Entre Madres y Doctoras: Applying Eye Drops to Your Child

Entre Madres y Doctoras shares advice on how to apply eye drops to your child.

In case you don’t know, administering eye drops to a child can be a challenging task.

Children get scared when it comes to medications, but there are tips to help relax them.

It’s practically impossible to prevent a child from getting sick when they’re young, in fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid illness throughout life.

However, when we are children, there is a small detail that complicates the recovery process, and that is the administration of treatment.

If as adults we don’t like injections, children are terrified of them, but it’s not the only medication that makes them shiver.

A medication that will surely be difficult for you to administer is eye drops, and that’s the story that Doctor Evelyn brings today to help you with this task.

The Challenge of Eye Drops

Shutterstock

Administering eye drops to young children can be a bit complicated, but today we have some tips to make this task easier for you.

Host Evelyn’s son, Mason, got conjunctivitis this week and she assures it was contracted at daycare.

Anyone who has had a child under 5 years old or so knows the ordeal it can be to apply eye drops to a child.

This was no exception to the rule, as the little one was indeed a bit afraid of getting the drops in his eyes.

Advice for Administration

Shutterstock

Nevertheless, the pediatrician recommended Evelyn a technique that has worked well with other patients to avoid turning this into an epic battle.

They ask the child to lie down somewhere. For added security, they can hold an object, most commonly a stuffed animal, to help the child feel calm.

Then, it’s important to explain that the eye drops are necessary and that they won’t hurt or harm their eyes.

Following this, they ask the child to close their eyes and prepare for the drops to be applied to their eyes.

Peace in Application

Shutterstock

In this way, although it may seem simple or even absurd, a lot of chaos is avoided when applying eye drops.

Closing the eyes helps the child not to see the medication being applied and also to feel less afraid.

When placing the drops, you should put them in the corners of the eyes, so that when the child opens them, due to the nature of where you applied them, the drop will enter the child’s eyes.

In this way, you eliminate much of the fear and also the complexity of applying eye drops to a child. Entre Madres y Doctoras thanks you for your interest and says goodbye for now. You’re doing great!