You may notice that your baby wakes up with one eye glued, or that he has too many "litters" sometimes mixed with tear fluid. That substance accumulates in the inner corner of the eye and especially after sleeping the baby is noticed the little eyes stuck. Is about tear duct stenosis, a very frequent obstruction in newborns.
Typical symptoms are that yellowish mucus and tearing of the eye, usually in one eye although it may occur in both. It is a tearing disorder that can be congenital or the result of an infection in the nasopharyngeal area. The nasal passage that joins the inside of the eye and nose narrows or swells, leaving the tear blocked.
Consequently, the tears that protect the eye (secretions continually occur for that protective purpose) no longer flow freely, accumulate and soon a purulent inflammation appears. It is very common for babies to be born with a narrow or clogged tear duct (what is called a tear duct stenosis), a disorder that usually goes away on its own. Sometimes, however, it can lead to conjunctivitis.
Therefore, when we detect those legañas we have to clean the baby's eye or eyes. We will wash them with a sterile physiological serum solution, always trying to do it from the inside to the outside of the eye (the serum drips into the nose through the cheek). We must also follow that same direction if we use a sterile gauze to remove the mucus from the eye.
The pediatrician could prescribe an antibiotic eye drops but we must bear in mind that if the tamponade or narrowing of the tear duct continues, the secretion will be reduced momentarily, but the inflammation reappears as soon as the product stops being applied.
Another thing that parents can do to "help" the nasolacrimal duct to open is to perform small massages with the little finger (very clean hands) in the inner angle of the eye, pressing at that point through small circular movements , although as you can imagine it is not a very comfortable "maneuver" for the baby ...
If to the symptoms that we have listed (tearing and secretions) others are added such as swollen, red and sensitive eyelids and reddened eyeball, we can be talking about conjunctivitis in the newborn with other causes: an infection by bacteria or virus that may need treatment.
However, as we say, stenosis or obstruction of the baby's tear ducts usually disappears on its own when the baby reaches six or eight weeks and we only have to try to keep the eyes clean when the "litters" accumulate.
