Eye Infection & Eye Drops Advise for First Time Older Mom

Updated on May 15, 2008
M.R. asks from Aurora, IL
35 answers

My daughter has an eye infection in both eyes & needs to take eye drop medicine. She is 6 yrs old. She opens her eyes wide but when the eye dropper gets near her eyes, she squints or looks down or closes her eyes. It is hard getting the medicine into her eyes

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So What Happened?

Thank you to everyone who replied. I used the eye drops while she was sleep & also I used the method of just putting it in the corners of her eyes while they were close & having her open them & blinking & hoping I put enough drops in her eyes. The infection did clear up so all of the advice I received helped. My first request & it was a success

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L.R.

answers from Springfield on

Being an optometrist, I do this all the time. Just have her close her eyes and put the drops in the corner of her eye. Have her open her eyes and the drops go in. Sometimes you may have to give her a little help to opening her eyes. Hope this helps.

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K.C.

answers from Chicago on

Try having her keep her eyes closed, with her head tilted all the way back and then you can put the drops in the inside corner of her eyes. Have her open her eyes then and the medicine should flow in. Hope that helps! ~ K.

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D.J.

answers from Chicago on

I always did my kids eyedrops once they were asleep. I just raised their eye lids and put in the number of drops needed. Have you tried gently holding her upper eyelid open so she does not blink or close them? It is not easy, good luck, I had to sit on my daughter when she was 2....:)

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T.M.

answers from Chicago on

Try having your daughter keep her eyes shut. Put the drop in the corners of her eyes and have her blink and the drops will go in without her seeing the dropper. Hope this helps.
From: T. M.

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M.A.

answers from Chicago on

Put the drops in when shes sleep.

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I.H.

answers from Chicago on

Put drops in corner of her eyes near her nose and she can blink them in.

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S.A.

answers from Chicago on

Hold her eye open with your fingers and have her look to the side. Put the drops in the outside corner where she can't really see the medicine coming.

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A.F.

answers from Chicago on

Try having her lay down with her eyes closed. Then put the drops in the corners of her eyes. Tell her to blink 10-15 times. This should do it! I have twin girls who are 4 1/2 and have had pink eye several times, this works or us. The pink eye medicine stings so I hold their arms so they don't wipe the medicine away. Good luck!

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C.L.

answers from Chicago on

Tell her to look up, so you can only see the whites of her eyes. My 18 month old gets pink eye a lot, and she tolerates the drops pretty well now. She automatically looks up so i can only see the whites of her eyes. IT's worth a shot!

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L.C.

answers from Peoria on

My six year old son had the same problem with drops. A nurse had suggested that I have him close his eye(s),and put the drop in the inner corner of his eye, then have him open his eye(s) and the drop would get into the eye. You will most likely need her to lay down while you are doing this.....Good Luck!

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C.D.

answers from Chicago on

Here is a good old nurses trick. Have her lay on her back with her eyes closed. Place a drop in the corner of her eye then open and blink. When she opens her eye, the drop will run in. If she is nervous, do one eye at a time!

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K.S.

answers from Chicago on

Have her lay on her back and look to the side instead of looking straight ahead at the drops or have her tilt her head a little to the right or left and put the eye drops in the corner of her eyes. Hope this helps.

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J.R.

answers from Chicago on

My 4 year old had pink eye a few weeks ago and had to have two drops in each eye. The nurse said to have her lie down with her eyes closed and put the drops in the corners of her eyes. Then i'd have her open her eyes and blink a few times. Sometimes she would try to sit up before opening her eyes, so I kind of had to hold her shoulders down and tell her to blink, blink, blink:) Then I would give her a prize. Most of the time the medicine would roll in when she opened her eyes.
Good Luck!

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D.L.

answers from Chicago on

Have her close her eyes, then put the drops in the corner of the eye & ask her to open her eye. It worked like a charm for my 4 year old.

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K.Y.

answers from Chicago on

Hi M.! I just went through this with my 9 mo. old recently. The doc. told me (and it worked great) to squeeze a drop into the corner of the childs closed eye (child laying down works well). When the child opens their eye the drop rolls right in! Good luck!

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P.H.

answers from Chicago on

Hi M.,
Lay her down, have her close her eyes and when you tell her to, she looks upward. You gently pull down her lower lid and have the dropper off to the side. With her eyes upward put the drop in one eye, rest then the other. If this doesn't work then have her lay down and put a small amount in the inner corner of her eye with her eyes closed. have her then open her eye and turn her head slightly outward of that eye and it should flow in to the eye. Do each side separately. Fun huh? P. H RN

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B.L.

answers from Chicago on

My kids are young and when we have had to put drops in their eyes, we have them close their eyes and we put the drop in the corner, then when they open their eyes, we turn their head so the drop will naturally go into the eye. This was what our doctor recommended and it worked for us

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T.K.

answers from Chicago on

M.,

Since your daughter obviously has a natural reaction of closing her eyes when something comes near it, my first suggestion would be to try to administer the drops while she is asleep. That way would probably be easier. Another suggestion would be to supervise her while she administers the drops herself. Make sure that she puts them in as advised by the doctor. I'm sure that she would probably enjoy the sense of independence as well.

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T.A.

answers from Bloomington on

Hello
My name is T. and my son had eye infections as well. My doctor told me to place the drops in the outside corner of his eyes when he was laying down on his side. This way the drops would naturally roll over the entire eye and you would not have to worry about the blinking reflex. I hope this makes sense. Feel free to write back with any questions.

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L.R.

answers from Chicago on

Just hold the eyes open, top and bottom with a finger and thumb, with the kid's head tilted back, make no fuss and do it as quickly as possible, while speaking calmly. Trying to persuade the kids to keep their eyes open is a waste of time and breath because the natural inclination is to avoid opening them when you know something's coming in. Just do it fast and get it over with.

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J.R.

answers from Chicago on

M.,

I can't let something come at my eyeball without blinking so, first is to realize she isnt doing it to be difficult :)

Second, have her lay back with her eyes closed, put the drops in the corner nearest her nose, when she opens her eyes, they'll fall right in seamlessly and she'll get the medicine she needs.

Good luck! :) hope she is feeling better soon :)

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C.P.

answers from Chicago on

What I do is have my kids lay on the floor with their eyes closed. I put the drops in the corner of each eye and then have them open their eyes and count to 10. It may not be the most effective way of doing it, but there is no way they will lay there and watch the drops come at them without squinting.

Good luck.

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B.B.

answers from Bloomington on

We had this problem earlier this year. Try having her close her eyes FIRST. Then drop a drop near the inner corner of her eye and then have her open. The drops will "fall" in. Works best if she can lie flat on the floor. Good luck!

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S.L.

answers from Chicago on

I have 2 children that often get this infection. What I've learn is that they are going to close their eye.(it a natural reaction) Because they give you enough to waste, I drop the drops in the corner of the eyes (inside corners)Wait a moment and you can see the drops go into the eye. As long as the medication get into the eye. It should be fine. Its the best way I think!!! Hope it works.

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C.L.

answers from Chicago on

My 11 mo old had pink eye and we used the ointment instead of the drops. You pull the bottom lid down and then put a little ointment in and once the lid is released, it is enough to get the stuff in. I don't know if the ointment is only for babies, but i would give a call and try.

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M.K.

answers from Chicago on

When my girls had eye infections I made them lay flat on a bed or the floor. I had them close their eyes and then I would drop the drop in the inside corner of their eyes. Because my girls are small (6 and 4yrs old) I would then ask them to open their eyes and say something silly like "peek-a-boo I see you" or for them to open their eyes so they can see me say "I love You" and for them to repeat it. Anything that would work. This way they do not see the dropper coming near their eyes and most of the drop goes into the eye before they even open their eyes. Works for me. Best of luck ! M.

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G.H.

answers from Chicago on

Lay her on her bach and have her stare downward while you hold her both lids open. Then drop quickly and have her roll her eye like look left, look right while still holding her eye open. Then you can dab under the lower lid. Medicine only need to be there for a couple of seconds. Give haer a treat for being a big girl. You could even show her how you do it to yourself using eye wash.

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M.K.

answers from Chicago on

What I do for my 3 year-old is: have her lay down on the floor, put her head between your legs and hold with your knees firmly but gently, then, hold her eyes open with one hand and put the drops in with your other.

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D.D.

answers from Chicago on

M.
try pulling her bottom lid out and putting the drop in the "pouch" then slowly close it. Also sometimes an ointment can be prescribed and put in the same way. I always felt that the ointment stayed in better.
Deb

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L.T.

answers from Chicago on

I always had better luck when I warmed the drops first - not as much of a shock to the eye. I would have my son lay on the couch with his head in my lap and then tell him to look away and give the drop with a tissue.

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H.A.

answers from Chicago on

M.,

Take your time putting the eye drops in. Have your daughter close her eyes and relax. When you are ready... have her open her eyes and you put the eye drop in the tear duct location.

After that you'll be a pro. Good luck!

Heather

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K.W.

answers from Chicago on

I found that if you have them look to the far left or right depending on which eye it is that getting the drops into the eye is easier as they don't see it coming and it makes it less stressful for the two of you. I hope this will be of some help to you.

K.
Mom of 7 beautiful children.

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B.H.

answers from Bloomington on

I feel your pain...if bribing doesn't help. Then you've gotta just get help from someone else to hold her down. I know it sounds cruel, but once they feel that it doesn't hurt they usually cooperate a lot better. Bribe as much as you can though first! :)

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T.M.

answers from Chicago on

while she is laying down put the medicine in her right eye, corner of her eye closest to her nose. then have her roll to her right side. repeat with her left corner of her eye rolling to her left side. the medicine should go in her eye no problem.....good luck

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H.K.

answers from Chicago on

have your daughter sit in front of you with her bck to your front between your legs,then have her tilt her head back and rest it on your chest with your non dominate hand take your thumb and forefinger put thumb on lower eyelid forefinger on upper lid gently open her eye then put the drops in close the eye wait a minute and do the other eye.Its natural to close your eye when something is coming toward it but this should make it a bit easier and when your done you can hug her :)
H.

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