Why does my baby have a lot of tears and eye mucus?

Many parents will find that their babies have a lot of tears and a lot of eye mucus. At this time, they need to pay attention to whether the baby has dacryocystitis. Usually dacryocystitis will show symptoms of tearing or a lot of eye mucus, so it is necessary to focus on treatment and care.

1. When the baby is born, due to the squeezing of the mother's birth canal, the valve at the end of the nasolacrimal duct will rupture, making the passage between the nose and the nasolacrimal duct unobstructed. However, some babies are born with the valve at the end of the nasolacrimal duct not broken, which prevents tears from being discharged through the nasal cavity and causes blockage of the nasolacrimal duct.

2. Most nasolacrimal duct obstructions will disappear within 6 months, and a few will disappear later. Therefore, there is no need to see an ophthalmologist if tearing occurs within 6 months. However, the tears accumulated in the lacrimal sac are a breeding ground for bacteria, which can lead to massive bacterial growth and induce acute dacryocystitis.

3. Three main symptoms of dacryocystitis:

Tearing, a lot of eye mucus (usually occurs in one eye, purulent eye mucus), eyelid eczema (infected substances in the tears irritate the eyelid skin and cause eczema)

4. Treatment and care methods for baby dacryocystitis:

1. For the initial conservative treatment of nasolacrimal duct obstruction, local compression massage of the lacrimal sac is used. The method is: first apply warm water to the hands, wash them, press the lacrimal point opening with the index finger, and massage from the lacrimal sac to the nasolacrimal duct with the index finger of the other hand from top to bottom, and repeat several times. Massage frequently from the inner corner of the eye toward the nostril to force the lacrimal sac secretions to flush open the closed membrane and press out the pus.

2. After pressing, apply antibiotic eye drops locally to the eyes. Each time, squeeze out the contents of the lacrimal sac and then use pediatric eye drops, 3 to 4 times a day. You can apply chloramphenicol eye ointment at night, once a day.

3. If there is no effect after 2 weeks of continuous massage, you can go to the hospital for pressurized flushing of the tear duct to break through the membrane tissue. If conservative treatment does not work, the symptoms of some babies may even become more and more severe. At this time, surgery must be considered, using an effective surgery to cure the disease - lacrimal duct probing. This method is 95% effective for children aged 6-13 months, but the efficacy drops to 75% after 13 months. Therefore, nasolacrimal duct obstruction should be treated early.