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Goopy Eye

2K views 23 replies 17 participants last post by  chattyprincess 
#1 ·
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!
 
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#4 ·
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!
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness View Post
...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.
 
#12 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by StrongBeliever View Post
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.
 
#13 ·
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!
 
#15 ·
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.
 
#17 ·
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.
 
#18 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by StrongBeliever View Post
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.
 
#19 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by boomer78 View Post
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.
 
#20 ·
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???
 
#22 ·
That's what I'm wondering. Dr wonders it too. Gave me a Rx for pink-eye meds just in case... Just seems like if it was an infection it wouldn't come & go. Wondering if it's possibly from refluxing??? I don't know. This LO has stumped me. Amazing to think that I'm still so confused by him after having 3 others. Just proves that they're all different/unique!
 
#23 ·
Well, we've been told hers is a blocked tear duct by our midwife and to use breastmilk to keep it from getting infected. The goopiness has gone away and then come back again. We are massaging and using breast milk, warm wash cloths to clean and soothe and it's not as bad as it's been but I guess, it sounds like, it could stick around for awhile!
 
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