Pink eye?

UMichGirl · November 2013

I have a feeling we will be at urgent care tomorrow. DS's eye went from getting kind of goupy in the corner every couple minutes to looking slightly swollen and pink and his lower eyelid looks deep red compared to his other eye. Great. Does this sound like the beginnings of pink eye? I've never had it myself but I'm nervous about what his eye will look like in the morning...if he will even be able to open it. :-(

dufferoo · November 2013

Yep, sounds like pinkeye or some other eye infection. If it gets crusted shut, try a warm wet washcloth pressed to it for as long as baby will let you, to loosen up the crust before wiping.

DawnLilly · November 2013

DS had what sounds like the same thing last year. I was sure it was pink eye. The pedi said he actually had the cold virus in his eye and that it should only last 3-4 days but not to be surprised if it jumped to the other eye. Which, it did.

Katie829 · November 2013

My DD has conjunctivitis right now. We got a prescription eye drop. She had a cold/croup this past week. DH actually got it as well. The drops worked really quickly.
For DD her eyes were green and nasty.

UMichGirl · November 2013

Was everyone prescribed drops? We were given drops for DS but from what we've read online I'm thinking this is a viral infection, not bacterial. So...the drops won't really DO anything if that's the case. Does everyone get prescribed drops just as a precaution? The reason I'm thinking it's viral is because the discharge is mainly white/clear and from what I've read if it's bacterial it would be yellow or green. IDK...we are doing the drops but for one thing it's like WW3 every time we try to give them to DS with both of us pinning him down. Not sure how I'm going to do that by myself tomorrow when DH is at work. And for another thing I'd hate to think we are giving him meds that he doesn't need!

smileybabyboy · November 2013

We had ointment when DS had pink eye. We put it in when he was sleeping. Pedi said as long as it gets on his lashes, it will melt into his eye.

dufferoo · November 2013

@Umichgirl Yes, unfortunately I do rhink doctors frequently prescribe antibiotics "just in case." This is part of the reason some antibiotics have lost their effectiveness over the years. Sooo frustrating. I think the key is to just choose a doctor you trust, never try to strongarm them into prescribing you something, and then just trusting them to know what they are doing. Frustrating, I know, when that involves going o battl against your baby to get eyedrops in their eyeballs

jnnfrrose6 · November 2013

DS had something similar and I was convinced it was pink eye. Doctor said it was a symptom of an ear infection instead.

UMichGirl · November 2013

jnnfrrose6 said:
DS had something similar and I was convinced it was pink eye. Doctor said it was a symptom of an ear infection instead.

Our pedi told us to keep an eye on him and if he started getting extra fussy to being him in bc often ear infections go along with that. He was grabbing at his ears and hitting his head a little last night but not so much this morning so hopefully he doesn't have that. We just texted pics of his eye to the pedi yesterday and he called in drops based on that so he wasn't checked out or anything. :-(

kami1977 · November 2013

I was actually listening to a discussion about colds and viruses on Svience Friday recently and the speaker said there wasn't really a way to tell if it was a bacterial or virial infection based on discharge color for mucus. I would assume it is also true for eye discharge. If you're still breastfeeding, I've heard of moms squirting some milk in baby's eye so the antibodies in the milk will fight the infection. This was from mom in LLL along with our old pediatrician.

PineApple85 · November 2013

DS started having a little discharge and just a teensy bit of swelling in one eye yesterday morning and I've been putting a couple drops of breastmilk in his eye about every couple of hours. Seems to be clearing up. If you don't have breastmilk and you are comfortable with the idea and have a source that you trust, raw goats milk or raw cows milk is supposed to be very effective as well.

jennyelf · November 2013

One of the reasons antibiotics are often prescribed is that most DC won't allow a child to return unless either the eye has cleared up or the child has been on antibiotics for 24 hours. Since a lot of parents can't afford a child to be out the 3-5 days it would take to clear up on its own if it's just viral, they opt for the antibiotics.

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