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Two nights ago my preschooler complained that her right eye hurt and felt itchy. Sure enough, the inner corner of the eye was red and swollen with pus. Those are typical signs of bacterial conjunctivitis, commonly called “pink eye.”
Fortunately, one treatment for pink eye is painless and free: breast milk! With clean hands and my nipple rinsed with plain water (no soap), I simply hand-expressed some milk into my daughter’s eye. That sounds complicated and looks a bit ridiculous, I admit, but it’s a lot easier and cheaper than going to the doctor for prescription eye drops.
The trick is to have the child lean back with her head in your lap. Have her close her eyes. Express a few drops of milk onto the affected eye, then briefly and gently open the child’s eye or have the child blink to get the breast milk in the eye. Of course, you can always use a sterile cup and eye dropper rather than expressing directly into the child’s eye. Continue this treatment three or more times per day until the infection clears up, and seek medical attention if the condition worsens. There are several different causes of pink eye–a virus, bacteria, an allergy, a foreign object in the eye, a plugged tear duct or a scratched eye. Breast milk works on bacterial conjunctivitis, and improvement can be seen within hours of starting treatment.
Pink eye is quite contagious. I treat the child’s unaffected eye and even preventatively treat my other child’s eyes too. There’s no harm in doing so, and I’d much rather spare each child another infection. We also wash hands frequently to prevent the spread of the infection.
My child’s pink eye cleared up in less than two days, allowing her to go to back to preschool yesterday without missing any days.
Don’t take my word on treating pink eye with breast milk though! Consult your doctor, and check out this link which explains the healing powers of breast milk:
A particular antibody in the breast milk, called immunoglobulin A, prevents the pink eye bacteria from attaching to the mucosal surface of the eye. This limits the growth of the bacteria, helping to end the eye infection.
See my follow-up article for more medical evidence to support this natural remedy for pink eye and blocked tear ducts: “Using Mother’s Milk to Treat Eye Conditions.”
That’s yet another advantage of breastfeeding!
Do any of you swear by this remedy too?
4 hours ago
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This is my surefire, go-to, works-like-a-charm cure for pinkeye! I have three sons, and when one gets it, inevitably they all do. The first time they had it, we took them to the pediatrician and got three bottles of expensive drops, which they would complain burned their eyes. The next time, I decided to try the breast milk remedy first – and was floored by the results! Not only is it free and convenient, but it doesn’t sting, and best of all it cleared up the conjunctivitis just as fast as the prescription drops, if not a little bit faster. I was totally surprised. Now when one gets pinkeye, I treat all three as a precautionary measure … and it doesn’t spread. Yay for such an awesome remedy! :)
It’s best to consult a doctor before treating your child’s pink eye with breastmilk. Pink eye is not the only condition that can cause your child’s eye to be pink. Sometimes allergies or scratches on the eye can cause symptoms similar to pink eye and you don’t want to waste time with the incorrect treatment. I don’t know if breastmilk in the eye works for pink eye, but I’d be on the safe side and check with your doctor first.
I have been trying it all day with no improvement. Thankful I’m a breastfeeding mom. I”m going to the doctor tomorrow. Thanks for the advice though.
Hi threw milk mixed with honey in my own eye, 50% milk and 50% honey, warm up the milk before putting in, 2 drops in each eye 2-3 times a day. Also I took a cotton buds and put in the baby shower gel and clean my eye lashes with them(including eyelids). 2 days later i have clear, big blue eyes!
My 12 month old came down with a nasty case of pink eye after a long day of travel that included 4 legs on an airplane. Yesterday I put drops of breastmilk in her eyes 4 times and gave her a bath twice, washing her face and eyes with a washcloth very lathered with all-natural non-aintibiotic baby wash. I rinsed her face well each time. This morning she woke up with clear eyes- no pink, no gunk. I’m keeping up the breastmilk drops throughout the day. So thankful to have a natural remedy that works so well!
My 3yo woke up with pink eye this morning!! I’m going to try the breast milk. I hope it works I’ll keep you posted :0)
ok, taking everyone’s advice. Hopefully catching early, my 10 month old has pink eye. I was a nanny for many years and my charge had pink eye a zillion times. I spent a lot of frustrating days fighting her to get drops in. Now I know my LO has it. We were going to go to urgent care in the morning, but was hoping to find some remedy/relief for the night. I stopped nursing a week ago, but luckily still had some milk being produced. Just expressed enough to put on a cotton ball and administer to her eyes. I will post the results tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed.
well i hope the brest milk and pink eye thing work for my i yr old cuz ive been drying my milk and ill tell you what it hurt getting it to produce more than the usual. ill try to keep up dated
I’m totally trying this right now. Put in a few drops in my own eye, it didn’t burn at all, and immediately felt better! Hoping that this nasty pink eye is completely gone soon.
I use that method too. I just hand express a bit in a clean bowl and use cotton wool to wipe the eyes – taking a clean piece for each eye!
I have only frozen breastmilk left…does anyone have experience with using thawed breastmilk?
Thanks!
My 4-months boy got pink-eye and we in India use this remedy pretty often even for adults. Nature is wonderful. I got pink eye when I was 25 years old and my mother borrowed few drops of breask milk from neighbour.
958 days ago
[...] who just had a baby. His eyes were cleared up the next day. Researching the web, breast milk is recognized as a cure for pink eye and can be fun to [...]
I tried breastmilk in my son’s eyes and it made his pinkeye worse. Had to give him drops from the dr to get rid of it.
I doubt your breastmilk made it worse. It’s possible that it would’ve gotten worse anyway, the pink eye was not bacterial, or your hands or nipple were not clean. But breast milk is antibacterial by nature and won’t cause an infection.
I recently used this remedy for my twin babies and it worked for both of them! It was gone within a day. It was caused by a virus and they had been treated with Erythrimycin cream a couple times, but it was not taking it away. One of the babies had a reaction to the cream (bad rash) and I needed to find something else that worked quick! I read in a book about the breast milk and remembered someone else telling me about it a long time ago, so I tried it. I’m so glad I did!
I have to say that breastmilk really does help with pin eye. My 5 year old had it so I looked it up on the internet and sue enough breastmilk was the ticket. It worked and was gone after two days. Now my 3 year old has it. So I am puttint drops of breastmilk in her eyes. I am sing it for my eyes to just incase and my 1 year olds eyes too. It does burn a little but I would rather it burn a little for a second with natural healing than burn a lot wit medication the drs. made. Breast milk REALLY works!!!!! I put a drop in each eye 4x a day.
My one month old is getting a goopy eye. My preschooler is getting over pink eye, so I am going to try this and see if it works! I’ll come back and give results. I
1328 days ago
[...] was an exercise in frustration for both of us, until I remembered the tip Sinead mentioned on this post about breast milk curing pink eye. She said breast milk can help clear a stuffy nose, much like saline nose drops. I tried it and it [...]
Thanks for the post, I know it is old but I began looking up home remedies for pink eye in toddlers. My son is slightly over one and does still breastfeed but noticed his eye was very red. I want to try doing this for a day before taking him down to get medicine, especially if it works. I know breastmilk has been known to help many things but I did not know this. Thanks again.