3 The reasons why the baby's eyes keep sticking

Babies' eyes when they wake up are a normal condition because the eyes don't blink during sleep, which results in mucus in the corners of the eyes. However, have you ever seen a baby's eyes keep popping out even though they haven't just woken up? The following is an explanation of what babies often experience in babies.

The cause of the baby's eyes

Eye discharge or what is often referred to as belek is a collection of tears, mucus, oil, dust, and dirt that forms in the corner of the eye.

This is normal when a baby wakes up, because it does not involve blinking, which should clean all dirt so it doesn't get into the eye.

Quoting from the official website of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), about 5 percent of newborns experience blockages in one or both of their tear ducts.

However, 90 percent can heal on their own when the child is one year old.

What if your little one's eyes keep getting tired even though they haven't just woken up? Some of the following things can be the possible causes of eye pressure in babies:

1. Blockage of the tear ducts

Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, blockage of the tear ducts is also called o nasolacrimal duct obstruction in medical language.

This is a condition when the tears can't get back into the eye ducts.

Tear ducts or nasolacrimal duct serves to drain the tears from the corner of the eyeball to the nose.

Then it evaporates as the breathing air flows through the nose.

When there is a blockage in the baby's tear duct, the tears cannot be drained down the nose and accumulate at the end of the eye.

This makes the baby's eyes appear puffy, watery, dripping, and dries up, mixed with dust around the eyes. Then make the baby's eyes experience softening.

Although it can be experienced by anyone, this condition is more common in newborns.

2. Baby's eyes are dry

Water, oil, mucus, and antibodies are the main components of tears.

If there is an imbalance in one of these components or there is a disturbance in the tear glands, automatic tear production will be hampered.

As a result, the baby's eyes will become dry because they don't get enough fluid to lubricate all parts of the eye.

In order to overcome this, the eye will produce spare tears but with components that are not the same as real tears.

The component of the spare tear is more dominated by mucus, causing blotches in the baby's eyes.

3. Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis is an eye sore characterized by red, itchy eyes.

This condition will usually stimulate the eyes to produce more mucus and fluids.

Gradually, the mucus that builds up can form a blister that appears at the corners of the baby's eyes.

How to treat baby eyes

Belek or eye discharge can disturb your little one and other people who see it. There are several ways that you can do to deal with eye pressure in babies, namely:

Eye ointment

To avoid eye infections, you can give eye ointments or eye drops to treat bladder in babies.

Quoted from the official website of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), the recommended ointment and eye drops are erythromycin.

However, parents can discuss with the doctor to adjust to the condition of their little one.

Massage the corner of the eyeball

As mentioned earlier, a baby's eye congestion can heal when a child is 1 year old.

This healing can occur because of using massage techniques around the eyes.

Quoted from the official website of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association, around 64 percent of ophthalmologists in the world use light massage techniques on the corners of the eyeballs to the bridge of the nose.

Massage is as early aid in cases of obstruction of the tear ducts.

This light massage on the corner of the eyeball can be done regularly until the eye symptoms in the baby disappear.

This massage can only be done by a doctor. However, doctors can provide training to parents so they can massage their little one at home.