Hiya.

My three week old baby has had quite a runny eye for a while, almost since he was born.
But for the past day it has got much worse, with the discharge being yellow and so gunky that after he has had a sleep his eye will be stuck together and unable to open. It is almost constantly running.

I have been reading up and it sounds like it could be a blocked tear duct but it also sounds like an explantion of conjunctivitus.

We have started washing it with cool boiled salty water as suggested by the mother in law.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what they did to sort it.
Thanks in advance =].

With little babies you are better getting them checked out as their eyes are delicate and can be affected by infections or bacteria like conjunctivitus. My LO has had it twice now and they just give you eye drops or cream to put in their eyes. I would def get to a doctor.

Get it checked by the doc,
Do you breastfeed? If so express some milk, damp a flannel with the EBM and gently rub it on his eye
Gill
xxxx

get to your dr's hun and get it checked out. My lo started with this at 2 weeks old and his eye swelled up like he'd been in a fight with mike tyson and had to spend 2nights in hospital having anti bitotics in one of those needle things in your hand x x

TJ's eyes have been like this since he was born, although they are getting better.

It's common for newborns and young babies to have gunky eyes apparently, it can be a blocked tear duct or just getting rid of gunk from pregnancy. I was advised by the mw and doctor that as long as the white of the eye is clear and not red or sore than it's nothing to worry about and to continue washing them with cooled boiled water. Always wipe from the inside of eye to outer, only wipe once and then use a fresh piece of cotton wool - never use the same piece of cotton wool on both eyes as this can cause and spread an infection.

I was also told that some babies can take a couple of years to grow out of it. TJ is 6mths old now and it's much better but we still get bad days with lots of gunk. When he was smaller he would often wake up with his eyes glued together - not nice!!

If there is any redness/pinkiness to the white of the eye or you are concerned then get lo to a doctor - won't do any harm

Hi
Our lo had this which the doctor referred to as 'sticky eye'. Its something to do with babies not being able to produce tears in the early weeks. The eye would be stuck together with a yellow green stuff.
If the eye itself looks at all sore, or your lo seems uncomfortable I call to the docs won't harm

It seems everybody's experience is quite different.

Isla had conjunct. for the first 4 weeks of life... In the hospital they prescribed drops and it disappeared but it came back. We were out of drops at this point so I contacted our midwife (still under her care at this point) and said just to wipe her eyes with cool balls... We continued to do this with no luck so we brought her to the doc but she wouldn't give a prescription with her being so young.... Breastmilk did nothing for Isla..

At the end of the day I googled it and it said to use the cooled boiled and salty water like you are. It was gone in a day and has never come back.

Are you using one cotton ball per eye? As SB said, It's VERY important to use one cotton ball, one wipe towards the outer eye in order to avoid spreading the infection. Never use the ball on the same eye and def. not in the other eye and always to the outer eye.

If it doesn't go away in a day or two, def. call your dr. for advice.