My LO has a yellowish discharge coming from one eye only. It's been about three or four days. It was only a little at first but now when he wakes up it's all encrusted. I wipe it away with a wet washcloth. His actual eye doesn't look red or irritated at all. Is this normal newborn gunk or should I call the doctor?
Clueless New Mom
Re: Yellow mucous gunk in one eye-2 weeks old
It's probably a clogged tear duct. It's worth calling your pedi just to get their opinion on it, and they might prescribe an ointment to put on it a few times a day. They'll also tell you to massage the inner corner of the eye a few times a day with your pinky finger to help open it up. My son's just finally opened up within the last couple of weeks.
Sounds like a clogged tear duct. Call ur Dr. Keep wiping it away with a wash cloth. My friend LO had this they gave her drps and are doing surgery next month. They wouldnt do surg till she was like 18mo.
GL!
Way to be an alarmist.
My LO has had this happen a few times. My pedi said to do a warm compress and massage the corner of the affected eye with my pinky just as the pp said. I also wiped it any time gunk would build up and wouldn't let tears collect in the corner. It cleared up in 1-2 days both times.
clogged tear duct. We had the same issue. As pp stated, call your pedi and you will most likely get an ointment. DD's tear duct opened a few weeks ago because haven't seen any mucous stuff for a while now.
When I first saw it, I was just a clueless and felt silly calling the pedi, but from what I have been told, then have heard almost everything before.
good luck!
Yep, clogged duct. DS has had it since he was born. When it's yellowish/green, it might be infected (DS's has been twice). The pedi has him on 10 days of Amoxicillin again.
Apparently, since tears get stuck in there, it's easy for the eye to become infected.
Our pedi said it can take up to 9 months for it to open up and stop being goopy/infected. Super.
"I'll gladly take cold sores over eye herpes" -ElieFin
"Unicorn glitter gives me UTIs." -Leila'sMommy
6 Sept 2009 - natural miscarriage at 9 weeks
This exactly.
Yup, pedi confirmed clog tear duct. She said to clean w/ washcloth or cotton ball and not to worry unless his eye gets red.
Babies' bodies are weird.