My beautiful girl (almost 15 months) is having a rough time at the moment. She had a cold a couple of weeks ago she’s still coughing from and has had gastro this week leading to a couple of trips to the GP and a couple of trips to the emergency department. However she’s also been rubbing her eyes flat out when she wakes up overnight - sometimes for 90 minutes or 2 hours before she’ll go back to sleep. An antihistamine has stopped her rubbing during the day, but at night I can’t get her to stop! Since she got sick we’re up 4 or 5 times a night - sometimes for 2 hours at a time before she passes out. It’s to the point her face has got this big sore on it. If I cover her hands she works them free, if I move them away she screams... we both desperately need some sleep and her face and eyes need time to heal... does anyone have any idea what might be causing this, or how I can help her?????
How do I stop my daughter rubbing her eyes?
Sunday, 10 March 2019 - 07:42
How do I stop my daughter rubbing her eyes?
Posted in:
Health & Wellbeing, Baby & Toddler
5 Replies
Oh I am so sorry! This age is so hard! Sending strength! May the sleep gods bless you soon
Can you try antihistamines at night? Eye drops will be relieving as well as a cool face washer. Then you could find what is causing it, do you have a cat? Is her room dusty? Maybe your washing powder? Take her to the Dr to see if she can get allergy tested. There's a higher chance of asthma if you have allergies so the sooner you find the cause the better.
Why does antihistamine not work at night?
Is there an irritant where she sleeps? Remove all toys/ piles of things that collect dust. Air room. Wash blankets. Remove the child and try a different room. Rubbing for that long is no good, take her to a hospital to be seen when she's doing it.
Take her to an optologist, my son had similar though he was older and he was diagnosed with peadiatric dry eye, some drops and massages for two weeks (warm flannel under eyes then just massaging gently under the eye) and he was fine, sometimes the tear ducts stop working properly and the massages re start them.
I’d consider going to the gp and having her eyes fully checked, possibly get a referral to see an optometrist.
It might not be allergy related. She could have something stuck in her eye causing her discomfort, resulting in the constant rubbing or something just as simply, being dry eyes.