REVIEW: When you get a new baby, one of the many things you’re supposed to learn is how to wash their eyes. If I remember rightly it was boil then cool freshly drawn tap water and use a new cotton wool ball for each eye as you gently wiped away the crusty stuff.
That was hard enough and I used to get stressed about whether or not the cotton wool was clean enough if I’d also used some to remove nail polish. Yes, I know I didn’t put dirty ones back in the bag, but it’s a neurotic time in a parent’s life.
Eye worries continued with the first proper snot-flood cold. You’d have thought that the design of the human nose made the bogies flow downwards and away from the eyes. Not so.
Almost as soon as they start with the virus the mucous gets in their eyes and causes infections.
I think the infections are called conjunctivitis, but, my St Andrew’s Ambulance first aid certificate being long out of date, I hesitate to be definite.
There are various eye problems that can strike people of any age, so it’s important to start familiarising yourself with some of them and to consult a professional such as a doctor or optometrist as soon as you see any negative symptoms. For instance, older people are more prone to developing cataracts and they may require a cataracts surgery to improve their condition.
In this case, whatever it’s caused, this stuff is nasty. Not only does it mean your poor little one’s eyes get glued together and their vision is blurry but it is one of the most infectious things ever.
Before you know it everyone in the house will have the same thing and if you’ve ever had to pull strings of mucous out of your eyes while driving in order to be able to see the road, you’ll know just what a pain in the bum it is.
Nurseries also know how infectious it is and won’t even let you into the car park with the slightest sign of it. No, really. And this can be somewhat trying when you’ve got somewhere you have to be that doesn’t require the presence of a grumpy crusty-faced infant.
So when I got asked to try out some baby eye care wipes, made by a company called TLC, I agreed.
Their wipes are specially formulated for babies’ eyes and individually wrapped so sterile and easy to use.
I’ve used them a couple of times when Boy Three’s eyes needed a wipe and the tail of my shirt didn’t seem like the best thing.
Ask at your independent pharmacy if they stock them, but, failing that, Boots has them for £4.99 a box.
TLC also does moist wipes for noses. Luckily for us we haven’t had need to try them yet, but I think they’d be ideal when wiping a poor cold-ridden child’s snot has left them with a red, sore nose.
We were sent some wipes to try.