Eye Tearing and Tear Ducts

It is very common for babies to have excess eye tearing or even eye discharge in the first few months of life. The tear ducts are small enough as it is when you are an adult, but they are downright microscopic when you are a baby. Any bit of dirt, dust, or normal eye secretions/debris can plug them up. When this happens, the normal eye secretions that are constantly draining from the eye to the tear duct can build up and get gunky as they dry out. Hence it could look like there is a bunch of snot on your baby’s eyes at times. The important thing to note is that even with this discharge, the eye itself is still white and free of red or pink, which could signify an infection. Feel free to gently wipe away the blocked tear duct gunk with a warm washcloth as needed. You can even do little tear duct massages to help clear the tear duct throughout the day. 

If the gunky eyes are still present at 9-12 months, then we often refer to pediatric eye doctors to see if the kiddo needs a simple procedure called a probe procedure where a tiny probe is inserted into the tear duct to gently widen it. But that is rare, and most of the time, the gunky eyes slowly resolve on their own after 6 months of age. This is due to the fact that as baby is growing, so are their tear ducts, and their ability to drain well improves even with a little debris now and then.