eye drops and a feisty one year old - how?!

[Belle]

My little boy has an eye infection as a result of a nasty cold and the doc prescribed anti biotic eye drops. Trouble is after dose 1 (supposed to be four doses a day) - he is wise to it, and instantly screws his eyes shut whilst yelling when he sees the bottle. We've tried all the tricks we can think of (one of us dangling him upside down etc, me doing it with him laid across lap watching Waybuloo) - but nothing works and I'm having to make do with dropping it onto his closed lids, not ideal...anyone else been through this?!

[womanofdulwich]

yep and it is awful. have them flat on the floor and even if they close thier eyes at first they will open them and blink a few times and some will go in! maybe blink 3 times for a special tickle/cuddle-( or sweet?) then do it again if yo think not enough has gone into the eye.

[nunheadmum]

We had this problem too with eye drops and never found a way to do it that wasn't a fight and left us feeling like we were being awful to them. Then our GP started saying that there's no point in giving eye-drops if it's the result of a cold as it's viral and it's just the cold coming out - it'll pass as the virus passes. So now if it happens we just keep the eye clean by wiping with cool boiled water - much easier.

Getting the nursery to accept that explanation was a bit harder but they are usually fine as long as we take her to the GP and have it verified as viral and not bacterial (which is when you need the drops, I was told).

Always possible that another GP would have another approach - but this one has worked for us and saves a lot of struggling.

[HAL9000]

I've found this technique quite effective on children.

Position the head with an ear to the ground. With a fingertip, gently pull back the skin just beyond the outside corner of the eye and apply the drop to that corner. It doesn't matter whether the eye is open or closed. The drop will flow down the junction of the eyelid and be drawn into the eye by capillary action and upon blinking. Repeat on the other eye.

[TE44]

Hi Belle, Castor oil is fantastic for clearing infection in the eyes, wait until your boy's sleepin

then put some on cotton wool and wipe over his eye, I've never known it not to work, and much easier than

drops.