Eye Remedy
Like many children with DS, Donna Marie has very tiny tear ducts. Some children have surgery to correct this problem. Donna Marie’s situation does not require surgical intervention. Her opthomologist recommends massaging the corners of her eyes several times a day to facilitate drainage. Our little problem is that often Donna has what can only be described as eye “crud” around her eyes in the morning. Thus every morning began the battle between me and Donna Marie. I would be after her with wipes, wash cloths, soapy water, eye drops, even baby oil in an attempt to remove the eye crud. She in turn became the most powerful child with low tone in the universe. Her eyes would scrunch up with the strength of an olympian athlete. If there was an olympic event for keeping your eyes shut tight she would win the gold. It wouldn’t even have to be Special Olympics. I am talking the regular Olympics here. If the eye crud is not properly removed and she goes to school we run the risk of it being mistaken for conjunctivitis (pink eye) and her having to be sent home. I never thought of asking our opthomologist what to use to remove the crud. Last week, my mom went to her opthomolgist because she was is going to have cataract surgery this week. She was instructed to put a few drops of baby shampoo on a piece of gauze and wash her external eye this way daily a few days before the surgery. Hearing this, I put a blob of baby shampoo (undiluted) on a baby wipe and VOILA! the crud amazingly just glides off. It does not seem to irritate her eyes or skin at all. I just wipe with another clean wipe after all is removed. We have been doing this for several days now without any adverse problems and her eyes never looked better and our morning battles are over. I hope this will be a help for others experiencing the eye “crud” phenomenon.
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I love the “olympic event” comment! Isn’t it amazing how our kids with low tone are so darn strong!!! If they don’t want you doing something – forget it, they will squirm til it hurts you. Samantha has had the pink eye thing too many times, and she gets “crud” from allergies I think. But putting drops in her eyes was a complete challenge. Like a WWF wrestling move. Thanks for the smile.
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I was laughing so hard as i read this! because i have the same problem with Lily! the chase……..the scrunching of the eyes! and still can’t get to it! I remember arguing with the physical therapist when Lily was just a baby…….she told me Lily had low muscle tone and i argued that she didn’t! Lily was the strongest baby i had ever had! And she had to explain to me that muscle and strength our two diferent things! and our DS children would exhibit more strength than the average child. At the time I didn’t quite know the extent of that strength. Lily is 8 and I definetly know the extent now!
Thank you for the wonderful tip of the baby shampoo. i am going to try it! We struggle with the same thing!