My 12 month old has sounded like he has a chest congestion and a constintly runny nose. His one eye is always tearing and when he wakes up both of them are crusty. He dr said that it looks like a blocked tear duct. Sometimes it seems more then that. Any suggestions?
Have you tried warm compresses? It helps a little. Two of my daughters had blocked tear ducks. This is exactly what happened to them. They do grow out of it pretty fast...
How long has he been ill? The runny nose can lead to congestion in the eye, but the dr. should have given you some advice about how to treat it and how long the infection should last. You can put a humidifier in your son's room, and sit in the bathroom with the shower running to create steam before he goes to bed. Both help loosen congestion. We like to use Baby Simply Saline to clear the nose and it might help with the eyes. You can also put a warm wet washcloth over the eye if it's irritated and he'll sit still. Maybe you can play some music or sing while he sits. If it doesn't clear up in a week or 2 I would go back to the dr. or get a second opinion.
My peds told me that 50% of the time your kid will have an ear infection when they have the crusty/gunky eye. I just had my almost 9 month old to the drs last Friday, but he only has a cold and an "eye infection." So they gave him some drops to do twice a day. He's had a blocked tear duct a few times since birth and we just treated that w/the warm compress a few times a day.
When my daughter had a cold and then started leaking yellow goo out of her eye or eyes, it always meant an ear infection on that side or both ears if both eyes were leaking. I could predict the ear infection with precision every time.
Once I had to see another doctor in our practice who tried to tell me it was pink eye...no, it is just her whole head is so congested that the mucus is leaking out her eyes and has built up in her sinuses to the point of ear infection.
If it is getting worse have them check his ears.
My son had pink eye with those exact same conditions. The runny nose, especially.
The doc gave us some eye drops and it cleared right up in a couple of days.
If the eye is "gunky" in addition to the crusting, that would be a good sign of pink eye.
I didn't know, until our experience, that pink eye often is accompanied by cold or flu like symptoms.
