pink eye and ear infection questions
It's been a rough weekend in our house....N has pink eye (and an upper respitory infection). We were at urgent care this morning and it was only his left eye. It's already spread to his right (not a big surprise). We have eye drops that we are using in both eyes. As soon as I put the drop in his eyes he shuts them really tight and the medicine seems to come out. Is that normal? I want to make sure we are doing this right so he can get better. Also, I know we are supposed to sanitize the house but he is 11 months old. He crawls everywhere and touches everything. I'm sure this is a silly question but am I supposed to spray Lysol on the floor too 
C has a "dull" ear infection. The doc says it looks like he is working on an ear infection but she would hold off on giving him medicine unless he is still fussy tomorrow and/or Tuesday. He also has an upper respitory infection so of course he is going to be fussy - he can't breath when he's laying down. Would you go ahead and start the meds or wait? I know I should listen to the doc (and I should have asked while we were there) but how do I know if the fussy is due to the URI or the ears?
TIA!
Re: pink eye and ear infection questions
It's been a long time since we've had pink eye, but I think what you're describing sounds pretty normal. It's tough for these little guys to understand what you're doing with the drops.......are you giving actual drops, or optical ointment? As long as you are holding his eye open pretty wide when you are dispensing, I'd say he's getting the benefit of the medicine.
As far as the ear infection is concerned, it's been my personal experience that once one starts, those suckers don't go away on their own, especially if they have a cold/URI along with it. If he isn't OVERLY fussy, I'd try to get through the night with just motrin (for discomfort) and a humidifier and start the meds tomorrow if he doesn't seem to be feeling better. I don't think I'd wait till Tuesday, it's really hard to see your kid in pain/misery when you have something to make it better.
And I'll tell ya, when we had pink eye, I didn't go nuts with the Lysol, etc. Just make sure you, your DH and DD are washing your hands constantly. As long as N isn't rubbing his eyes excessively, I wouldn't try to wipe down anything and everything. The drops should kick in soon and eliminate the contagiousness of it.
God, I hope that everyone starts feeling better soon! Winters are SO HARD for little ones.
Tyler Anthony arrived on 9.21.09
The Chronicles of Justin and Tyler