My little baby has an eye infection. I've never dealt with this before, but know that breast milk is helpful. I've dropped some in her eye twice yesterday and once today. I'm wondering for you that have done this, how long does it take and how often did you administer BM. Also how did you do it? I've been doing it strait from the breast, but she's starting to protest and looks at me like "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" I have some dropper bottles, but was worried about anything foreign getting in with the milk.

THE RESPONSES:

• I just squit from the breast or from my fingers into the corner of an eye. It usually sees some improvement within 24 hours and I do the squirting every time we nurse.

• First, are you sure it's an infection? My daughter had a plugged tear duct for her first 2 months or so. It never got infected, but it clogged regularly, so it would get all crusted up with yellowish goop, and her eye "leaked" tears a lot. If it's red and swollen around the eye with greenish pus oozing out, it's more likely an infection. My daugter had that a couple of months ago when she had a cold, the duct got clogged again, and this time it got infected. I treated with breastmilk both times. When she was smaller, it was really easy, just point and shoot, so to speak! I'd try to distract her with songs and funny faces so she'd lie still, looking at me, long enough for the BM to stay in the corner of her eye to do some good. I did this at every diaper change, and also massaged the duct several times a day.

  When she had the recurrence and infection, she was much older (8 months) and this time she wanted nothing to do with anything going into her eye. I had to use a dropper because I needed to hold her head still with the other hand. Most of it ran out of her eye immediately. Still, it cleared up in a few days. I also put some tea tree oil (has antibacterial properties) on the outside under her eye while she slept, and it cleared up right after that, but I don't know if it was coincidence or if the TT oil actually soked through the skin to make a difference.

• Breastmilk is good but for me saltwater was the answer. I would mix up a solution of sea salt and warm water, body temp, to taste like tears, soak a cotton ball in it and squeeze it to drip on her eyes, then wipe away the gook. Breastmilk seemed to make them goopier, and saltwater cleared it right up. Seems like this would help whether it is infection or plugged duct.

• Breastmilk will heal it, but IME you have to apply it ALOT and regularly. By "alot" I mean at every feed and with every boob change (side-change). So,I would nurse from one side and have the other breast exposed, with a cup and some cotton balls on the ready. I'd then catch/express into the cup and then soak the cotton ball. Then I'd squeeze that into the eye, let it sit in the eye (so they look like little aliens, with these white-white looking eyes-balls!!*L*). Once they'd blinked it out/dripped out, I'd wipe the cotton ball over the eye (inside to out) to remove the "gunk" and then *always* chuck that cotton ball away (to prevent cross-infection). I would quite literally do this 4 times a nursing and, well!, up to 15-20 times a day! This is the only way I would find that it would really heal it.

  I recommend you gently massage the tear-duct (in the time the milk is sitting in the eye is best - adds lubrication). With a clean little finger(obviously with short nails!), I'd gently rub in a round-like motion the tearduct and then move my finger gently down the side of the nose and along under the eye. Repeat. This seemed to really help too. It stimulates the drainage function of this brand new tear duct.

  You can also try boiled, salted water (sea salt is best), as suggested above. I found this helps too.