Breast milk for pink eye?

[jennayoung99]

I used it on dd around 2 weeks old for her pink eye, I put it on every few hours and it was cleared up in a day. I also used it on dh for his pink eye at the same time, his took a few days to clear up, I think it was because he was reluctant to let me try, so he only let me put it on a few times a day.

[Michelle_M]

Originally Posted by Ellasundies I've tried it several times for several different people and it hasn't worked yet. In fact in two of us the infection got very very bad. I would never rely on it without having backup antibiotics at home. Pink eye can get bad fast and I wouldn't want to rely solely on the BM, find it didn't work and then have to wait to get into a Dr or clinic.

I get what you're saying. As I said, the article I read said that in a study done at a hospital with infants, that the breast milk cleared up the infections that were bacterial, but not the viral ones.

The issue is that we have one car and DH goes to school and work. So if I can do something at home without having to jump through hoops to get to the doctor, or DH having to miss school or work, I try those first.

After just 2 doses of BM in each eye, it's already looking a lot better. Not as much eye goop and the pinkness is very reduced from what it was yesterday. While I do like to try home remedies first for a lot of things, I don't hesitate to go to the doctor of the homeopathic stuff doesn't show improvement quickly.

God bless!

[Michelle_M]

Originally Posted by lizgrace07 I have not tried that myself because I did not have any available last time we had pink eye go through the house. I'd try it though! Another over the counter idea- grapefruit seed extract. In January we had a bacterial pink eye plague in this house. It was awful. I treated it with antibiotics as directed, I sanitized everything possible frequently, changed bedding daily, was fanatic about washing hands and not touching faces, etc. No matter, it just kept going back and forth from one person to another. It was so so frustrating! Someone suggested I try grapefruit seed extract. I was desperate so I tried it and it worked! We all took the recommended amount of drops dissolved in apple juice daily (even those w/o symptoms because I was trying to stop the spread) and the pink eye was gone from our house in a day or two. (As a side note, my 4yo also had an infected cavity at the time and the grapefruit seed extract totally got rid of that infection too which antibiotics had not helped. I converted the dentist to grapefruit seed extract. ) It might be worth a shot if the breastmilk does not work.

Thanks! I'll pick some up on pay day! I appreciate the suggestion!

God bless!

[Michelle_M]

Thanks for all of the great feedback ladies.

Thus far we've done 2 applications and I can already see a huge different. The eyes had very little goop in them this morning (as compared to yesterday), and the pinkness is greatly reduced from yesterday. I plan on doing it 4x a day for about 4 or 5 days.

I'm also going to go buy some Graperfruit seed extract on pay day.

God bless!

[chickiwawa]

Yes! I have even used it in my kiddos eyes that I wasn't nursing.
If it's the nursing baby, I would put a few drops in the corner of their eye and swipe it across with a clean finger. The milk will go in when they open their eyes. I did this every time I nursed. It would clear up within a day or so.

[keen1981]

Sometimes it helps_ but if it's very bad u should get it treated. It can lead to vision issueS. We have a lot of pink eye at our house! Gah!