From the first days of life, the baby is under the constant supervision of parents. Behavioral reactions, actions and grimaces of a child can say a lot about his state of health, development and mood. Often, adults notice that the baby rubs his eyes. The reasons for this may be different. If the baby rubs his eyes before or after bedtime, you should not worry. However, the constant repetition of such actions requires special attention from the parents.
When you don’t need to worry
A child can rub and scratch its eyes for the following reasons:
- The kid wants to sleep. In this case, you should not worry, as this is a usual reaction to fatigue.
- If the baby rubs his eyes and nose, scratches his ears, then it is most likely that his teeth are being cut. During this period, children become moody and irritable, their stools can change, their temperature rises and their appetite disappears.
- When there is a sharp change in darkness and light, the baby can also rub its eyes.
- Changing the regimen of the day can also provoke periodic scratching of the baby's eyes.
- During bathing, a child may get water, soap, shampoo or foam in his eyes. Even after bathing, the irritant stays on the mucosa for some time, which causes scratching of the eye.
Foreign body contact
The most common reason why babies rub their eyes is the ingress of a foreign object into them. Even a cilia or a grain of sand can cause an unpleasant feeling of discomfort. Do not forget that the presence of the smallest object in the baby’s eye can cause a lot of complications. The child will reflexively try to get rid of the foreign body, begin to scratch his eyes with his hands and be able to cause an infection. Therefore, parents should constantly monitor the hygiene of the baby's hands. You should be especially careful when playing with sand in a children's sandbox. Contaminated sand can cause serious eye diseases that require medical treatment.
If a baby gets a grain of sand or a speck in the eye, the procedure for parents is as follows:
- conduct an examination of the eye and identify its location;
- rinse eyes with boiled water or weak tea.
If the foreign body is large in size or the parents cannot cope with the problem on their own, it is best to consult an optometrist as soon as possible. By trying to extract the item, you can hurt and only harm the child, while the specialist will cope with these quickly and painlessly.
Allergy
A common reason that babies rub their eyes in a dream and during wakefulness is the development of an allergic reaction to medications, dust, foods, animal hair, and more. In this case, in addition to scratching the eyes, you can notice symptoms such as nasal congestion, sneezing, swelling and redness of the eyelids, itching. The treatment of the disease consists primarily in removing the allergen and taking antihistamines prescribed by the pediatrician.
Troubling signs
Parents should remember that frequent scratching of the eyes can be caused by serious pathology. Anxiety symptoms explaining why babies rub their eyes are:
- redness and swelling of the eyelids;
- lacrimation
- the appearance of discharge from the eyes;
- itching
- clumping of eyes after sleep.
The presence of these symptoms may indicate inflammation, allergies, or infection.
Eye inflammation
This pathology is diagnosed in infants quite often and can take the following forms:
- barley;
- inflammation of the eyeball, lacrimal canals, or eyelids;
- furuncle.
With any of these diseases, the baby constantly rubs his eyes, he has symptoms such as lacrimation, redness of the eyelid, swelling, profuse discharge (usually purulent), itching and pain in the eyelids, increased photosensitivity, possibly impaired vision and fever. If these symptoms appear, you should immediately consult a doctor and conduct an examination. It is important for parents to remember that they should not self-medicate. This can lead to a worsening of the situation and provoke the development of complications.
Conjunctivitis
This disease is characterized by inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye due to a bacterial or viral infection, as well as allergies. Symptoms of conjunctivitis in infants are as follows:
- itching and burning;
- photophobia;
- adhesion of the eyelids after sleep;
- the formation of purulent yellow crusts;
- swelling and redness of the eye.
In addition, the baby can eat poorly, sleep, it becomes moody and whiny. Now in pharmacies there is a fairly large selection of drugs against conjunctivitis. However, only a doctor can advise individual treatment.
Treatment
If the baby rubs his eyes and is diagnosed with an infection or inflammation, the doctor will prescribe anti-inflammatory or antibacterial therapy. The course of treatment includes taking antiviral drugs or local or general antibiotics. To stimulate the body's immune forces, babies are prescribed vitamin complexes and medications that help strengthen immunity. If an allergy is detected, infants will be prescribed antihistamines and an appropriate diet. In almost all cases, the child will need to rinse his eyes and drip drops.
Flushing rules
So, the actions of parents, if the baby rubs the eyes and the doctor recommended washing, there will be the following:
- we put the baby on a changing table or bed;
- we take a solution for washing (not hot and not cold, optimally - room temperature);
- moisten a clean swab or cotton swab and gently draw along the eye (it is better to lead to the nose, paying special attention to the corners);
- blot the eye of the baby with a napkin dipped in boiled water.
There is another way to flush the eye of the baby. He will need a regular medical pipette. First, you need to collect the liquid for washing into a pipette, drip the baby into the eye, then turn the baby's head to the side. The fluid itself flows out through the outer corner. After the procedures, it is necessary to leave the baby in a prone position for 20-30 minutes.
How to instill drops
When the baby rubs his eyes with his hands and there is a need to rinse and instill drops in the eyes, you need to know the following:
- observe hand hygiene: when performing procedures, hands should be clean, nails should be short-cropped;
- the solution and drops should be warm or at room temperature;
- the child must be distracted from the procedure in every possible way so that he is not afraid;
- it is better to sterilize the pipette by boiling it or lubricating it with a special liquid;
- before instilling droplets of the eye, the baby needs to be washed;
- the baby must be put on the back, the head thrown back (you can swaddle the baby for this time so that he does not wave his arms);
- when instilling drops of the eyelid, the baby should be pulled back, drip the drops and let go, you should avoid touching the mucous membrane of the baby’s eyes with your own hands;
- after instillation of the droplets, you can massage the eyelid so that the medicine disperses.
The procedures for instilling drops and washing the eyes of the baby are simple. Do not be nervous, worry and rush. The child will not cry and kick if he feels mom’s confidence and calmness.
Folk methods
On the recommendation of a doctor for washing, you can use a decoction or infusion of medicinal herbs.
- Decoction of chamomile officinalis. To prepare the broth, you need the flowers of the plant. A teaspoon of grass is placed in a glass of boiled water, stirred, poured into a container and boiled over medium heat for 10 minutes after boiling. Then the broth must be cooled and filtered.
- Infusion of Althea. Marshmallow rhizome must be crushed into powder and put in a glass of boiled water (1 teaspoon of grass will be needed). Insist the drug for 8 hours under a closed lid. Then filter and use.
- A decoction of eye drops. In 300 ml of boiled water you need to place two teaspoons of grass and boil for 5-6 minutes. After cooking, the broth is left to cool, and then - filtered and used.
For washing the eye of the baby, you can use ordinary black tea. To do this, in a glass of boiling water you need to throw no more than one gram of tea leaves. Then the glass must be tightly closed with a lid and left for half an hour. The finished infusion needs to be filtered and used as intended.
If the baby rubs her eyes and this is an isolated case, then there is no reason for concern. If friction is constant and accompanied by the appearance of dangerous symptoms, then you can not do without the help of a doctor. It is important to remember that timely assistance to the baby will greatly facilitate the situation and speed up recovery.