Goopy Eye

[TreeRose]

Hello - our 4-week-old DH has goopy eye. She's had it off and on since she was born. Our midwife has us putting breastmilk in the eye when she nurses to prevent infection and per Dr. Sears, we are massaging the tear duct to unclog it. Apparently it can take months.

Anyone have any remedies for this? Feel so bad when she wakes up and can only open one eye!

[mom2happy]

Just warm cotton balls and what you are doing. It will get better.

[chattyprincess]

we had the same thing happen to dd2. off and on again...she is now 11wks and hasn't had it happen in a while. We did the breastmilk and massage and it worked like a charm. just a little squirt in each eye during every nursing session really did the trick!

[ErinYay]

Vivi had it in both eyes for a week, at like 2 weeks old.

Constant compresses, breastmilk, and rubbing did the trick, but it's hard to say how much membrane is covering your baby's duct.

Keep it up, and hopefully it resolves soon!

[Casha'sMommy]

All of the above and it took months for our dd.
This too shall pass.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Both my boys had it. DS1's cleared up at around 9 months, and DS2's was about 11 months, almost 12.

Sorry! There's really not much you do. And breastmilk won't really help except to soothe some irritation.

[faeriecurls]

Warm compresses and breast milk cleared DD's eyes up pretty quickly

[kanga1622]

We battled this for several weeks also. First one eye, then both eyes, then the other eye, then back to both eyes. After about 3 weeks it started getting much better and then just disappeared one night.

We asked the doc at our WBV to be sure it wasn't a sign of infection (and I'd already been putting BM in it just in case) but she said to just massage the tear ducts whenever you can. I did that pretty much every time DS nursed.

Our doc said that over her 30+ years working with babies, she's only had 2 ever referred to a specialist to help open their tear ducts and they were both over 6 months old.

[StrongBeliever]

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness

...And breastmilk won't really help except to soothe some irritation.

Not true! Breast milk DOES help beyond relieving irritation. Breast milk is extremely high in lauric acid... It is one of the major components in breast milk that provides immunities. Lauric acid is a POTENT antimicrobial. Coconut oil is a food that is almost 50% lauric acid... Eating it can boost the lauric acid content of your milk, making it very effective in treating goopy eye. I ate coconut oil while breastfeeding my daughter... Her goopy eye cleared up in three or four days with only a few squirts a day. Coconut oil can also be used directly in her eye with a similar effect, though I really believe breast milk to be a tailored medicine for our kiddos.

[moonmama22]

Ditto on what others have said. My dd had it until about 6 weeks old. Breastmilk, warm compresses and gentle massage did the trick!

[Molliejo]

My first baby had this until I stopped putting breastmilk in it. Weird, huh? The breastmilk was actually making it goopier.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by StrongBeliever

Not true! Breast milk DOES help beyond relieving irritation. Breast milk is extremely high in lauric acid... It is one of the major components in breast milk that provides immunities. Lauric acid is a POTENT antimicrobial. Coconut oil is a food that is almost 50% lauric acid... Eating it can boost the lauric acid content of your milk, making it very effective in treating goopy eye. I ate coconut oil while breastfeeding my daughter... Her goopy eye cleared up in three or four days with only a few squirts a day. Coconut oil can also be used directly in her eye with a similar effect, though I really believe breast milk to be a tailored medicine for our kiddos.

I don't understand what that has to do with a blockage inside a tear duct.

[hapersmion]

Breastmilk might help clear up a blockage that was just due to gunk (those tear ducts are tiny, after all). It won't unblock a tear duct that has a valve that just hasn't opened yet, but it still might be good to prevent infection - the blocked tear duct increases the chance of eye infections, since stuff just sits around in there instead of draining like it's supposed to. So I think breastmilk isn't a bad idea (unless, of course, you notice improvement without it, like the PP).

My first son had this, and it cleared up around 5 months old, and now my second son has it (in the same eye, maybe it's hereditary). He's seven months old. *sigh* It gets really annoying, but there's really nothing more you can do. Hope yours clears up quickly!

[chattyprincess]

The breastmilk does not heal the blockage. The massage helps open and heal the blockage. The breastmilk helps to rinse the eye out (tear ducts not working = gunk in your eye that can't get out = potential scratches to the cornea and infection...) and to help soothe the eye.

[Norasmomma]

It may take months, DS had this on and off for a few months. What was weird with him is that when his eyelashes grew in a 2 months the blockage cleared, I remember because he grew eyelashes right when he turned 2 months old. He cried real tears from birth too, so that made it worse.

I just wiped it with a washcloth. I tried the breastmilk thing, but I swear it made it worse. Warm compress and massage.

[StrongBeliever]

I guess I missed the blocked duct part. My apologies. What I was referring to what breast milk's amazing ability to prevent and stave off infection that causes goopy eye.

[34me]

This is going to sound totally out there but my ds had a horrible goopy eye. All the time. One day I looked down and he was soothing himself by sticking his pointer finger BEHIND his eyeball! There was no part of the finger showing. I shifted his position slightly so he took his finger out himself, tore his socks off his feet and stuck them on his hands for the next three months. The goopy eye was all gone the next day. He's now 14 and has 20/15 vision.

[boomer78]

Originally Posted by StrongBeliever

Not true! Breast milk DOES help beyond relieving irritation. Breast milk is extremely high in lauric acid... It is one of the major components in breast milk that provides immunities. Lauric acid is a POTENT antimicrobial. Coconut oil is a food that is almost 50% lauric acid... Eating it can boost the lauric acid content of your milk, making it very effective in treating goopy eye. I ate coconut oil while breastfeeding my daughter... Her goopy eye cleared up in three or four days with only a few squirts a day. Coconut oil can also be used directly in her eye with a similar effect, though I really believe breast milk to be a tailored medicine for our kiddos.

I AGREE. Every time I tried this when dd's eyes got yucky, it helped out. Within hours her eye(s) seemed better, within days they were back to normal.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by boomer78

I AGREE. Every time I tried this when dd's eyes got yucky, it helped out. Within hours her eye(s) seemed better, within days they were back to normal.

Yes, but just having "goopy eye" because of a cold or allergies is not the same as a blocked tear duct. A blocked tear duct doesn't come and go. It's usually obvious from weeks after birth, and lasts quite a while consistently.

[momto4plus4]

Okay, so I've read all the posts and am still a little confused.

My lo started getting goopy eyes about 3 wks ago after what seemed like a cold. However, while his cold symptoms have disappeared, his eyes will still periodically goop. Usually it will only goop for the day or 2 days and then clear for a couple days then goop again. It can be so goopy that it's crusted on his eye lashes and the goop is green. BUT, his eye isn't red like pink-eye (which dd1 has had a lot) and it goes away which pink-eye wouldn't do.

Thoughts???