A newborn baby is fragile and delicate, and their eyes are even more so. Hence, they need special care and attention. Basic knowledge about their vision and eye care is a vital part of taking care of your baby’s eyes. For the first few weeks, a newborn baby is shortsighted. Anything closer or farther than 20 cm would appear blurry to your little one.
Babies do not really look straight ahead for the first few weeks of their lives but are more interested in what is happening to their right and left. Their vision develops over three months. Though a baby’s eyes clean themselves, at bath times or if the baby has an infection, you need to be extra careful while cleaning a newborn baby’s eyes.
In This Article
- How to Care For Baby’s Eyes
- How to Keep Baby’s Eyes Clean
- When Will my Newborn Start Producing Tears?
- Dealing With Blocked Tear Ducts in Babies
- How to Care For Infected Eyes in Babies?
- Why Does My Baby Seem To Have Crossed Eyes?
- When to Consult The Doctor
- FAQ’s
How to Care For Baby’s Eyes
Caring for those delicate eyes of your newborn baby is an important part. Due to an underdeveloped immune system, newborn babies are prone to various infections, including eye infections (1).
Hence, proper care is a must, and to keep those pairs of eyes healthy, it is important to follow the following steps:
- Ensure to wash your hands every time before touching your baby’s eyes. Make it a routine to wash your hands with soap and water (2).
- Keeping the baby’s surroundings clean is also important. Irritants like pollen, dust, dirt and pet dander can irritate a baby’s delicate eyes (3). Keep the surroundings devoid of any environmental allergens.
- Trim your baby’s nails regularly, as sharp nails can lead to eye injuries (4).
- Protecting a baby’s eyes from the harsh UV rays from the sun is important, as these rays can damage the eyes. (5). A hat can help and whenever you take them out in the sun make sure they are in a stroller with a sunshade (6).
- Breastfeeding your baby is essential in providing the protective antibodies and nutrients that help fight infections including those of the eyes (7).
- Applying breast milk to the eyes also helps prevent infections, as it contains protective antibodies (8)
- Take your baby to their regular pediatric health check-ups. Make sure that you don’t miss any appointments.
How to Keep Baby’s Eyes Clean
Below are some easy-to-follow steps to clean your baby’s eyes:
- A baby is quite receptive to allergies and infections; hence, ensure proper personal hygiene while handling the baby.
- If you have travelled or are coming from outside, change into fresh and clean clothes and wash your hands before holding the baby
- If the baby is irritated or quite active, you should clean his eyes later. You want the baby to be relaxed and calm while cleaning their eyes to avoid injury.
- Take some lukewarm water in a bowl and some fresh cotton pad or a clean soft cloth to clean your baby’s eyes.
- Soak the cotton pad or the cloth in the water and squeeze off the excess.
- With gentle hands, clean your baby’s eyes with the soaked pad or cloth. Ensure that the direction of cleaning the eye should be from inside the eye outwards. Use a fresh pad for another eye.
- Do not vigorously rub or scratch the eyes.
- Do not rub the eye incessantly; just gently clean it once or twice.
[Read: Sty In Babies]
When Will my Newborn Start Producing Tears?
Soon after birth your baby won’t be able to produce any tears. As they near the one-month birthday, they will be able to start shedding tears.
If your baby isn’t able to produce tears even after the first-month benchmark, it is suggested you consult your doctor. If your doctor says that your baby has blocked tear ducts, you might have to take special care of the eyes and clean them often.
Dealing With Blocked Tear Ducts in Babies
So you see your baby cry without tears? Well, a baby does not produce tears immediately after birth. Babies start producing tears once they are around 3 weeks old (9).
Blocked tear ducts are quite common in newborns. One or both tear ducts may be clogged in about 6-20% of the babies, and yellowish mucus may accumulate in the clogged eye (10).
You can wipe away mucus with a sterile cotton pad. These clogged tears generally need no treatment and will clear on their own.
With cleansed hands, you can gently massage the inner corner of your baby’s eyes in an upward direction (towards the nose) as many times as you can remember (11).
How to Care For Infected Eyes in Babies?
Here is how you can care for your baby’s infected eyes.
- If your baby has sore eyes or an eye infection such as a pink eye, you need to be extra careful while cleaning their eyes.
- If your baby’s eyes are infected, you must clean them more often and regularly. Cleaning them 2-3 times a day will help the eyes to heal faster.
- Use a separate bowl of lukewarm water for both the eyes.
- Use disposable cotton pads to clean the eyes, and do not use the same pad twice or on another eye
- Do not put the cotton pad inside the eye. Just clean the eyes externally.
- Make sure you also clean the tear ducts gently.
- If there is a sticky discharge from the eyes, clean the eyes twice or three times a day.
- The baby may cry while cleaning the infected eyes, but make sure you still clean them.
[Read: Sticky Eyes in Babies]
Why Does My Baby Seem To Have Crossed Eyes?
A newborn’s vision takes some time to develop. Hence, in the initial stages, you might notice that your baby has crossed eyes or uncoordinated eyes. This is nothing to be concerned about. Your baby’s vision will develop and correct itself over a few weeks (12).
When to Consult The Doctor
If you observe mucus even after the baby’s first birthday, it means your baby’s tear ducts are still blocked, so you must visit your doctor as soon as possible. If there is persistent redness and irritation in your baby’s eyes, it is better to consult an ophthalmologist in such cases as well.
So, as your little baby continues to grow, their vision will also develop. Make sure that you keep their eyes and the surrounding environment clean. Make sure that you take them to their routine health check-ups, and if you have any concerns regarding their eyes, don’t hesitate to talk to your baby’s healthcare provider.
FAQs
1. Can I Use Breastmilk For my Baby’s Eyes?
There have been a few studies that show that putting a few drops of breastmilk in a baby’s eyes is quite effective and safe for treating blocked tear ducts and other eye infections. Instilling colostrum has better results than mature breast milk. You can always consult your healthcare provider in case of clarifications regarding baby eye care.
2. How to Strengthen a Baby’s eyes?
You can help strengthen your baby’s vision by stimulating them with the help of books and flashcards that have various patterns and bright, colorful pictures. Make sure that you keep their toys within 12 inches or less from their vision so that they learn to focus. Hang a colorful mobile toy over their crib.
3. How to Protect Baby’s Eyes?
You can protect your baby’s eyes by following good hygiene practices. Always handle their delicate eyes with clean hands and keep them away from harsh chemicals. Use mild soap to clean them. Trim their nails regularly so that they don’t scratch their delicate eyes unintentionally. Protect them from direct sunlight and make sure they don’t miss their routine pediatric check-ups.
References
- Neonatal Conjunctivitis – EyeWiki – [https://eyewiki.aao.org/Neonatal_Conjunctivitis]
- Hand hygiene for the prevention of infections in neonates – PMC – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10243182/]
- Eye – Allergy (seattlechildrens.org) – [https://www.seattlechildrens.org/conditions/a-z/eye-allergy/]
- TESS (tessindia.com) – [https://tessindia.com/ocular-trauma.html]
- Ophthalmologists warn of the impact of UV exposure on children’s eye health | RANZCO – [https://ranzco.edu/news/ophthalmologists-warn-of-the-impact-of-uv-exposure-on-childrens-eye-health/]
- The Sun, UV Light and Your Eyes – American Academy of Ophthalmology – [https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/sun]
- Exclusive Breastfeeding and Vitamin D Supplementation: A Positive Synergistic Effect on Prevention of Childhood Infections? – [https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/2973]
- Efficacy and safety of breast milk eye drops in infants with eye discharge – PubMed – [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33098117/]
- Tear production during the neonatal period – PubMed – [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12036663/]
- Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction – StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532873/]
- The natural process of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction and effect of lacrimal sac massage | International Ophthalmology – [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10792-016-0208-5]
- Early Treatment Is Key if Your Child Has Crossed Eyes (nationwidechildrens.org) – [https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/family-resources-library/early-treatment-is-key-if-your-child-has-crossed-eyes]
[Also Read: Watery Eyes (Epiphora) in Babies]
