Clogged tear duct- help!

You asked and you shall now receive. It’s only fair for us to share all of this stored up knowledge about a baby and what happens once the baby is born until they are no longer called a baby but a toddler! We now will answer, in a very public forum, all of those burning questions about babies and those first 12 months. Each Tuesday, we will tackle a commonly-asked-question from the point of view of a new parent. Chiming in to give her feedback will be an expert who has been there and done that as well as has oodles of professional experience with babies. Earmark, share and add your own input to today’s question; it’s good karma.

Clogged tear duct- help!

Clogged (blocked) tear duct is common and often happens in babies. When babies are first born you may see some discharge from one or both eyes because the tear duct is blocked. What does this mean? Basically the nasolacrimal duct, which is where tears drain, is blocked by a membrane, which does not break open immediately after birth. Therefore the baby’s tears cannot drain and build up. This build up of tears becomes a source of infection like any pool of standing liquid. The baby’s eye will have a yellow or green or white discharge if there is an infection. Your pediatrician will probably prescribe an antibiotic eye medication to treat the infection. To help the blocked tear duct you should gently massage the tear duct, which is underneath the corner of each eye near the nose. There is nothing you can do to prevent a blocked tear duct. The problem usually resolves by massaging the tear duct and keeping the eye clean. Although most blocked tear ducts resolve spontaneously on their own there are rare instances where the baby’s tear duct requires a pediatric ophthalmologist to open the tear duct. However most babies’ blocked tear ducts resolve on their own with gentle massage.

Expert: Dr. Gina Lamb – Amato MD

Gina is a general pediatrician and developmental pediatrician who works at Village Pediatrics and Agho Medical practices both in Manhattan, NY. She has a masters in child therapy and works with a child psychologist Rosa Vasquez PhD performing office and home consultation for newborns and parents, office and home developmental assessments, school consultations and parent child playgroups where play and art along with baby massage and other techniques are used to help parents bond and support their child’s development. Formerly, Gina was the Director of Pediatric Special Medical Needs before she went into private practice where she cared for medically fragile infants and children. She is also a Early Intervention Pediatrician for Early Intervention which assesses and treats infants from age zero to 3 years. She has extensive experience in Early Head Start programs which work with infants from prenatal to 3 years of age. She is the mother of a beautiful daughter who is 3 years old and the joy of my life. Her husband is an artist, producer and owns Synchronicity Space, a non-profit arts organization that supports emerging artist in fine art and theatre. Finally, she is also an artist who paints mainly babies and children.