My daughter's left eye lid has been swollen and red for five days now. We took her to the dr and he said to give her Children's Benadrly for 24 hrs, then if it is worse, to give her prescription antibiotics. If it stayed the same or is better, to just watch it for a few days. It seemed better yesterday, but is back to being more swollen (same as before) today. He said not to judge it by what it looks like in the morning, but it just has me so worried. She was exposed to a pony two days before this occurred, and also was with me visiting my father in the hospital two days before this started up (I washed and sanitized her hands several times at the hospital). Today I applied an ice pack to try to get the swelling down. The dr said her eye is fine (it is not red) and that it is just the lid that is swollen. Has anyone else experienced this? It does not seem to bother her in the least. She has also had loose stools the past several days (not sure if the two are related). No other symtoms - no rashes, no itching - she doesn't even rub it. Any advice would be very much appreciated! My daughter is 18 months old. I don't want to give her antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.
Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions! I ended up using warm compresses and also putting breast milk on the eyelid, and it is getting much better - almost back to normal. I think she does sleep with her head tilted so that her left eye is in the mattress of the crib, but not much I can do about that at her age. I am so grateful I didn't have to give her antibiotics. I think we will try tea bags today and see if we can knock it out completely. There is no more swelling, but her lid is a touch red still. But it is much better.
This sounds like a stye to me or a clogged tear duct. I would use warm compresses 3 times a day for 2 or 3 days and see if this helps. I would not be overly concerned if her eye is not being sealed shut by pus which would be pink eye.
B.
Well If you are breastfeeding, put a couple of drops of breastmilk in her eye a couple of times a day, and it will help clear up whatever she has. If you are not, try chamomille tea bags. Make tea like you would normally and instead of throwing out the tea bags put them on your daughters eye, and that will help with the swelling, if not, go to Whole Foods/Wild Oats, I forget what it is called now, and they have a wonderful homeopathic department with great people to help you. I'm with you I do not like antibiotics, I use it as a last resort. My son turned 4 in August and he just had his first antibiotics, b/c he had strep throut. Good luck
I would get a second opinion. Web MD had this as a symptom of a sinus infection. Has she had a cold?
Put a wet chamomile tea bag on her eyelid. Research a homeopathic remedy for allergic reaction from the health food store. Toddlers love taking homeopathic remedies, they are small little sweet pills that taste good.
Sounds like it could be allergies. It could be environmental, the horse. I had my own eye swell shut for 2 days after playing with a cat.
Loose stools can also be a sign of a food allergy. Has she had any new food recently?
P.
I would go with the doctor on this. Doctors usually err on the side of overtly cautious due to lawsuits. Th doc knows what he is doing.
My son had what sounds like the same thing when he was about 5 months old. His top lid only would get very, almost swollen shut, and it would be worst in the morning. We did go to the pediatrician and they said it was common eye edema. He said that it is more common than you would think. My son's eye did it for a few weeks, but it was only one eye at a time. We figured out that he was turning his head or sleeping slightly on his side, and that was the eye that was swelling. We had to use the sleep bumpers again for a while to get him to stop rolling onto his side and it went away!
Chamomile always works with my kids. I don't think it's the pony or the hospital, because of the 2 day lapse between the exposure and the swelling. Usually allergies to animals and other allergesn with reactions like that happen quickly. Last summer I was with my cousin's daughter at another uncle's farm, and even though she had ridden horses before, the minute she got on one of his horses, her eye began to swell. Benadryl helped a little and because we were in a rural area nowhere near a pharmacy, and the swelling happened so fast, we ended giving her a prescription allergy medication that one of the moms there had for her own son. It worked like magic. I don't know the name of it though, because this was out of the country. She may also have allergies to other things, such as some foods. Even things such as wheat can cause that kind of a reaction. Good luck!
Try washing the eye lid with johnsons tearless baby shampoo. It has always help my child. I use a Q tip and obviously not too much. Hope this helps your child as well
Could it be a Stye? Children frequently get them when they touch their eyes and their hands are not clean. A warm, hot compress several times a day usually clears it up.
