Pink-eye Tips

1. Did you know that when your toddler wipes his nose on the back of his hand (to many protestations of "I don't WANT a Kleenex!"), and then perhaps rubs his eyes (due to lack of sleep or just plain itchiness), that he can give himself pink eye?? I never knew this. I honestly thought it was something that had to be passed on from another person. Tip: always wash hands after touching mucus.

2. E and I have had experience putting eye drops into Quin's eyes. After all, the boy's tear ducts practically sealed themselves shut for the first couple of months or so. Smearing cream into a newborn's eyes and then trying to get him to blink is much easier than holding down a squirming 31.5 pound 2-1/5 year old to put eye drops into his eyes! I swear an extra pair of arms and legs are needed, because they will always manage to get a limb loose and bat at the eye drop container. ALWAYS. Oh, and when the doctor tells you that you can use the same drops on your infant daughter, should she also contract the bacteria, then of course your toddler will squirm more, attempting to wipe said bacteria onto the tip of the bottle and making it unavailable should the 8-month old need it. (Happy 8 months, Gretchen! She weighed in at 17 lbs 5.4 ozs at the doctor's on Saturday.) Tip: grow at least an extra set of arms for administering eye drops to a toddler. Should that prove impossible, learn yoga and judo in an hour, and use on squirming toddler. If you're really lucky, another adult will take pity on you and either a) do it for you, or b) help hold the toddler down.

3) Ear infections can come on quite suddenly with pink eye, and are a common secondary infection. Wow. Talk about sudden. Quin went from a 1 (perfectly healthy ear) to a 10 in just a matter of hours. He was complaining (OK, whimpering) that his ear hurt yesterday morning before I went into the office. I called and got an appointment (since the kind doctor told me this would probably happen). The doctor he saw yesterday was impressed that Quin wasn't running a fever and was just cranky (and whimpering in pain) with such a bad ear infection. He's never had one before (which the doctor was also impressed by), so this is new territory. I'm just quite thankful that the doctor gave us an oral antibiotic rather than ear drops. Oh, and we get to continue the eye drops in order to clear up the pink eye faster. Tip: when your toddler is whimpering in pain, but isn't doing any of the other stereotypical ear infection signs, TAKE HIM IN.

4) Just when you think everything is going to be OK, your infant will get diaper rash. No pink eye for her yet, although we have been warned she will most likely get it. I will hold out hope that she will not only avoid getting it, but that she won't get an ear infection if she does. I'm not holding my breath, I'm just washing everything that she touches. Tip: wash everything.

So, to sum that up: Quin has pink eye and an ear infection, he's on two different antibiotics, and he's taking some acidophilus (these at least are blueberry and chewable) to maintain some healthy fauna (flora?) in his gut. No sign of pink eye for Gretchen as of this post, but I'm watching her very carefully. Tip: teach your toddler how to wash his hands after wiping snot on them, blowing his nose, or getting mucus on them in any way, shape, or form. Also teach him how to not rub his eyes unless he's washed first.

And finally, what is it about having pink eye in the house that makes every healthy eye itch insanely??