A 3-month-old child has watery eyes. What to do if a newborn's eye is watery? Irregular structure of the nasolacrimal duct

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New mothers must constantly monitor the condition of their beloved child in order to identify and prevent the development of the disease in time.

Excessive production of tear fluid is a common and quite dangerous symptom that requires careful examination and proper treatment. This is how ophthalmological and cold diseases, allergies, etc. can manifest themselves. How to identify an illness in time and help a child? More on this later.

External causes of lacrimation

A newborn’s eyes become watery due to the influence of negative external factors:

Parents should remember that a healthy baby's eyes are always clear and clean, except for those moments when he cries. And therefore, this is a symptom that requires special attention.

Dacryocystitis and its treatment

During intrauterine development, the fetal nasolacrimal duct is blocked by a membrane that does not allow amniotic fluid to pass through. During birth, when the baby cries, the membrane breaks and the nasolacrimal duct opens. Tear fluid cleanses the eyeball of dust particles and pathogens.

In some cases, this membrane does not disappear in newborns, which is why profuse lacrimation and inflammation occur (). As a result of blockage of the tear duct, fluid accumulates in the conjunctival sac, causing stagnation. And increased humidity and heat are an excellent environment for the development of bacteria, which can provoke the release of purulent fluid.

If you notice that your child has increased tearing, then immediately contact a highly qualified ophthalmologist. At home, clean your eyes with boiled water or not very strong tea.

It is strictly forbidden to treat the conjunctival cavity with ointment that you bought yourself (on the advice of friends) or rinse it with a solution of potassium permanganate! Self-medication can cause dangerous complications, including complete loss of vision!

An experienced ophthalmologist, after examining and confirming the diagnosis, will prescribe a massage of the lacrimal sac. The specialist will show you how to perform the procedure so that you can repeat it at home. Before the massage, you should thoroughly wash your hands with antibacterial soap and cut your nails.

If the massage was ineffective, the doctor will prescribe bougienage (probing) - this is a surgical procedure during which the blocked tear ducts are opened. This is a simple manipulation, after which the symptoms of the disease disappear. But you can only entrust it to a reliable specialist.

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis is an ophthalmological disease in which the conjunctiva (mucous membrane) of the eye becomes inflamed.

There are different types of conjunctivitis:

Conjunctivitis is an insidious disease, the symptoms of which can disappear and reappear on their own. To prevent dangerous complications, it is necessary to consult a doctor as soon as possible.

For treatment, drops, ointments, tablets and injections are used, which are prescribed by the doctor! You can read more about conjunctivitis in newborns and its treatment.

Other diseases

Increased tearfulness can be caused by colds, which in rare cases, but still occur in babies aged 2 months and older. In this case, copious secretion of tear fluid is a normal reaction to negative factors.

In addition to a cold, watery eyes can occur due to the flu, measles or smallpox. These diseases can be diagnosed by specific symptoms. If you have problems making a diagnosis, consult your doctor.

A two-month-old baby's eyes may become watery due to allergies.. An allergic reaction can occur, for example, due to pollen or certain foods that a nursing mother eats.

To get rid of symptoms, it is necessary to exclude the baby from contact with the allergen, which is a rather difficult task. To cure a food allergy, the mother must identify the allergen and eliminate it from the diet during lactation.

Another cause of increased tearing in children under 2 years of age is eczema. Symptoms: peeling of the skin around the eyes, itching, rash.

Most often, the inflammatory disease affects babies from 3 months, and then appears periodically up to 2 years. This is explained by the fact that the newborn’s immunity is not yet fully developed. Thus, the baby gets used to various negative factors.

Antihistamines are used to treat eczema; it is recommended to use talkers and ointments as additional remedies.

The baby's eye is watery and festering

What to do if, in addition to increased tearing, the child’s eyelids stick together (especially in the morning), and purulent fluid is released from the inner corner of the eye? First of all, it is necessary to find out the cause of this phenomenon, and there may be several of them:

If your newborn's eye is watery and purulent, consult a doctor!

Preferred are conservative treatment methods, which consist of hygienic procedures. Before carrying out the procedures, be sure to wash your hands and disinfect them with an antiseptic solution!

Dry crusts on the eyelids should be periodically removed using a gauze sponge., soaked in chamomile infusion or boiled water. To wash the eyes, use a warm solution of furatsilin and weak tea. Saturate the sponge with liquid and wipe the eye, then remove excess moisture with a dry gauze sponge. Also treat the second eye, but with a different sponge.

Use antimicrobial eye drops as prescribed by your doctor. When performing a special massage to develop the nasolacrimal duct. If all of the above remedies were ineffective, then the tear ducts are cleaned using a probe and an antiseptic solution.

How to help a child

If you notice increased tearing in a newborn, immediately consult a doctor who will conduct a thorough examination and make a diagnosis. At the initial stage of the disease, the doctor may prescribe a massage, which parents will perform at home. An ophthalmologist will show you how to do this correctly.

To break the film blocking the tear duct, massage the area under the inner corner of the eye every 4 hours.

If pathogens have already begun to multiply in the lacrimal sac, then, in addition to massage, you will need to wash your eyes.

To relieve the inflammatory process and cleanse the eye of purulent discharge, use a herbal decoction or tea (consultation with a doctor is required here).

If increased tearing occurs due to the presence of a foreign body in the eye, then you first need to remove it and only then rinse the eye.

If tear ducts are injured, use anti-inflammatory drugs. If the cause of excessive tear secretion is an infection, the doctor will prescribe drops and ointments. For allergic lacrimation, it is recommended to use antihistamines.

Do not self-medicate, as this can lead to dangerous complications. Only an experienced ophthalmologist will accurately diagnose and provide competent treatment. Do not risk your baby’s health and if excessive tearing occurs, go to the hospital immediately!

The first year of a baby's life- a difficult and very hectic time for young parents. Children may exhibit symptoms of various ailments.

Sometimes mothers notice that their infant’s eyes water for a short time and the baby soon returns to normal.

Sometimes the lacrimation continues for quite a long time. In such cases, it is necessary without delay consult a specialist. This phenomenon indicates serious internal pathology or disease.

Why does a 3 month old baby's eyes water?

To understand what to do and how to help your baby, you need to find out why his eyes are watering.

In short, the reasons are divided into internal (diseases, anomalies) and external.

Illnesses in a child that cause tears: what to do

Most common ailments that provoke lacrimation are:

• dacryocystitis;
• conjunctivitis;
• cold;
• allergy;
• dacryocystitis of newborns.

The final formation of channels and glands completes in the first weeks of life baby. In rare cases, newborns are left with a thin membrane (gelatinous plug) in the nasolacrimal duct. It prevents the natural flow of tears into the nasal cavity.

Result: overflow of the lacrimal sac with fluid, which provokes its stretching and proliferation of pathogenic microbes, and this leads to inflammation.

Main symptoms of dacryocyst

Warning signs usually appear in the first week of the baby's life: pus, redness of the sclera, lacrimation. Sometimes the gelatinous plug resolves on its own two weeks after the onset of the disease without consequences for the body.

If this does not happen, then the dacryocyst simply needs to be treated. Ignoring this phenomenon leads to the progression of the disease into the chronic stage.

How to treat?

The basic rule of dacryocyst therapy: it is necessary to act without delay as soon as parents identify the first signs of this disease.

Children are usually prescribed eye drops with antibiotic or antiseptic. If the eyes are very purulent, then before instillation they need to be washed with a weak solution of furatsilin.

The next step is lacrimal sac massage. His parents spend it on their own for 2 weeks after consultation with a specialist. In most cases, such manipulations are enough to break through the gelatinous plug - the symptoms of the disease disappear.

If treatment does not help, then the ophthalmologist prescribes a test for the patency of the nasolacrimal duct (this is a test with a contrast agent). Children over 1 month with obstruction of the lacrimal duct, the nasolacrimal duct is probed. After such manipulation, massage and eye drops are necessary to avoid relapse.

Attention! It is important to carry out this small operation up to 6 months, since later the film thickens, and it will be much more difficult to cure dacryocysts.

Conjunctivitis

Another equally common cause of watery eyes in babies is conjunctivitis or inflammation of the conjunctiva, outer mucous membrane of the eye.

What can cause conjunctivitis in infants?

• Contact of microbes, viruses, and dust with the mucous membrane of the eye.
• Obstruction of the tear ducts.
• Viral disease of the nasopharynx(this is viral conjunctivitis).
• Reaction to pollen, wool, medications, household chemicals(this is allergic conjunctivitis).

Quite rarely, children introduce a bacterial infection into their eyes with unwashed hands (this is bacterial conjunctivitis).

Main symptoms

A child at such an early age cannot say that his eyes are bothering him. Necessary pay attention to the following symptoms:

• Redness of the eyelids and eyeball.
• Eyes are intensely watery(not from crying).
• The child is irritated by bright light. He squints, cries, turns away when the curtains are opened or artificial lighting is turned on.
• Intense purulent discharge(the child cannot open his eyes on his own after sleep).

Treatment

Conjunctivitis has many “subtypes”, so only a specialist can prescribe effective treatment. An ophthalmologist will identify cause of inflammation and outline a treatment plan.

Important! All types of conjunctivitis (except allergic) can become infected to other family members. Care must be taken and monitor the child’s hygiene. You need to wash his toys thoroughly and change his pillowcase daily.

Considering that inflammation of the conjunctiva accompanies itching, the child will rub his eyes with his hands, so maintaining cleanliness- an essential component of successful therapy.

Photo 1. Tobrex eye drops, 0.3%, 5 ml, from the manufacturer Alcon.

Usually with viral conjunctivitis, which provokes ARVI, First of all, the cold itself is treated first. Conjunctivitis of this etiology is successfully treated with eye drops, for example, "Tebrofen" and ointments (at night - tetracycline ointment). Before instillation, the eyes are washed with a weak solution. furatsilina. Another mandatory drug is interferon-based drops.

Treatment for bacterial conjunctivitis differs from treatment for viral conjunctivitis. You need to start by rinsing your eyes with a solution furatsilina and then instill drops "Tobrex". Complicated forms of the disease are treated with a solution chloramphenicol.

If your baby is diagnosed with allergic conjunctivitis, it’s not a problem, because it will go away on its own as soon as eliminate the cause of the allergy.

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Watery eyes with a cold

In fact, children with colds (ARVI, ARI), as well as with sore throat, flu and measles, have watery eyes due to viral conjunctivitis.

This phenomenon is explained by the fact that in any similar diseases occurs inflammation of the mucous membranes.

Along with watery eyes, a cold may be accompanied by redness of the eyes, swelling of the eyelids, burning and itching.

The reason is sinusitis, or inflammation of the paranasal or paranasal sinuses. When they become inflamed, the nasal septum swells, which prevents the sinuses from naturally clearing phlegm and mucus. This process provokes pressure on the tear duct and excessive lacrimation.

It is important to cure the cold first y, and then begin treatment for viral conjunctivitis.

Allergy

Allergies, hay fever, seasonal or allergic rhinitis. This phenomenon has many names, but the essence is the same - increased sensitivity of the body to certain substances, which provokes negative physiological reactions, including lacrimation.

Causes

Doctors highlight main factors, which can cause itching of the skin and mucous membranes, rashes, sneezing, nasal congestion, lacrimation in children:

• artificial nutrition;
• lure;
• heredity;
• communication with pets and/or street animals;
• frequent colds;
• flowering plants;
• living conditions(dust, detergents, low air humidity).

Whatever the cause of the allergy, it is important to remember a few rules:

1. Allergies are not a contagious disease.
2. Only by eliminating the patient’s contact with the allergen can you cope with lacrimation, runny nose, loss of appetite and baby weight loss.

External reasons

In infants, the cause of lacrimation can be not only internal, but also external factors. The main ones are the entry of a foreign body into the eye or a significant temperature change.

Foreign body

It is worth paying attention if your baby only one eye is watery- this indicates irritation of the mucous membranes due to contact with a foreign body.

In the early this happens at age Often. A speck, a grain of sand, an eyelash, a speck of dust, a small insect, or pet hair can get into the eye.

First, you need to figure out whether you can help the child yourself or whether the case is so serious that you need to seek help from a doctor.

Situation not critical if:

• the body is on the surface of the eyeballs;
• foreign object visible on the inside of the eyelid.

You should not self-medicate if:

• The object has penetrated into the ocular tissues.
• After washing and trying to remove foreign object, it still seems to be “floating” on the surface eyeball.
• It seems that the "uninvited guest" has been removed, but an hour after the manipulation the child rubs his eye, crying, nervous.
• The baby does not allow the affected eye to be examined properly, and therefore it is impossible to determine the seriousness of the situation.

Important! A foreign body entering the eye of an infant is cause for concern!

How to take it out?

Before calling a doctor to your home or transporting your child to a medical facility, you can: perform simple manipulations, designed to remove a speck or eyelash from the eye.

The direction of the jet is from the outer corner of the eye to the inner.

1. Second step: if you are unable to wash the item, you should try to remove it with the edge of a bandage or a handkerchief moistened with water (ideally, eye antiseptic).
2. Third step: After removing the foreign body, drip the eye with a special antiseptic solution.

Temperature changes in babies

It happens that the baby’s eyes water from temperature changes. This is especially noticeable in the cold season. When a child is taken outside, the body exhibits a protective reaction. This is not a pathology and does not require treatment.

Temperature changes provoke narrowing of the tear duct. He temporarily loses the ability to drain fluid into the nasopharynx at a normal speed, and tears come out, causing lacrimation.

Anomalies in the structure of the visual organs

Prolonged tearing may be caused by anatomical abnormalities.

Most often in children from 2 to 6 months The following deviations occur:

• trichiasis;
• diverticula;
• deformation of the tear ducts;
• abnormal structure of the nasolacrimal duct.

Photo 2. Incorrect growth of eyelashes in a baby, also known as trichiasis, can cause redness of the sclera, lacrimation and pain.

What is trichiasis?

This term means incorrect direction of eyelash growth. It occurs most often in infants. Trichiasis provokes redness of the sclera, discomfort, and lacrimation. Eyelashes growing in the wrong direction constantly irritate the eyeballs.

If this phenomenon is observed in a child, then it is necessary to seek help from an ophthalmologist. This will help avoid development superficial punctate keratopathy.

Protrusion or diverticulum of the lacrimal sac

One of the causes of obstruction and inflammation of the nasolacrimal duct may be a congenital anomaly - protrusion (diverticulum).

This diagnosis in infants is made exclusively by a specialist, guided by the method X-ray contrast study.

Such pathologies are eliminated surgically during the first year of life (but no later than three years). Usually, before surgery, ophthalmologists prescribe massage of the lacrimal sac area to young patients.

Deformation of tear ducts

Deformation (anomaly) of the tear ducts provokes lacrimation in the baby. Some infants may experience congenital obstruction- the drainage system of the eyes is clogged with a thin mucus plug. People suffer from this disease 20% of newborns. Often the defect disappears in the first months of life. However, sometimes ophthalmologists prescribe a special procedure - bougienage(or probing).

Incorrect structure of the nasolacrimal duct

Such serious diagnosis How the abnormal structure of the nasolacrimal duct can only be diagnosed by a competent specialist.

Photo 3. A child with an abnormal structure of the nasolacrimal ducts, the pathology causes the development of dacryocystitis.

Underdevelopment or abnormal development of the nasolacrimal ducts can be caused by application of obstetric forceps during childbirth. This pathology leads to the development of dacryocystitis.

Reference! Usually, in such cases, lacrimation and lacrimation are observed only on one side. In any case, early diagnosis and timely treatment give a very high chance of the baby’s recovery.

Dr. Komarovsky about lacrimation in a 3-month-old baby

According to Dr. Komarovsky, a young mother whose baby suffers from watery eyes may develop many “competent advisers”. What she hears: “Rinse his eyes with the tea leaves and don’t fool yourself!”, “He probably has conjunctivitis,” “In our time, all children’s eyes were put in with albucid and nothing is wrong, they’re alive and well.”

However, mom First of all, you should take a closer look at your baby, analyze how long the eye has been watering and what preceded this unpleasant phenomenon.

The reasons for the appearance of tears in a child are different, and only some of them require direct treatment. Sometimes it's enough wait two weeks and the symptoms will go away on their own.

Tearing may occur secondary symptom, indicating internal problems and do not require immediate treatment. That's why tea leaves and eye drops are not always a panacea!

Useful video

In the video, Dr. Komarovsky explains how to identify conjunctivitis in an infant and when the cause of watery eyes is usually a blocked tear duct.

Diagnostics

It must be remembered that in order to avoid further problems with the eyes, you should promptly consult an ophthalmologist if lacrimation occurs in a 3 month old baby.

This is how the diagnosis usually goes:

• The doctor examines the eyelids, their edges, and checks the lacrimal openings.
• Examines the visual organs in detail using slit-lamp biomicroscopy.
• When examining watery eyes a canalicular and nasal test is prescribed.
• The doctor can give referral for endoscopic examination of the nasal cavity.
• If necessary, prescribe X-ray of the lacrimal ducts.

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Watery eyes can be a symptom of a dangerous disease that requires prompt diagnosis and timely treatment. If you notice that your baby's eye is watering, you should consult a doctor, even if this symptom disappears on its own and quickly.

Watery eyes can be caused by several reasons.

There are also pathological eye conditions that are dangerous to the baby’s health.

Conjunctivitis

If you have watery eyes, redness of the whites of the eyeballs and swelling of the eyelids, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible, as these symptoms are signs of conjunctivitis.

The disease is further characterized by the presence of pus in the corners of the eyes. The disease is dangerous not only because of the presence of infection, but also because of the high risk of developing photophobia, as the child experiences pain.

A baby can become infected with conjunctivitis if:

• he had direct contact with an infected person;
• the baby's eyes were rubbed with dirty hands;
• an infection got into the eyeball during labor.

The latter infection is confirmed only when symptoms appear immediately after birth.

Conjunctivitis is divided into several types, and the classification of this disease is based on the factor affecting the eye:

• autoimmune;
• allergic;
• bacterial;
• viral;
• chlamydial.

The most common form of the disease in infants is bacterial conjunctivitis, which can be caused by:

• staphylococci;
• gonococci;
• enterobacteria.

If an infant's eye is purulent, you should immediately consult a doctor to prevent damage to the cornea.

In the area of ​​the inner corners of the eye incisions there are tear ducts, which until the birth of the child are in a blocked state with the help of a protective membrane. During labor, this film breaks and the tear ducts open. If a failure occurs and the channels remain blocked, dacryocystitis develops, characterized by stagnation of tear fluid.

When an infection of various origins enters the eye, mucus is released, which causes lacrimation. The disease is characterized by the presence of pus and redness of the white of the eyeball. The symptoms of this disease are similar to those of conjunctivitis, but have their own peculiarity: with dacryocystitis, only one eye is affected.

Principles of treatment

When diagnosing the presence of closed lacrimal openings, which are the causes of tearing, it is necessary to give the child a massage. To do this, every 3 hours you should gently massage the area slightly below the inner corner of the eye. The pressure should be light and gentle. Thanks to this massage, the membrane will rupture, and stagnant tears will leave the canal on their own.

The massage technology is prescribed by the pediatrician after examining the baby. Medical consultation is a necessary measure, since an infection could develop due to tear stagnation, which will require additional treatment with lavage. In this case, it is advised to make strong tea or chamomile decoction to wash the sore eyeball.

The foreign body should not be removed independently. It is removed only by a doctor in order to subsequently diagnose the integrity of the eye cornea. After extraction, it is recommended to rinse with decoctions, which are selected based on the individual characteristics of the baby and the condition of the eyeball.

If a child is diagnosed with a traumatic disorder of the lacrimal ducts, anti-inflammatory medications are prescribed. Infectious diseases are treated with eye drops and ointments that are placed under the eyelid at night.

In case of an allergic reaction, a course of antihistamines is prescribed for oral administration.

If there is a complex lesion of the eyeball that causes lacrimation, it is necessary to visit an ophthalmologist who can prescribe the optimal treatment. Parents should not treat the baby themselves, as accidental mechanical damage can cause the development of dangerous eye diseases, damage to the cornea, or deterioration of vision. Also, you should not delay contacting a doctor, since with prolonged lacrimation, a change in the microflora occurs, which causes inflammation to develop.

- This is a significant deviation from the norm of normal child development. The newborn's body is weak and very sensitive to all environmental factors. His immune system is not yet working, the baby is completely dependent on mother's milk, care and guardianship of his parents. The organs of vision are just beginning to adapt to new conditions, but the lacrimal glands begin to work from birth.

Baby's eyes are watery at 1 month

A baby's tearfulness is a serious sign of health problems in the newborn and an alarming symptom. If it is noticed, you should consult a doctor.

The reasons for this phenomenon are varied:

• diseases (colds, eczema, conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis);
• allergies;
• the influence of external factors (bright light, specks caught in the eye, etc.).

There may be several reasons, sometimes they are not even related to each other. Colds, eczema, conjunctivitis do not exclude allergies. Therefore, the examination must be comprehensive.

Allergies are a common cause of unhealthy tearfulness in a newborn baby. Unprepared for the variety of smells, tastes and colors, the baby’s body cannot withstand the influence of a large number of external factors.

The use of chemicals in hygiene products, the replacement of natural ingredients with synthetic ones (flavors, emulsifiers, etc.) in food products, and polluted air provoke the appearance of allergy sufferers already in infancy.

Allergies in a one-month-old baby are formed even from mother's milk.

The mother must adhere to a strict diet in order to protect the child from developing allergies to substances that enter the fragile body with mother's milk. Otherwise, the risk of allergies is high.

The baby's body is weak in the first month of life. Allergy manifests itself not only as tearfulness, it is associated with other symptoms: rash, snot, high fever.

Why does the problem continue for 3 months?

At the age of 1-3 months, various factors can cause watery eyes in a small child. These are diseases: colds, eczema. The cause may be conjunctivitis, the baby's eyes water and become very red.

Mechanical damage (a foreign body gets into the eye, a child “rubs” it or accidentally damages it) can also cause increased lacrimation. The symptom is also characteristic of a number of congenital pathologies that lead to dysfunction of tear secretion.

Colds in a baby

The likely cause of pathological tearfulness in a baby is considered to be a cold. According to statistics, the symptom of tearfulness is less likely than other options to indicate a cold.

Recently, statistics have changed; infants have become more likely to get colds. If the symptom of tearfulness is combined with a cough, fever and obvious signs of a cold, consulting a doctor and competent treatment are vital.

Eczema is a possible cause of the disease

One of the causes of tearfulness in infants is eczema. According to statistics, this disease creates difficulties in the life of every fifth newborn.

In addition to causeless tears, the following symptoms are evidence of the disease:

• rashes all over the face;
• severe itching;
• peeling of the skin throughout the body in general, and around the eyelids in particular.

An effective method for preventing eczema is a balanced diet for the infant and mother during the first years of the child’s life.

Impact of external factors on the eyes

Protection from various harmful external factors is the responsibility of the baby’s parents. If a baby is crying and his eyes are watering, parents first check to see if a speck has gotten into the baby’s eye or if a careless child has scratched himself in the eye area. If the problem is resolved quickly, the tears will end and the risk of consequences for the baby will disappear.

The cause may also be congenital entropion of the eyelids, but the presence of such problems is checked when the mother and newborn are discharged from the hospital, or are eliminated if pathology is detected during a subsequent visit to the doctor.

What to do and how to help your child

When a baby's eyes begin to water, it is necessary to determine the cause of the anomaly. It's worth going to the hospital. If the cause is a cold, then the child’s watery eyes are a minor symptom of the disease. The unhealthy production of tears will stop when the child is sick.

Eczema is not easy. The disease rarely goes away on its own and requires specific treatment.

Even after therapy, the risk of relapse remains. Often even surgical treatment will be ineffective, because eczema periodically appears in infants up to the age of one and a half years.

Over time, the body will learn to fight the disease, otherwise eczema will develop into a more serious form. Parents of the baby should constantly monitor him, conduct regular consultations with a doctor, and if eczema manifests itself in the future, promptly begin treatment.

A newborn's eye is festering

Dacryocystitis is the cause of unhealthy tearfulness in infants if tearfulness occurs along with purulent discharge from the eyes. The cause of dacryocystitis is pathology of the lacrimal canals. The baby's tears accumulate in a narrow part of the eye, and after a period of inactivity, without coming out, they form foci of inflammation and rotting of the tear duct.

Pathology occurs before the baby is born. While in the mother's womb, the fetus is protected. Its nasolacrimal duct is also protected by a gelatin plug, which breaks through at the time of birth. If this does not happen or the plug comes out partially, the tear ducts become completely or partially obstructed.

Tears perform the most important function - they wash the eyeball and rid its surface of pathogenic bacteria. If lacrimation is impaired, stagnation of tears occurs.

This becomes a problem for the baby’s body, creating a favorable environment for the proliferation of viruses and bacteria. This leads to an acute inflammatory process - dacryocystitis, the lacrimal sac turns red and festers.

The symptoms of dacryocystitis are obvious. The child's eyes turn red, tear discharge appears uncontrollably and for no other reason. Later, purulent accumulations begin to be released with tears. The symptoms are similar to conjunctivitis, but there are key differences.

With dacryocystitis, discharge occurs in one eye, and in the case of conjunctivitis, both are affected. With dacryocystitis, it is important to ensure that the child’s sore eye does not “sour” during sleep, and if this happens, then you should consult a doctor immediately.

What methods will help eliminate symptoms

If dacryocystitis is diagnosed, the problem is solved by a whole range of therapeutic measures: massage, eye toilets and probing of the lacrimal canal (in case massage and toilets did not help).

Parents should clearly know what to do first when pathological tearfulness appears - consult a doctor. If the problem is not eliminated, the disease will develop into a chronic form, which can cause complications and make treatment difficult.

Once the doctor has made a diagnosis, parents are required to carry out a number of procedures. The main one is a special massage; the use of other methods is permissible only after the appointment of an experienced ophthalmologist. If conventional methods do not help, surgical intervention will be required.

The eye is still red

When the tearfulness of both eyes of a child is accompanied by another symptom - the eye is red, the baby is most often diagnosed with conjunctivitis. There is a classification of this disease according to the causes of its occurrence.

There are conjunctivitis:

• allergic;
• viral;
• chlamydial;
• bacterial;
• autoimmune.

It is important to accurately determine the etiology of the disease in order to begin therapy specific to each case. With allergic conjunctivitis, you may notice that the eye cries, turns red, and the child develops a fear of light. It is necessary to consult a doctor to identify the allergen and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Viral conjunctivitis occurs slowly and for a long time, it appears due to herpes or adenoviruses, and is eliminated by procedures prescribed by the attending physician.

Treatments can include ointments and compresses, as well as oral medications. Autoimmune conjunctivitis develops against the background of weakened immunity of the infant.

It manifests itself when the child’s immunity is weakened, in the first months of life. The cause may also be an acute respiratory viral infection, against which the child’s immune system is weakened and conjunctivitis develops.

A complex variant of the disease is its bacterial form, caused by staphylococcus, gonococcus or enterobacteria. The danger is that this disease causes changes in the functioning of the baby’s cornea and leads to inflammation. As a result, purulent discharge leaks from under the eyelids.

As a result, the processes lead to visual impairment in the early stages of a child’s life. Treatment of the disease must be effective and timely. This is important, since bacteria can affect other organs and systems, which will ultimately lead to serious pathologies.

How to eliminate redness

Parents may not understand why their newborn child has an infectious disease or why this happens, but there are several objective reasons:

1. The infection can affect the unprotected body of the child during childbirth.
2. The infection is transmitted to the child from a careless visitor who neglected the basic rules of hygiene and visiting newborns. He must be completely healthy, his hands have been washed, and it is recommended to limit contact in the first months of life.
3. The infection appears due to carelessness of parents who do not take good care of the baby’s hygiene, and as a result, it is enough to rub their face with dirty hands.

Parents should be attentive to their child during the first months of his life. The baby is still weak and defenseless, his health depends on the responsibility of mom and dad.

If an infection is detected, you need to go to the hospital. You should wash your child’s eyes with black tea or chamomile infusion, preferably after consulting a doctor. Before this, it is better to rinse your eyes and remove purulent discharge using ordinary boiled water.

Snot and tearfulness - reasons

Possible reasons:

1. A child over 3 months of age has problems with tearfulness for many reasons: illness (colds, eczema, conjunctivitis, dacryocystitis), allergies, the influence of external factors (bright light, specks in the eye, etc.).
2. If the eye of a child under 1 month of age is watery, this is in most cases a sign of a congenital pathology - dacryocystitis.
3. In the first months of a child’s life, everything depends on the parents. They must carefully protect the baby, look after him and constantly monitor his health.
4. To prevent an infant from developing an allergy, it must be protected from the negative effects of the environment and its diet must be carefully monitored.
5. Eyes may water when sick (colds, eczema, conjunctivitis). This is a symptom that will disappear after treatment.
6. When the first symptoms appear (increased lacrimation, redness, etc.), you should promptly go to the hospital. The doctor will make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment, and will tell you what procedures to carry out so that the disease does not develop into a chronic stage.

What Komarovsky says

When a child’s eyes water involuntarily and for no reason, it is necessary to see a doctor. If this is not possible, take advantage of the advice given by Dr. Komarovsky, well-known in the CIS countries, a true professional and specialist of the highest class. He says that if a baby cries for no reason, then the eyes should be washed with a decoction of regular black tea.

The doctor notes that the baby’s body is vulnerable, not fully formed and is exposed to seemingly harmless external factors. The task of parents is to protect the child, to ensure that the child grows up healthy and physically developed. There are factors over which parents have no control, but otherwise the father and mother are responsible.

Diagnostics

If signs of dacryocystitis appear, it is important to contact a pediatric ophthalmologist. The doctor will perform a visual examination of the eyelids, assess the condition of the lacrimal openings, may use a slit lamp, and also prescribe special tests - taking a canalicular or nasal sample.

If necessary, the baby can be sent for examination of the nasal cavity using the endoscopic method, when the lacrimal passages are washed and probed. An x-ray may also be needed.

How not to harm your baby

1. Forget bandages. In case of lacrimation and inflammation, there is no need to apply a bandage to the organs of vision. It is the bandage or gauze that will cause the spread of germs. They will create a cozy place for the proliferation of microorganisms. Complications may arise. Bandaging can also lead to eye injury.
2. Unsanitary conditions. Dirt is the main enemy of children's eyes. Keep it clean. Wash your hands thoroughly before performing procedures. Treat toys with soap. Make sure your baby has her own towel. Boil the pipettes once a day.

If your baby's eyes are watery, be sure to show him to a specialist. Self-medication can provoke the development of complications.

Folk remedies

Folk remedies perfectly complement the methods of official medicine, however, before starting the procedures, you should make sure that the baby does not have allergies. It is not allowed to use such treatment without the instructions of a doctor!

An infusion of red rose petals is suitable for washing the eyes.

To prepare you will need:

1. Pour 2 tbsp. l. petals 200 ml boiling water.
2. Leave the product for 1 hour.
3. Strain the medicine and pour into a sterile container.

The infusion is used 3-4 times a day for 5 minutes.

To combat lacrimation, you can use cumin seed drops.

It is necessary to prepare the product in the following way:

1. Pour 1 tbsp. l. plant seeds 200 ml boiling water.
2. Place on low heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
3. Remove the decoction from the heat, add chopped plantain leaves, chopped eyebright grass and cornflower petals - take 1 tsp of each component.
4. Infuse the product for 1 day, then strain.

The medicine is used 5 times a day, instilling 2-3 drops into each eye.

Chamomile infusion has an antiseptic effect, so it eliminates the inflammatory process well.

To prepare the medicine you need:

1. Add 1 tsp to a glass. chopped chamomile.
2. Pour 200 ml of boiling water.
3. Leave for 30-40 minutes.

You need to wash the affected eyes with this product 3-4 times a day.

Prevention

Infants are at risk of contracting the disease due to the fact that the fragile body continues to adapt to the external environment. To avoid unwanted consequences, follow simple recommendations. The disease is easier to prevent than to treat.

To prevent your newborn's eyes from watering:

1. Don't forget to maintain hygiene. Wash your baby. Gently dry your baby's eyes with a towel moistened with water.
2. During care, make sure that the child does not rub his eyes or pick them with his fingers.
3. Protect your baby from drafts or strong winds. Don't walk outside in windy weather.
4. Keep your baby's room tidy.

If you find obvious signs of abnormalities in your baby, contact a specialist, without expecting that the lacrimation will go away on its own. The first months after the birth of a child and the period up to a year are a touching and risky time in the life of a baby.

The eyes are one of the vulnerable places in a baby at this moment. If they water for a long time, this indicates the need to consult a doctor. Timely intervention and a course of treatment will allow you to return your health to normal and restore purity and radiance to children’s eyes.

Children are big, but pleasant chores and a big responsibility. First of all, parents are responsible for ensuring that the baby grows up healthy. And, of course, any changes in the baby’s condition are especially worrying for moms and dads, since the baby himself cannot yet say anything and all that remains is to observe his behavior and what symptoms he suddenly has. It also happens that the eyes begin to water profusely, even for no apparent reason. But in fact, there may be several prerequisites for the occurrence of this symptom. What to do if your baby's eye is watering? How to react to this?

Symptoms

Tearing in children, and even in adults, does not appear just like that. Sometimes, of course, it should not cause panic, when tears suddenly appear go away on their own - there is nothing to worry about and, most likely, it was just a temporary phenomenon. But sometimes lacrimation, if it does not go away within a short time, can signal the development of some disease, sometimes very serious.

When a child has ARVI or influenza, along with the traditional symptoms of these ailments, lacrimation is present

What symptoms should parents be alert to when watery eyes appear:

• increased body temperature;
• labored breathing;
• suppuration in the eyelashes or corners of the eyes;
• redness of the eyeball;
• photophobia;
• The baby rubs his eyes, which indicates the occurrence of;
• swelling of the eyelids.

All these symptoms may appear at once, or they may appear together with lacrimation according to 1-2 signs. But in any case, they signal that it is time to go to see a doctor or call a doctor at home.

Attention! If a baby has a significant temperature in combination with a number of these symptoms, then you should not take him to the hospital and once again take him outside. It is better to call your local pediatrician. If the temperature rises strongly, it is recommended to call an ambulance.

Possible reasons

What diseases can these symptoms signal? Some of them are dangerous to the health and life of the child, some are easily treated. But in any case, you should not rely on washing your eyes with chamomile decoction and making a diagnosis yourself - it is better to have a doctor prescribe treatment and determine the pathology.

Table. Causes of lacrimation in infants.

Also, lacrimation can be a symptom of a number of problems with the nervous system (usually one eye is watery) or occur due to temperature changes in the environment. For example, if a child is taken out of a warm house into the street in cool weather. In the latter case, this is simply a protective reaction of the body and there is nothing to worry about.

On a note! If the eyes begin to water in babies 2-6 months old, then most likely the symptom is associated with problems with the tearing process.

It's important to remember that if lacrimation occurs for a long time, then this is a reason to start worrying. The fact is that excessive moisture in the eyes and the area around them can change the microflora, and because of this, in turn, a number of inflammatory processes can easily develop.

Dacryocystitis

But we cannot fail to mention one more disease that can cause excessive tearing in a baby. Usually in this case there is redness, suppuration and excessive moisture in only one eye. This disease is called dacryocystitis. But you shouldn’t be scared - this is a fairly common pathology in children and can be treated.

Dacryocystitis is an ophthalmological disease caused by inflammatory processes occurring in the nasolacrimal canal. It usually affects babies no older than 1 month. The disease develops due to the formation of a gelatinous plug in the nasolacrimal canal - it is created while the child is still in the womb, and is designed to prevent amniotic fluid from entering the lungs. Typically, as soon as the baby is born, the plug breaks at the first click and the tear duct opens to allow tears to wash the eyes, clearing them of bacteria.

But such a breakthrough does not always happen; tears begin to accumulate and stagnate. A favorable environment for the development of bacteria arises, which is why acute dacryocystitis develops. Without proper treatment, it will develop into a chronic form.

If you want to learn more about what it is, and also look at treatment and prevention, you can read about it in our new article.

Diagnostics

If signs of dacryocystitis appear, it is important to contact a pediatric ophthalmologist. The doctor will perform a visual examination of the eyelids, assess the condition of the lacrimal openings, may use a slit lamp, and also prescribe special tests - taking a canalicular or nasal sample. If necessary, the baby can be sent for examination of the nasal cavity using the endoscopic method, when the lacrimal passages are washed and probed. An x-ray may also be needed.

Attention! If there are any complications, the child may need a CT scan of the head.

Treatment

The doctor will definitely prescribe treatment. As a rule, it consists of a massage of the lacrimal sac. The doctor himself will show you how to do it. The massage is performed with cleanly washed hands, and the nails should be cut short. Also, in addition to this, the specialist will note the importance of maintaining hygiene. At home, you can wipe your baby’s eyes with sterile cotton swabs moistened with clean boiled water or tea.

Important! You cannot use eye ointments on your own without an ophthalmologist’s prescription. Drops for dacryocystitis are useless.

If massage and hygiene do not help, the child may be prescribed canal probing. The procedure is not dangerous and is performed on an outpatient basis.

Lacrimal sac massage

Step 1. It is necessary to wash the hands of the person who will perform the massage well beforehand.

Step 3. The little finger or index finger needs to be drawn from the inner corner of the eye along the nose several times, applying some pressure. Up to 15-20 movements are performed.

Step 4. After this, you need to make several of the same movements, but in the opposite direction - from the wing of the nose to the corner of the eye. Light pressure is also applied. Up to 15-20 movements are performed.

Step 5. If pus or tear fluid is released during a massage, it is recommended to remove all this with a napkin.

Step 6. The massage must be repeated at least 4-5 times a day, approximately every 2-3 hours.

Video - Massage of the lacrimal sac

Treatment of conjunctivitis

If a large number of tears are caused by conjunctivitis, the doctor may prescribe eye drops. Usually there are two types at once, against bacterial and against viral conjunctivitis. Of course, the viral form of the disease can go away on its own within 5-7 days, but once again it’s better not to risk it and get treatment. Bacterial conjunctivitis can only be cured with antibiotic drugs.

As for allergies, they are treated by completely eliminating the allergen and using antihistamines. Only a doctor should prescribe them to a child.

On a note! You can alleviate the child’s condition by wiping the eyes with tampons moistened with chamomile decoction. But the disease cannot be cured this way.

If your baby's eye is watering, then do not panic - it is important to monitor his condition and, if there is no improvement, consult a doctor. It is the specialist who will be able to determine the true cause of lacrimation and prescribe treatment that will help cope with the symptom.