Yesterday we noticed that our new baby has some goop in his one eye when he cried. As the day went on, it got worse – but only when he cried, which led me to believe that it had something to do with his tear ducts.
A quick check online took me to ehow.com where one of their contributors had posted this remedy.
- Apply a warm compress on the newborn baby’s eye.
- Using your knuckle or pinkie finger apply a small amount of pressure at the inner edge of your baby’s eye and make short sweeping strokes in a downward motion. this encourages the tear duct to open.
- Express a few drops of breast milk and drop them into the infected eye. Antibodies in breast milk will help fight the infection.
- Repeat four to five times a day.
Yes, you read right… They wanted me to drop breast milk into my little guy’s eyes – so I did and it worked! We used a warm cloth to clean the goopy stuff, pressed on his swelled duct to move the infected stuff out (lots of stuff came out, which reduced the size of it), and then put a couple of drops of breast milk into it to make it better.
Studies have shown that the antibodies present in breastmilk are powerful enough to kill off bacteria and viruses that cause diseases such as strep throat, staphylococcal infections, epiglottitis, and even meningitis. Even if you don’t nurse a baby yourself, doctors will often prescribe moms to either donate their milk or give it to other infants. In this way, all babies benefit – not only from its nutritional components for growth and development but also from the protective qualities of breastmilk
Thankfully everything looks good this morning, but I may have to repeat this today if it comes back when the little monkey starts to cry. I appreciate that I can create a remedy for him so that I don’t have to leave the house or spend extra money!
Yes! I used this natural treatment for two of my kids when they were infants – absolutely works. Breast milk also helps with stuffed-up noses – more so than saline drops.