Bye Bye Blocked Tear Duct

At around 1 week old my son’s left eye was constantly watery and crusty. Sometimes when he’d wake up in the morning his eye would be so crusted that he would have difficulty even opening it. Having a midwife at the time I paged her with my concerns. She confirmed that my little man had a blocked tear duct. She told me not to worry and that is a common condition in newborns and that it would eventually clear up on its own. I was happy to learn that his eye was not infected. Although, blocked tear ducts usually clear up on their own my midwife offered a few suggestions on how to speed up the process. I was told to gently massage his nasal bridge and to clean the eye throughout the day with warm water and a cotton ball. She also said to squirt breastmilk in his eye during feedings.

After talking to my midwife about my son’s blocked tear duct and doing my own research I was ready to start treating his eye. Each morning when my son would wake up I’d get a fresh pot of water boiled. I would wait until the water was warm and test it each time with a thermometer. Once the water was just right I’d wash my hands and soak a cotton ball in the water. If his eye was really crusty at the time I’d hold the wet cotton ball over his eye to loosen up the mucus before wiping. Then I’d take another cotton ball, dip it in the water and wipe the inner part of his eye to the other part. I repeated this process until the gunk was all gone using a new cotton ball each time. I was always very diligent about cleaning his eye properly and safely as I never wanted it to get infected. On occasion, I would also express a drop of milk in his eye. When I did this I would put the milk in his eye first, I’d let it stay in there for a minute or so, and then I would begin cleaning it with the boiled water and cotton balls. Sometimes I’d massage his tear duct as well. To do this I just used my washed index finger and placed my finger on the side of his nose and move it upwards towards the corner of his eye.

One month later (on my birthday to be exact), this huge ball of gunk came out of his eye. I cleaned it right away and that was it. All of the gunk just needed to come out to unclog his tear duct. I am so thankful that I don’t have to clean a goopy eye anymore. I am more thankful though that my son did not need surgery to open up the duct.

I hope that my post is able to help you open up your child’s block tear duct.