Baby Acne and Matted Eyes

Now, this is an old time treatment for the matted eyes. I was horrified when my mother did this and almost got into a fight with her when she did it. She took a wet diaper off and rubbed the baby's eyes. It was gone and had no more problems until the baby got a cold later. Since it worked on the first baby, I used it on my other 3 when they had the same problem. Now I don't know about the disposable diapers as back then we only had cloth diapers. I am 70 now so that should tell you how long that has been. My oldest is 53 and I did show her the same thing with my first grandchild.

The baby acne is soo normal at this age! This is when they get it and it can last for 2 weeks or 2 months! Don't put anything on it. Just wash her face with a wet washcloth every now and then. They say if you try to do anything for it it makes it worse. My daughter had both of these issues. Your pedi can give you something for her eyes-she probably has clogged tear ducts-which again, are very normal. I know the baby acne is ugly-but try not to let it bother you. Most babies have it.

Lacrimal duct is clogged. Both my sons had this reccurrent problem, its typical in newborns and they usually grow out of it eventually. In the meantime he will need eye medicine to clear up the infection (erythromyacin at first, they try others if it doesn't work). To keep it from recurring your pediatrician can show you how to massage the ducts. If it keeps happening after the nine month mark you may need to see a pediatric opthamologist. My eldest needed a VERY MINOR surgical proceedure at 16 months as he still had the problem. Don't listen to statements about putting anything in the eye but eye drops, anything else will cause an infection.

As for the baby acne, my youngest had THAT problem and we were given a very mild steroid creme which cleared it up right away. Our pediatriccian told us to just use it anytime it started to crop back up and by 3 months our youngest had totally outgrown the problem.

Unfortunately this sounds normal to me. My beautiful daughter whom I thought was perfect started looking like a zit faced teenager around 4 weeks old. She also had cradle cap, not on her head but in her eye brows. So she had zits and crusty eyebrows. Everyone was asking me for pictures during that time I still can't let anyone see how my sweet angle looked at that time. I know she'll appreciate me holding back these photos when she's older. Although, I might use them as torture just like the dreaded naked bathtub photos when boys come calling. Just kidding ya'll!

Anyway, the acne was caused by hormones in her body. I read two schools of thought on it and one says its left over hormones from my body in hers and the others said it was her hormones balancing. Either way it will work its self out. I would just wash your daughter's face daily with mild soap and water and then I leave it alone. I liked the huggies pre-soaped wash clothes. It made it easier to wash my daughters face with soap and water without having to do the whole bath thing. It went away about a month later. There were a few days in there where it got really scaly and dry looking but it was in the healing process so it just looked worse before it got better. It also seemed to itch. She would rub her face on anything she could. I would put a really soft blanket in her hands and just let her go to town. Sometimes, when she seemed too frustrated by the itchiness I would put a mild of a lotion on her face. Lubriderm is what we used. Just imagine what you would want on your face minus any wrinkle creams. We like our children's wrinkles right where they are.

Until you get word from a doctor I would only use a cloth with warm water to wipe the eyes. From your description I can't tell if your daughter is doing what my daughter did but she had yellow scaly crud in her eyebrows. But before you try to home fix that one I would make a call to your doctor first, since you are dealing with her eyes. However, just in case they say cradle cap now you'll know there's a solution to that. For the scaly cradle cap, which can pop up anywhere on their heads, not just on their scalps, mine also had it behind her ears, I would rub a little olive oil on the effected areas and then I would let it soak for a minute. Then I would wipe it off with a warm wet cloth. The oil will loosen the flakes of skin and allow you to wipe them off without rubbing. This again can be caused by extra hormones in their bodies too. Poor things.

Its unfortunate that our sweet babies have to go through these ugly duckling phases but it will get better. Promise!

Jen
http://www.mommysjoy.com

I myself have clogged tear ducts and some sort of dry eye disease (can't remember the name of it), so I have to do eye scrubs every night before bed. I use Johnsons baby shampoo on a baby wash cloth since they are so much softer. I start at the corner by the tear duct and scrub in a circular pattern to the outter corner of my eye.

When my son had the same issues as a newborn, I recognized it right away, and began the same treatment sans shampoo. It worked great & was cleared within a couple of days. He's 4 now, and I've only had to do it for him a couple of times since when his allergies have gotten bad.

Best of luck and congrats on the new little girl!

The milk is on the sheets, from your baby's mouth this sometimes causes the acne, put a clean pad under his face and wash his face with a warm cloth after meals and before bed. Hopefully this will help. Some of this is normal for newborns.

I would say watch out for allergy related triggers. It could be products you are using on her during nap time and even into food related allergies (milk in formula or many things that you have in your breast milk). However, I am a very worrisome mom as both of my kids have bad reactions to many soaps and such and one of them has lots of food allergies. I pray that neither of those would be the culprit, but just something to keep in mind if nothing else works.

Good luck and congrats!

give it time :) the acne will go away, use a warm washcloth to wipe her eyes after every sleep cycle :) don't use soap on her face.

One of mine had a major case of baby acne! My pediatrician told me to buy a small travel sized bottle of Head and Shoulders Dandruff Shampoo. Mix a little dab of the shampoo and some warm water in your hand and very carefully dab it on the baby's face where the acne is. Then take a soft, warm wet wash cloth and gently wipe it off. And it goes without saying to be very careful not to get any in her eyes. After a few days, totally did the trick!

For matted eyes, clean with warm water and a cotton ball gently masssaging from the tear duct out. My little man had a lot of eye gunk for the first 15 months due to a narrow tear duct and this method worked very well.

Not sure about the matted eyes, I would probably have that checked out, but the acne is normal, I think. My youngest had it pretty bad, but outgrew it. I'm just hoping it doesn't mean he'll have bad acne as a teenager.

Hi L.,

I had the same problem with my daughter when she was around the same age she is 10 months now. But I took her in for a check up and showed the pediatrician it turned out to be she was allergic to johnsons baby shampoo as soon as I stopped using it her rash went away. I H. I was of some help..wish you the best of Luck!

Mia

We used Dove unscented soap on our son's face. I was super careful though not to get it near his eyes. It helped a lot. He has ezcema so I couldn't use the baby soaps. As for the matted eyes- warm washcloths work for us. I don't rub I dab. Your daughter could have an eye infection. My daughter got one at 2 weeks. Good Luck and congratulations on your second blessing!
V.

Okay, this may sound odd, but if you are breastfeeding... squirt some of your milk on the acne and let it dry. In my experience it takes care of it within an hour or two. If it's not clear to your satisfaction repeat. As for the funky eyes... squirt some breastmilk in there! Breastmilk is wonderful and pretty much can take care of lots of little issues like baby acne, funky eyes and even outter ear infections! My little fella is 3 months (3rd kid) and I have been using breastmilk for both of these issues since he was born. Good luck!!

This is perfectly normal for your daughter to be going through.

Baby Acne - There's no treatment. She is getting the acne due to all of the hormones in her system that she received while in your womb. The acne will get better but it may take a couple of months.

Matted Eyes ~ Take a warm wash cloth and start massaging in a circular motion starting at the end of her nose all the way up to the corner of her eye. This will loosen anything her her sinus cavities. My son suffered from gunky eyes and I did this for a week and I haven't had any more problems!

Congratulations on a wonderful bundle of joy!

Hi, L.!

Don't do ANYTHING about the baby acne-- it's just your hormones clearing out of her system and it'll go away on its own in a few weeks. Keep taking pictures- she's still beautiful, it's just a very common "awkward stage."

As for the matted eyes-- I don't know how bad her particular case is, but my daughter had one tear duct that would become blocked and make her eye gooey when she was just a few weeks old-- maybe it's the same thing? Just use a clean, damp washcloth to clear it as often as needed. Also a warm compress may help. If it's severe, or you suspect an infection, take her to the pediatrician.

The others' suggestions regarding breastmilk certainly won't hurt-- breastmilk has wonderful antibiotic properties.

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby, and Happy Holidays!
K.

It sounds like she probably has clogged tear ducts, if her eyes aren't red. My daughter has that and my doctor said to use a warm washcloth and rub the corner of her eye with our finger to help open the duct. I'm not sure that there is anything you can do about the baby acne. My daughter seemed to have a little acne and some eczema on her face and i used palmers cocoa butter face butter and it all cleared up.

Hi L.,

My baby had a very bad baby acne when she was born. Her Pediatrician prescribed a lotion called Desonide. It worked great. My baby was so bad that she even had it in her scalp. I had to use a different shampoo on her and the Desonide lotion. Within 3 days her skin looked MUCH better. Try asking your Pediatrician for a prescription for this lotion. Also, use pure water when you give her a bath. Stop her baby wash for a while.

Your baby could be allergic to the baby products you are putting on their face. Check the soap powder you are using and wash their clothes and towels twice. 1st time with soap and 2nd time no soap. If that doesn't help you may want to take her to her dr.

Mary