Putting Eye Drops in a 2 Year Olds Eyes

I've gone through this with each of my children (6,4 & 20 months). What I've done is: lay the child on his back on the floor, I sit at his head with my legs over his arms and my ankles over his knees. Then I pry his eyelids open and squeeze the drops in. I know this sounds horrible, but the medicine HAS to be administered for the child to get better and what I described above takes less than a minute and I give hugs and M&M's after it's all done. After one or two times of giving the medicine this way, my older children learn that it's easier to be calm and "go along" with it. I tell them (for eye drops, nose sprays or yucky medicine) "you can do it like a big boy or I can hold you down but the medicine HAS to go in." They eventually take the medicine calmly and I let them hold the tissue to wipe away the excess.

If he is wiping it away with his hands I would have someone hold him long enough for you to put it in his eyes and hold him long enough to last. If its the gooy type then use the patch to keep it on. I hope he gets over it soon. Poor thing. Good luck.

My 3yr old daughter has had to use eye drops off and on since she was 3mths old. We always waited until she fell asleep to do it. Once asleep slightly lift eyelid do the drop and she never knew a thing, we did the same thing with ear drops only in the ears of course. Hope this helps.

For some reason - I usually do not have any issues putting drops in my 2 1/2 YO son's eyes...he's just good about it...now. But, I have most definitely used the "Burrito" method on him in the past. He hates it and squirms like crazy, but if you're quick and careful, it can be over with and forgotten before he even realizes what's happening.

J. S

My son is two also and he had pink eye and all i did was explain to him that it would help his eye to stop hurting and that it would not hurt him. I showed him that it was safe by pretending that i was putting them in my eye and after that he wanted to do like momm and there was no problem

Hi, my son also had pinkeye when he was about 1 or 2. Our dr gave me an ointment to just rub over his eyes. You might want to ask your dr about that. I dont remember what it was.

J.,

The only way I know to get eye drops in a 2 yr old's eye is kinda like putting in or taking out stitches in a 2 yr old (have done the stitches with each of my sons at age two) You have to hold him still and just do it. It sounds cruel and he will scream his head off, but you have to look at it this way... he HAS to have the eye drops to make his eye better. My mom is a nurse and she took both sets of stitches out (one set in the forehead and other in the foot). It took my mom taking out the stitches plus 2 adults to hold my sons down. Just talk to him soothingly do it quickly but accurate and hold him down for just a few minutes after so drops get start to work. then pick him up and love and praise him for doing such a good job of being a big boy. Good Luck!! A.

you will need lots of luck
There is no nice way to do it. My daughter was three and needed them. She was leaning back watching TV and I got one eye done! But then had to chase her around the house, pin her down until she was tired and then put them in (yes, it sounds terrible but we laugh about it a year later)

i have a 4 year old who i have to put drops in his eyes and have for a couple years now.. i know it sounds a little cruel but when he was 2 the only way i could get drops or ointments in his eye was to wrap him up like a burrito very tightly with his arms down to get them in. works great.

Dear J., I agree that giving medication to a toddler is a challenge but Eye Drops are almost impossible. It is the eye's natural reflex to shut (and sometimes shut tight) when something is trying to get in our eye.
I have an 18 month old that is strong as an ox, spits medicine, etc. When needing to give her eye drops, I will show her the bottle, and pretend to be putting it in my eye and her doll or teddy bears eye. I praise the doll and myself afterward. I wish I could tell you that she then lies down and holds her eye open waiting in anticipation for the drop... but she doesn't. It just seems to make the initial struggle less as she isn't so afraid of the unknown bottle. You must use your index finger and thumb gently to the child's top and bottom lid. Start prying open slowly and/or moving your fingers into a better position to get the eyelid open. You only need to get the medicine in through a tiny slip in the eye, as once in it does the job itself. This technique is much easier if you have someone to help hold the child's arms and/or legs if necessary. I am a single mom and I don't have that luxury, so if she is begin particularly resistant, I might wait until she is drifting to sleep and her eyes are slightly open or when she is asleep just lifting the top lid, immediately dropping one drop, and soothing her back to sleep.
*Make sure you wash your hands before you touch your child's eyes. Also, try to keep your child's hands washed a lot as conjunctivitis is usually caused by a bacteria. If their eye is uncomfortable, they may rub it a lot. I hope this helps!

J.,
If you have ever been to the ER maybe you have seen how they handle toddlers. The ER's here use "papoose" type contraptions. You can make the same thing with a large bath towel or sheet. Just lay it out flat and then lay the child on top then wrap one side over then the other with the outer layer wrapping around to the back side (so child is laying on it) if there is enough excess like with a sheet, wrap a coule of times. Only the head should be sticking out and wrap fairly tight so they don't squirm out. this will inhibit the hand and legs if the sheet/towel is long enough. Then you should be able to use both hands to squeeze the bottle and hold open the eyes, and hold them there until the medication gets in. The antibiotic for that does burn, I have had it myself. I used this method on both my boys as toddlers and still have to now and they are 4 and 6. It still works. Don't worry about wrapping too tight, you want it tight enough to restrain thier movement. Hope it helps..

The only way I could do it was to sit on the floor and lay him down face up with his head between your thighs and his feet facing away from you. Then you put his arms under your legs and can hold his legs down with your legs. Then you have your hands free to put the drops in. You have to pull the lower lid down with index finger and hold the upper lid with your thumb. Then with you good hand you put the drops in his eye just inside the lower lid. I am an RN and the pediatrician I worked for actually taught me this maneuver. All my mothers said it worked and I used it on my child who had blocked tear ducts and many eye infections. Just be glad that you weren't prescribed an ointment! Good Luck!

You will probably have to lay him down on the bed or floor and straddle him with your knees holding his hands down if you don't have someone to hold his hands for you. Put the drop in and wait about 15 seconds to be sure it has gotten in good. At that point if he wipes it is ok, because enough medication has gotten to the eye itself it can do it's job. I know it sounds traumatic, but sometimes you've got to do things that aren't plesant for their own good. I am a nurse and this is how we tell parents with no extra hands to get those drops in. Good luck & don't give up!

Check with your Pedatrician about alternatives. My son was 3 when he got pink eye and the presecription they gave me was a gel version of the same medication in the eyedrops. It still goes in the eye, but it's easier to get it to stay. Once you get it in it just kind of sticks to the eye and doesnt' run away like an eyedrop does. Worked really well when he was 3. Hope this helps. :)

I know that his course on eye drops have ended by now, but I recently had to do this to my 5 year old special needs child. I did have to pin her down as stated, but right before, I would put socks on her hands and pretend they were sock puppets and she was distracted by this, enough so, that the eye drops were in and she did not rub them. It really worked for her.

M.

You know.. we went through something like that at one point. Almost as bad as suppositories. If it were that I would just suggest calling over the MIL.. hehe.. But honestly it sounds bad but with my son, it took two people to just hold him down and squeeze it in the corner of his eye. He has to blink eventually and at least some would go in. I think my pediatrician even said that. At the time I thought she was just unsympathetic. Good luck!

J.