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

When there is eye mucus in the baby's eyes, mothers cannot wipe it with their hands, as this can easily allow bacteria to invade the eyes and cause damage to the baby's eyes. At this time, you should choose a wet towel to wipe it, which is very helpful in completely eliminating the eye mucus and will not hurt the baby's eyes. So why do babies have so much eye mucus when they cry? This is something that many mothers are not very clear about. Let's introduce it in detail below.

What is the reason for the baby's tears and eye mucus?

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.

Most cases of nasolacrimal duct obstruction 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.

There are 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)

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.

After understanding why your baby has a lot of tears and eye mucus, you should follow the doctor's advice on how to improve the condition. When your baby has a lot of tears and eye mucus, mothers should not choose medication at will, as this will affect the baby's body. Choosing conservative improvement methods will also help alleviate this problem for your baby.