Yesterday morning, baby Yirmiyahu woke up with an eye infection – one eye was sealed shut with dried gunk. He had this several weeks ago as well, and both times I treated it easily, naturally and frugally.
The remedy for an eye infection in a baby is so easy that it’s almost not worth mentioning, except not everyone is aware of this! You simply put a few drops of mother’s milk in his open eye. For the first eye infection he had, I had to do this several times, but yesterday just one time was enough to totally clear up the infection. This works because breast milk has an antibody in it called immunoglobulin A that limits the growth of the bacteria.
Breast milk is very useful in treating the small infections that babies get – you can use it for stuffy noses and ear infections, in addition to eye infections. (Some use it for cuts and scrapes, but I’ve never done this.) The approach is the same for all of these – just put some drops of milk in a few times a day, until it clears up. It doesn’t sting, smell bad, or necessitate a trip to the store to buy a bottle of medicinal drops – you just need to be a nursing mother and voila! – with a few seconds you can easily help your baby feel better.
Avivah
You can also look the idea of tear duct massage. I had a couple of kids with this problem and I massaged the ducts and applied breastmilk and the problem was solved.
also the homeopathic remedy euphrasia is also good too
the first time i tried this with a baby i actually held the squirming newborn on my lap and tried to hold him still while i squirted breastmilk directly into his eye… (but really just got it all over his face, and my clothes, and his clothes, and the floor- you get the picture…) duh… 🙂 many months later, after the new mom fog lifted a bit, i was like, oh, maybe i should have expressed some milk into a cup and swabbed the eye with a tissue or something. it’s such a funny memory, but it’s also funny that what can seem so obvious to one person is completely NOT obvious to someone else! glad to hear that you and your beautiful baby are both doing well! 🙂
I’ve done the same ‘squirt and make a mess’ that you described! I should have mentioned that I express some milk, put it in a bottle and then it’s easy to control the drops going just where you want them to go.
Actually, for cuts and scrapes it also works for older kids, too! I’m glad you reminded me of this–my aloe plant us getting used up so quickly with two kids learning to ride a bike. I think I’ll use breastmilk next time. Hope the baby feels better!
Does the milk need to be “fresh” or could it be expressed and refridgerated?
I don’t think it has to be fresh – refrigerated or frozen and defrosted would be fine.
I’ve also cleared up cradle cap with breastmilk – massage in and let sit for a while. Then gently scrub baby’s head with a warm, wet washcloth. Repeat a few times until new cradle cap stops appearing.