat biscuit yesterday for the first time, but she'd had bread before. And it's only the one eye, not the other, so I think an allergy is not as likely. That was the first thing I thought of, though.

She's napping now, so that's good. Last night was horrible though, she was rubbing her eye all night and crying. I ended up holding her tightly against me and rubbing her back and legs every ten minutes when she woke. And she normally is a baby who needs her own space in our bed, so I knew something was up, I just couldn't see her swollen eye in the dark.

[astar326]

this happened to my little one when he was almost 4 months old. we took him to the dr. but they said he was fine. ds had slept on his left side, so i'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. we haven't had this happen since.

[wookie]

it could be a stye in her eye. they're usually caused by mild bacterial infections and go away on their own in 2-3 days. idk if this was an old-wives tale but we were told to rub our middle finger on the palm of the other hand until it felt warm and apply to the affected area. that seemed to help. maybe the warmth did? not sure why it HAD to be the middle finger though

[Beauchamp]

OP here. A WEIRD thing happened...this morning I woke up with the same kind of swollen eyelid that DD had!!! I am not sure if it's a bite. I was outside last night and the bugs were swarming.

This is just weird.

[Louisep]

I'm eaten alive in the summer - I bet it's a mozzie bite. How is your LO today?

[Beauchamp]

She's much better now. I'm the one with the puffy eye now. Gah! The bugs down here are horrible! I think she has another bite on her lower back-- she's been leaning back against the sofa, the wall, and the buffet and rubbing her back/bum back and forth.