more pink eye questions--antibiotics?

Okay, so I've been doing my research on what to do about pink eye, and I've gotten some good suggestions, both here and in Aviva Jill Rohm's book, Naturally Healthy Babies and Kids. The problem is that the infection is in my dear little 10 month old. I can barely get her to let me clean the junk out of her eyes. She will not stand for a warm compress at all, and when I tried to drop some ebm in, she squeezed her eyes shut so hard and cried so much that I'm sure that whatever did get in there was washed out by the tears! I'm giving her an eyebright homeopathic remedy, which she likes, so that is good, but beyond that I feel like most treatments are fairly impossible to use with her! And of course I can't tell her not to rub her eyes, so she's doing that constantly. This morning the eye that was infected yesterday was crusted shut, and the other eye is starting to get nasty. I'm tempted to use the anitbiotics, simply because I don't know how effective the natural treatments can be. Any suggestions on treating such a little one?

Also, I'm wondering how much pink eye affects her whole system, or is it just in the eyes? What I mean is, right now she seems fine other than her eyes looking nasty. But should I look for her to be lathargic and generally sick as well? Yesterday she did have a very low-grade fever (around 100). Do I need to keep her inside laying low, or can we go about our regular activities as long as she's not encountering other kids? OBVIOUSLY I know her well enough to stop these activities if she seems sick at all, but if she seems fine other than her eyes, can we go about our day as usual? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.