help with plugged tear ducts/ recurring eye infections!

[expat-mama]

My LO has plugged tear ducts and keeps getting really bad eye infections (red and really goopy, itchy and painful-looking). He's been on antibiotic drops for them, yes we do the massage to try to open up the ducts. I use saline and cotton balls to clean his eyes all the time now and I am careful to wash his hands and face a lot because of the recurring infection.

This is driving me nuts because going to the doctor is sooo time-consuming and annoying and DS frequently gets some other sickness when we go! I'd rather take care of this myself, but I don't know any natural/home remedies that are safe and effective. (YES, I've tried breastmilk in the eyes)

Is there anything else we can do for this?

Anyone else have a LO with plugged ducts and constantly goopy or infected eyes?

[OvenSeeksBun]

My 12 week-old has had plugged ducts in her left eye since she was about 2 weeks old. It gets goopy every time she cries, but the eye has never been red so I don't think it has been infected.

I'm looking forward to seeing the answers.

[tooraloora]

My DS dealt with this for the first several weeks. One thing I noticed was constantly wiping his eyes was exacerbating the problem. I started using a warm, damp cloth and only wiped his eyes twice a day, and used breast milk on them every time I thought of it. Anytime I messed with it anymore than that, it just made matters worse. Eventually his ducts opened up on their own, and all the eye troubles went away.

[chattyprincess]

With true blocked ducts its all about time and keeping at it.

Dd2 had a very small blockage thing for the first couple of weeks. Every time after nursing her I Would but breastmilk in her eyes and massage down from the corner of her eye to the the corner of her nose (with only clean hands!!) So that meant This was happening 12x a day. It was only red and gross looking 2x but after that it was find if her eye started to look watery I would start being more diligent about doing the breast milk and massage all day.

[expat-mama]

Well, DS is 8 months old so we've been dealing with this for quite a while and his ducts haven't opened up on their own. Like I said, we've done the massaging and tried breast milk in the eyes to no avail.

I was hoping maybe someone knows something else that may help with the situation.

We saw the doctor today and got more antibiotic drops and she spoke to us a little more about the procedure to unplug the ducts. It doesn't sound nice at all so we'd really like to avoid it.

[Magali]

My dd's tear ducts were blocked since one week old until about 3 months old.  In all of her newborn pics she has red goopy eyes :(.  What I learned is to leave the eyes alone as much as possible.  Wiping the eyes can be causing more irritation than the actual goop, and making the eyes look worse than they really are.  I think the cotton balls might be too abrasive.  Try using a very soft warm cloth and don't wipe (very important), just pat.  This worked best for me: Squirt in the breastmilk and let it loosen up the crust, then use the warm cloth to pat the eyes and remove the goop that sticks to the cloth and then finish up with more breastmilk.  Her eyes always looked red and sore if I differed from that routine. Use breastmilk often, but limit the use of the cloth to those times that it is really bad (like after a nap when the crust is hard).  More than likely this will just clear up one day and you won't need the procedure.  But hugs to you because I know how frustrating it is!!!

[asraidevin]

We are at 11 months with blocked ducts. Seeing the specialist on the 29th. I  hate it. He wakes up every morning stuck shut (his left eye). My daughter had the same thing 8 years ago. She saw the specialist who pushed on her nose really hard several times, all cleared after that. No surgery. We will see what happens here.

I try to leave him alone except when it is stuck closed. I always get comments in public or my grandmother telling me it`s infected. I`m pretty sure it`s not infected. I don`t think there is a remedy. They usually clear by a year if not they have to have surgery (a little wire inserted- my cousin had it done as a baby).