Hey All,,Jenny Here. Finally had my baby boy,,,9 days late,,he was induced. All home now and doing well. He nurses like a champ and my milk came in 24 hours this time (wrote stressed out question about nursing and being overweight about 8 months into pregnancy...but that is going great,,,,so thanks to all of you who responded to that) Mitchell was seen at three days old because of holiday weekend,,,,and he had a blocked tear duct. Now that eye is cleard up, but his other eye is downright gross. It weeps yellow yucky. Everytime he sleeps and wakes up, I have to get warm rag and uncrust it. He can't even open it if I don't. He has well check friday (two days) but wondering if anyone else had this in their newborn? My daughter did not have this when she was born, so its new to me.
Thanks for your responses. I know i am seeing dr tomorrow, but when you have a newborn and there is some odd, yellow goop coming out of his eye, it can be un nerving, to say the least. I do the warm compress oh his eye while i nurse him, then massage the duct while i nurse as well, and he does not fuss about that being done while on the breast. My husband made a joke that a man and a breast together, you can do whatever you want to him and he will let you. It was the first time i had a good laugh since i gave birth :-) levity at just the right time :-) my pediatrician, (called them yesterday) said the yellow discharge is part of the blocked duct...and no drops are needed unless white of the eye is red, which points to infection. Also said the surgery should wait till year old as most of them clear up by then and that all surgery is somewhat invasive...so they like to give it the year to see if they grow out of it. Thanks again for writing,,all of you...i still say that sometimes hearing other mommies stories is the best medicine...for the mommy asking the question that is :-)
My daughter had a blocked tear duct in one eye. It got so bad her eye looked swollen. It eventually went away when she was 4 months.
Hey there.... My son also had the same issue when he was born. And doing exactly what you are doing with the warm rag is all you can do. Eventually it will unblock itself. Just be patient. Good Luck
Ditto on the tear duct! Aryan had it when he was born and went away about 6 weeks afterwards. I just made sure that I massaged that tear duct to encourage it to open. Usually it's gone by the first year, if not then the doctors take a look at it and consider other options. But don't worry about that, it'll go away and enjoy your new bundle of joy!!!!
B.
My daughter had the same problem with runny eyes. Finally, when she was almost a year old, one of her pediatricians (we go to a group) suggested a pediatric ophthalmologist. This doctor (Dr. Eric Crouch, Jr.) confirmed that both of her tearducts were blocked. When eye drops did not help, he recommended a tearduct probing operation. It is a very simple outpatient surgery which he performs at CHKD. He was absolutely wonderful! Ask your pediatrician about this. They may want to wait a little while since your son is so young, but it's never too early to at least discuss it. I hope this helps.
My son had this problem from 1 week old till about 1 month old. This is normal. Untill they actually start producing tears (2-3 months old I believe) they can get clogged and recloged. What your doing is fine, warm washcloth does the trick. Your doing everything right.
About me, 23 year old mother of one 5 month (1-11-07) old little boy. And trust me the fun is just begining with your little man!
It happened to my daughter it was an under devolped tear duct.At one year old she had to have tubes put in her ducts.Never had a problem again after that.Just keep applying warm wash rag when he wakes up its a pain to do but it doesnt bother the child. Good luck.
Is the crusty eye the one with the blocked tear duct? My youngest daughter was born with a blocked tear duct in her right eye. It did the same as what you are describing. At 2 months old they found it and tried probes to unblock it. That didn't work (they tried 6 times) and at 3 months they had to put a tube in the corner of her eye so the eye could drain. It connected her nose and eye and worked great. After a year they took it out and 9 months later it closed again. She had a 2nd tube and that fell out and now her eye started again. We have finally decided to wait until she is a little older (she is almost 4) and then try the tube again. In the meantime when she doesn't have a tube, I use warm water and a cloth to wipe her eye when it gets bad and the doctors have given me eye drops to use to keep infection out. I know your son is very young but one thing we found is that allergies make it worse because it swells the nose and forces the discharge into the eye. If you know anything he is allergic to, it helps to eliminate those. When the pediatrian found her blocked tear duct, we were referred to a pedetriac eye doctor who specialized in these cases. It may help (if you are not already referrred to one) to see an eye doctor who can better assist with options to help your son. I am sorry to hear this and understand because I am still dealing with it too.
hey i have a newborn baby boy also and his right eye tear duct is also clogged up. it is runny and gross too. i have just been massaging it several times a day and cleaning it with a really warm wash cloth. just letting you know you arent alone.
Sounds like a blocked duct. Did they give you any eye drops for the first one? If they did then I'd just do the same for this eye. My son had it in one eye and the drops they prescribed started to clear it up within 24 hours (they had me treat both eyes though). Only had to use it for a week and it never came back.
Good luck!
S.
Spray breastmilk in his eyes, it will clear up in no time.
An old remedy that worked with my infant is breastmilk which is sterile and nonirritating. I drop in her eye several times a day whenever I say the slightest bit of goop. My grandma who lived in rural Kentucky used breastmilk for stuffy noses and earaches. It worked great for me. Good luck! N.
Express a little milk and use that to clean his eye off. Breast milk contains anti-fungal and antibacterial compounds and is as gentle and non-toxic as water. If the discharge from the eye turns yucky colors, call the doc right away.
I'm glad to hear your breastfeeding is going well. Just remember, normal breast tissue swelling goes away in bout a week and is not a sign of decreased supply. Just count the diapers!
When my last child was born he had this problem also except he had it with both eyes. He eventually had to have the tear ducts surgically opened on two differnt occansions and his eyes and tear ducts have been fine since.
I was told to wipe his eyes inward toward the duct when cleaning his face. It helps to get all the yucky stuff out and that it can eventually clean up on its own. But with my child it was a consistant thing not just in the mornings so I elected to have the tear ducts opened.
Good luck with this and do what you feel will be good for him.
It's probably a blocked tear duct. My daughter had one for a few week that was just runny. My son, on the other hand, had one that did the yellow yuckly stuff off and on until he was almost a year old. I wouldn't worry about it too much since you're seeing your doc in a couple of days. They can show you how to massage it if you ask. I used to do that with Caleb while he was nursing and it seemed to help a lot.
Good luck and congrats on your milk coming in! I remember your post and I'm sure you are very relieved.
Janen
My daughter had a blocked tear duck at birth. Our pediatrian told us to lightly massage it for a second every now and then. I guess this stimulates the duck to open up. R.....
Well this was a terrible battle for me, my son got the same thing at about a week old, and didn't get rid of it till about 5 1/2 months. I went to the doctor repeatedly, and she said if it wouldn't clear up on his own at 6 months that he would need surgery. But what I did to help the duct clear was massage it at least 3 times a day, they really hate it, but it's for his own good. Also it went from one eye, to both, to one and etc.
My little girl (born March 06) had a blocked tear duct until she was about 8 months old. The doctors said if it didn't clear up by a year, they would recommend seeing a specialist. Her eye was weepy most of the time, and it did get crusted over every once in awhile. There are massages you can do to help the duct clear up, too. One day we noticed that her eye wasn't weepy anymore, and that was it!
My daughter had blocked tear ducts in both of her eyes when she was a newborn. Unfortunately, it didn't ever go away completely and she had outpatient surgery on both eyes at 1 year old. It was very minor surgery and she wasn't in any pain, but of course it was still scary as a parent to go through that with such a young child. There is not much you can do about blocked tear ducts besides massaging them and keep using the warm rag to clean them up. If your son still has problems with this when he is one, his pediatrician will probably advise you to see a specialist and possibly have outpatient surgery to unblock them. Like I said, it is minor and not invasive - hopefully you will not have to do it. I wish you luck!
I had the same problem with my son and it was a blocked duct. Be sure to massage the tear duct several times a day and I found that if you have eye drops prescribed by the pediatrician, put them in as directed and massage the duct then too...gets that medicine in there too to clear anything out... My son went for weeks like this and they just told me to keep massaging so don't get frustrated if it doesn't clear right up. Do, however, see the doctor if it appears to get worse or begins weeping green discharge or anything that concerns you!
