Plugged Tear Duct

When my baby had clogged tear ducts, I was told to massage the tear duct to help it open up. Sometimes I used a warm wet wash cloth depending on how crusty her eye was. I would wipe all the gunk out of her eye and then massage her tear duct. The doctors told us that for most kids with clogged tear ducts they open up on their own before they are a year old.

Mine had this same problem. It is so sad when they wake up and can't even open their eyes from the crust! But don't worry, it is pretty normal and will probably go away on its own. You can take the baby in to the dr. but you may end up paying for a visit when they are probably just going to tell you to wait it out.

I have heard that if you rub breast milk on it it will clear it up.

My son is three months and he had the same thing. My doctor advised me to massage his tear duct by placing my little finger on the side of his nose and corner of his eye (I hope that makes sense!) and rubbing. I did this a couple of times a day and it cleared up really quickly. I hope this helps.

warm wash cloth several times a day is what my pediatrician told me to do, and it still works. Good luck and congratulations on your new baby!!!

as others have said, massage and breast milk do the trick. congratulations!

Wipe the eye from the corner out with a warm wash cloth and gently massage the inside corner of the eye several times a day. Gently though. It may take awhile to get better but keep at it. My twin grandsons just had it a few months ago. That's all they said to do and they are better now.

Our daughter had this too. We were told by our pediatrician to use a warm wet washcloth and hold it on her closed eye for a few minutes at a time a few times a day. We also massaged the area with clean hands to keep things moving and help work the gunk out. We worked on the inner eye, starting from the brow bone and rubbed down the outside of her nose/eye area. Always from the top down. It was a recurring thing for our daughter until she was about 6 months old and then it never came back. Talk to your ped to see what they say. You might need to use an ointment.

HI!
My baby had that when he was brand new too. They called it a blocked tear duct. I called his doctors office and they told me to wipe it off with a warm clean rag. The warmness gets the goo off pretty good. I would call the doctors office, because sometimes, when you have them vaginally they can get eye infections, so they might want to see her to make sure its not infected. CONGRATS ON BABY!

My son had the same problem. On his regular physician's visit, they gave me an ointment to use, but it was really unneccessary. It cleared up on its own after about a week or so. You might also try massaging the corner of the eye gently several times a day.

My daughter had that problem and i just continually used a warm cloth on it. It eventually opened up. I had the same problem as a baby and my parents had to opt for a very minor surgery that cleared it up. Apparently most babies open up on their on (like mine did). Keep trying the warm cloth to keep it clean and I'm sure it will be fine. Our doctor didn't really have any other suggestions being she was so young (as it sounds yours is). Good luck!

I'm so glad to see so many mothers know to use breast milk first! I was surprised at first when this is what our doctor advised. Mother's milk is good for ear infections too! It is difficult to massage tear ducts, however. Moist heat is very helpful. You might try running a vaporizer and letting her sleep against your warm skin when possible.

At age 5, however, my son would get the clogged ducts during allergy season. Mother's milk was no longer an option. The opthamologist prescribed an ointment that came in a very small metal tube with a long thin dispensing tip. The ingredients, however, were the same as Neosporin antibacterial ointment. It was very effective, but my optometrist explained that the only difference between this prescribed opthamolic ointment and the over-the-counter Neosporin ointment is that the tube is designed to prevent contamination. She suggested that we just buy a new tube of Neosporin for 1/4 the price and dispense the ointment onto sanitary cotton swabs instead of your finger in order to avoid contamination.

So, if you don't have breast milk, Neosporin and moist heat are also very helpful.

THis is the way the pediatrician explained it to me. Your tear duct drains from your eye into your nose. THat's why your nose runs when you cry. Sometimes this can get clogged in a baby. The way he showed me to massage it was like when you take off your eye glasses and rub the side of your nose right below your eye.

Breast milk is best for baby for more than just feedings! I thought this sounded wierd when someone told me to try it, but it worked for my son!

When this happened to my boys, our ped.dr. said to take a warm damp cloth and dab at the duct to loosen everything and then to gently massage with our pinky finger a couple times a day. Hope that this helps. Good luck.

I'm assuming you have not had your baby's 2 week checkup or you would have asked your pediatrician? The other moms have good advice. You can always call the free nurse line where you delivered as well. Getting advice for medical issues is easy and convenient from a health professional and is at your fingertips as well. Congrats on your new baby!

1/4 tsp salt in a cup of warm water and wipe it a couple of times a day.

Hi Sara & Carl, a lot of babies have matted eyes at new born stage, sometimes with a cold even. You can use a warm soft wash cloth to loosing it. Also let your Dr. know as he may want you to use a special salve, cream or drops for her eyes. If it is actually pluged it may need opening by a Dr.

So check with her Dr. and make sure she is ok.

Congratulation on your precious little princess.
K. Nana of 5

Hi Sara. It will most likely clear up on it's own and massage has a chance of introducing infection if you aren't REALLY careful of the cloth/fingers/liquids being clean before going into the eye area. My daughter had this and we used the ointment a couple of times when it got goopy, but normally we just used the warm wet cloth in the morning to remove the crust.

Our daughter's eye cleared up after 5 months or so, but did open on its own. Good luck--it is annoying for the poor baby.

My 2nd hate this and it lasted 4-6 weeks. Ped told me to massage it several times a day with a clean finger to help work out the "gunk". Hope this helps. Congrats on the baby!!

One of my best friends kids had/have his challenge...take a warm wet rag and clean it often. Just enough so that your baby's eyes don't get glued shut. It is a condition that will remedy itself in time. My friend's oldest had to have surgery on one of her eyes when the duct wouldn't clear up on its own, but she was over a year by that time. Her youngest's eyes are clearing just fine and he just turned a year. Hope this is somewhat helpful. Good luck and God Bless.

Gentle massage and breastmilk should clear it up. It eventually will go away.