5Month Old Son Has Plugged Tear Duct

Might sound crazy, but I have heard that breastmilk will take care of it almost immediately. Hopefully you are breastfeeding? You are supposed to put a drop in the affected eye, and should clear it up. I never tried it myself, but had a cousin who did and said it worked.

Good luck!

My daughter, now 3, had a plugged duct as well. It did clear up, I don't think it went away right at six months, but it did go away on its own. I think the best advice is just to keep wiping away the goop, and see what happens at the appointment with the specialist. Good luck!

My daughter had a plugged tear duct for a very long time as well. She was put on all kinds of eye antibiotics due to conjunctivitis but the only thing that healed her eye was time. It did clear up on it's own. I remember her pediatrician had referred us to an eye specialist but for one reason or another we did not go. Well her eye cleared up and now she is a healthy 18 month old rambunctious little girl! Good luck.

My son's eyes were both clogged - one until about 8 months and the other until after he was 1. Our Dr. said that they should clear up on their own by 24 months and said she wouldn't send her own kids for the surgery to clear them up. It's very painful apparently.

Hi, My son had one plugged tear duct that cleared at 5 month and 28 days it seemed. Just when I thought we were going to need to take him in, it cleared.
On the other hand my daughter had two plugged tear ducts that never cleared. The reason I am writing this is because they did an in office procedure right before she turned 1 year old. If I knew how it was going to be, I NEVER would have let them do it. It was an awful experience. They tied my baby down and then rammed rods down her ducts. Of course they put a numbing drop in first, but... Then a few months later she had to go in to the hospital and do it again because the torture they put her through didn't work. In the hospital they put her nicely to sleep and it went really well and we had no more problems with her eyes.
So, if your doctor starts talking about the in office procedure, you will want to think about it and possibly demand the full works in hospital.

I had the exact same issue with my daughter, only it was both eyes. My pediatrician, however, told me that they usually clear up by 12 months, not 6. I did the massage all the time, and didn't really see any improvement, then by 11 months it was suddenly gone. It was nowhere near gone at 6 months.

Personally, I would wait to see the eye specialist. Just keep the skin around his eye clean and dry. What really helped with the chapping for my daughter was to use some lanolin (same stuff I put on my nipples) around her eye. That provided a barrier between her skin and the water, was moisturizing, but is a completley natural product tht didn't matter if she rubbed it in her eye a bit.

Good luck!

My right eye was plugged as a baby and I out grew it when I was about 2.

Good luck!

Been there and done that. We just recently had the surgery to open our DD duct because it was clogged from birth. The only thing that you can do is keep massaging, putting the compresses on and hoping for the best. Seeing the specialist will help ease your mind too---and they will ultimately help you to decide when enough is enough and to go ahead with the surgery. I know that it is a scarey thing, but really it isn't that h*** o* the child. There is not cutting involved. They put the child to sleep just so they can work on their eye (after having to fight to put medicine in and/or massage you probably understand why). Then the doctor will feed a wire into the duct and basically rotor ruter it out. Ours then took a step further and put a stint in to keep the duct open and she will have that until March or April. This was one time that you could see the results immediately after the surgery was done (at least for my DD). She didn't have any bruising or even much of a bloody nose (that happens to during the surgery to make sure the duct is open). I know how frustrating this whole thing is but hang in there, this was my 6th child to have the clogged duct, but only my first to have the surgery. If you have any other questions I would gladly answer them. Be consistent with the massaging and doing what you are doing---it will resolve itself one way or the other. But if you have to go the other route don't feel like a failure, it happens.
J.--SAHM of 6

My oldest had the same problem. All of his baby pictures look like he's crying. He had to have the simple surgery to open them up. It was reletively easy. They gave him something to calm him, which didn't work because he's adhd. But he had it at one year. The drops afterwards were hard to put in. We had to hold him down and then his dad held his head still. In less than a month he was cleared up and he has never had problems since.

He didn't have any eye infections. Although, if he gets a bad cold sometimes, it settles in his eyes. My mom had the same thing and so did my grandma, so it could just be heredity that he gets the pink eye.

If you are breast feeding try putting breast milk on it several times daily. Did the trick for us and I got the tip from a girl friend that is worked for her kids. I was freaked out about the surgery option too but our pediatrician (that didn't mention the breast milk) said it was very rare that it didn't clear up on its own. Good luck.

We had this same thing with my daughter. We tried everything they told us & nothing worked to unplug it. While most do resolve themselves, some do not. My advice is to make sure you see a pediatric opthalmologist before he is 12 months old - make the appointment now & cancel if you don't need it because they can be hard to get into. If your child is under 12 months, they can do a simple procedure in the office to unplug the duct. The most unpleasant thing about it is that they have to put your child into a papoose board to immobilize them. They don't like that & they scream - and that part is hard to watch. My husband couldn't stand to stay in the room. But they numb the eye & they don't feel anything. They just put a small probe down the duct & open it up. It takes just a minute or two. It's not terribly fun, but it's quick & easy. The alternative - when they're over 12 months old - is to do the same procedure under general anesthesia at a hospital. Needless to say, that is way more expensive and risky. Hopefully, you won't need to go through all that & it will clear up on its own. But although the office procedure is slightly traumatic - mostly for mom - it's not a terrible option. Good luck!

I had the same problem w/ both of my kids. The problem resolved after about 6 months (as your doc indicated). Good luck!

it really does--hang in there!

My son who is now 4 years old had the clogged tear duct. The doctor said it would clear up after 6 months but it never did. We went to an eye doctor and he watched it for a few months and siad it would be best to have the surgery to open the tear duct. So we decided to have it, they gave our son some medicine to keep him calm while in surgery. He did really well and doesn't remember a thing. I would recommend having the surgery. Good luck.

My daughter had that same problem. We went a year massaging, drops, compresses, nothing worked. Finally we went to an eye specialist. She had surgery when she was 13 months old. It only took about 10 minutes total. Very scary for the parents, but glad we did it. She didn't have any tubes or anything else after that. She is now a happy 6 year old. Hope it helps. Make sure that you find a doctor that you feel very comfortable with.
S. Jones

This is going to sound like the strangest thing, but breast milk can clear up a plugged duct. My husband is an optometrist and when he was in school the son of one of his fellow students had a pretty bad plugged tear duct. He asked the professors about the breast milk remedy and they confirmed that it worked. He and his wife tried it on their son and it cleared his duct. What you do is put breast milk in their eye. Breast milk is sterile so it is okay to put it in the eye. The more common technique to unplug the duct is to inserting a small syringe into the duct to clear it. It is also quite safe, but personally I would rather try the breast milk before the syringe. I don't really know the details of how to do the breast milk thing, but I am sure there is more information on the internet.

Don't worry. My daughter had the same issue until she was one year old. My girlfriend, who had had to take her daughter in to have the duct probed, was pushing me to do the same, but I wanted to wait. I am so glad I did, because it cleared up on its own. My pediatrician said they really don't want to intervene before 9 months to a year, so at 6 months you really should not be too worried. If it turns out you do have to have his duct probed, My girlfriend who watched her daughter have the procedure said that it is extremely quick, and contrary to what some people have said here, the probe goes into an area where there are no nerves, and it is much harder on you than it is on the child (as are most things like this...) Both my pediatrician and hers said that anesthesia is not necessary for this procedure, and my friend's child was just fine when it was all over. Good luck. Just give it time!

I have three boys and the first and third ones had blocked tear ducts. My first son (now age 6) had both eyes blocked and it was so hard to keep him clean and cute because it was like he cried glue. His eyelashes were always gummed up. I tried massage and compresses and even two rounds of different antibiotics, since it was starting to seem like it was a bacterial infection and his eyes were just NOT getting better. At eight months of age he had tear duct-probing surgery. It was stressful, but I am glad we did it. My son was under general anesthesia and the surgery was brief and on an out-patient basis. Both his tear ducts were completely blocked, the surgeon said, so they likely would not have unplugged on their own. Really, the worst thing about the procedure was not being able to feed my baby for a few hours before the surgery. Now I'm a more informed, veteran mom and I would be a better advocate for making that period of fasting as brief as possible now that I know human milk is classified as a clear liquid by progressive anesthesiologists. I worried about possible recurrance and needing to have his ducts re-probed, but there were no problems and once it was done, his eyes were bright and clear for the first time since he'd been born. If you have a medical opinion and surgeon you trust, the probing surgery could be the right answer for your son.
My third son had one eye gooey from a blocked tear duct for the first couple weeks of life. My midwife showed me how to massage the area, pressing in towards the nose and then pushing upwards. She told me initial blockages are often caused by a membrane in the eye that doesn't break open when the baby is born. The massaging in an upwards motion can often help that thin membrane burst so tears and eye discharge does not build up and cause infection. I wasn't pressing firmly enough or in the right direction with my first son, and I think I might have been able to help him sooner if I'd been shown how. I also put a drop of my milk in the corner of his eye to fight off any bacteria and it worked like a charm. His eyes were clear within three days of my starting with massaging his eye at every nursing. . . .it's possible his eyes would have cleared without any intervention, but after doing the whole goopy-eyes-for-months-and-finally-surgery thing, I wanted to be as proactive as possible.
I wish you the best--I am sure your eye specialist will have good ideas and reassure you. You can see by the number f responses you've received that this is a common problem. If it looks like surgery is your best option, there are risks but it really might be the best option. ;)

Hi M.. My 12 year old had the same problem as a baby. It never cleared up and he ended up needing surgery to put a tube in his tear duct. We never had any problems with it after that. He is now 12 and doing great. It was still a scary experience knowing that my baby had to have surgery. I wish the best for your family. Just remember once it is taken care of you all can move on.

J.

It should clear up by itself both of my kids had it at some point very young.
I can say the surgery for it is very minimal, I had to have mine done personally and it took 20 minutes and I was wide awake. It helped me a ton.
I am not sure the course of action for a five mos old but let us know what the Dr says. It is a pretty common problem in infants.

My son had a blocked tear duct as well and we tried a lot of things. He eventually grew out of it, but not until after he was one. The doctor said the surgery they do is pretty risk free and we almost did it, but then the eye cleared up. It was a pain though in the mean time with the goopy eye. I have heard though that sometimes the surgery doesn't work the first time. I don't know. I am not a doctor. I would go to the doctor and see what his opinion is.

a co-worker had a child with this issue, they opted for surgery and happy they did. Everything turned out perfect

Hello!

My daughter had the same problem. They told me that it should clear up by the time she's one year old. However, they said that if they were going to do the surgery, they would have to put her under general anesthesia if she's older than 12 months. So, when she was 11 months, we went ahead and did it. It was surprisingly quick. I left the room (I didn't think I could handle seeing them do it) and walked down the hall, and about 30 seconds later, they brought my daughter out. And everything has been fine since. I would have liked to have left it alone, without the surgery, but I didn't want to take the chance of her going under general anesthesia if we DID decide to do the surgery.

Anyway, that's my two cents! Hope that helps!

C.

If you are nursing try squirting breastmilk into the eye. I had the same problem with my daughter and it worked. Also just watching the doctor's the other day and Dr. Sears who is the pediatrician says that he has seen it work and figures it has to do with natural antibodies. He says that it works for any eye infections. But if you aren't nursing I am not sure I guess talking to a pediatrician would be the best thing to do.

My daughter had it from birth and it cleared on its own at 8 months. We went to a specialist just before it cleared. You must decide if you want your child under anesthesia or not. The dr. chooses, not you, so you need to find a dr. that does the procedure how you want it (anesthesia or not). The procedure is VERY painful without being put under, but there is always a risk of anesthesia. Our pediatrician was adamant that we wait until she was at least 18 months old before having the procedure.
I'm glad the procedure went well for many people here, but there is always a slight risk of damage to the eye, allergy to anesthesia etc. Having a blocked duct is very annoying and difficult to deal with, but not life threatening. Although, the fact that your son has gotten conjuctivitis twice might be more of a reason to have the procedure if the dr. feels the infection is bad enough to damage his eye. Good luck; I know it's so hard to see your baby so uncomfortable!

My now 10-month old had a blocked tear duct as well. And the Drs. said it should be clear by 6 months and wasn't. We went through pink eye 3 times by 6 months of age and were very worried. Then, all of a sudden, it just went away at about 9 months of age. So far so good. Our plan was to go to a specialist at a year of age but hopefully it'll stay unplugged and we won't have to. So give it more time and hopefully it'll clear up. Good luck!

My two youngest sons both had the same thing. My younger one had it so bad that when he'd nap, he'd wake up with his eye COMPLETELY clogged. I talked to my midwives about it with my youngest, and they told me to squirt breast milk into his eye. It has natural antibodies and clears up infections. I tried it every time I would nurse and sure enough!!! I couldn't BELIEVE nobody had told me that before. If you're breastfeeding, I'd give it a shot! My son's discharge became thinner, clearer, and eventually gone completely!

I was at a girlfriend's house and had to feed the baby. I paused first to put a couple drops in his eye, and she's like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Ha ha!! It sounds odd, but if you think about it, it makes sense. AND IT WORKS!

my daughter had this problem too, along with weak eye muscle problems in both eyes. the plugged tear duct did clear up for my daughter around 7-8 months. sometimes she would look like she was crying her eyes out, but we just kept massaging the duct and keeping her eye clean of that eye goo. you've probably already heard this, but remember to always wipe from the corner of the eye to the outer part of the eye (towards the ear). wiping into the corner (towards to nose) pushes the junk back into the duct and can casue infections. most likely your little guy's tear duct will clear up in the next couple months. and if it doesn't your doctor will be able to explain the procedure and from what i hear it is a pretty simple and safe procedure. good luck.

M.,
My son had the same problem. It drove me nuts having to scrape the gunk off his eye every morning. Gently, of course : )
I finally got some liquid vitamins from a health food store. They were made for children without the man-made iron that can mess kids up so much. Literally, within a week, it had cleared up and we've had no problem since then. He's 14 now. Give it a try and let us know what you decide!
Merry Christmas to all you Mamas!

My son had this same problem and we went to the specialist at 8 months and they did the procedure right in front of me in the office! First they put in colored eye drops to see how bad the clogged duct actually was and since it was obviously clogged (which of course we knew!) they did the procedure. I watched the whole thing and even though I'm a total light weight when it comes to medical things it wasn't too horrible. The worst part was the papoose they strapped him in so that he couldn't move. But then the doctor took a long hanger looking thing and actually stuck it down the tear duct and he said he could actually feel the clog pop. A TINY bit of blood that day and the next day he was healed! I HATED that clogged duct so I really suggest just getting it taken care of! No more compresses, yay! Good luck to you, I know it's scary but believe me, you'll be so happy when it's done!!

Hi M.,
You have received the same response from all the other parents here but I just wanted to chime in just a little. My daughter who is almost 5 had it from birth it started as what we thought was pink eye and then it progressed. At 12 mths we did the in office procedure "AFTER" asking a lot of questions and talking to the eye specialist. He did put our minds at ease I have to say that it had to be one of the hardest things I ever had to go thru, my husband and I sat there and cried while it happen. But we also told ourselves how selfish we would be if we didnt do anything and everything possible to help her. Everybody always said oh look at the baby she is crying when that wasnt the case at all and we couldnt let her go thru life with that. Yes it didnt "completely" go away and it was mine and my husbands call to do the procedure at the hospital. Again we didnt want to be selfish so we did it. My husband went in with her until they were ready to do it and then he came out to the waiting room, It was about 10 minutes later and we were told it was over. Yes it seemed like an eternity but it was worth it. She still has some signs of having it a little (on a scale of 1-10 and 10 being the worst she is a 2) but even the the doctor said that he would do it again if we wanted him to but he doesnt think that we need to put her under just for that so he let us know that if she ever has to be put under for anything to let them know (if we want) they can come do the procedure then. This is totally you and your familys decision but remember to keep your babies best interest first. This is harder on you then it will be on him, he wont remember any of it unlike you. Good luck on what ever you decide.

Our son had 2 plugged tear ducts. One cleared fairly quickly, but the other didn't clear on its own. We were told it would clear before a year or not clear on its own. They also told us that the procedure could be outpatient before 16 or 18 months (I can't remember which) or it would be surgery where he would need to be put under. We did it at about 13 months and it was great. By the time we left the doctor's office, I could already tell a difference and the next day it was completely clear. It depends on the type of blockage (blocked vs. actually closed). The doctor was great. I was in the room, but was sitting eye level so I couldn't actually see what she was doing and my son couldn't see me. I was VERY impressed by the doctor and staff and would love to share their info if you would like it. Good luck and remember that taking care of it earlier is so much better and less tramatic then waiting until later and having major surgery.

My son had a clogged tear duct too. Just keep doing the warm compresses and massage it out. He was a little over 6 months before it cleared up, and then it just seemed like overnight it was gone. Have your doctor keep an eye on it, but it'll probably go away on its own.