Keratitis and BF

[July 19, 2012]

JR is 8 weeks old now and fussy to boot. As we prepared for yet another trip to the eye doctor with hope that my annoying keratitis (an infection of the cornea causing pain and in this case blurry vision) is improving, he wasn’t even calmed by Nonna’s arrival to take us on our outing. He is almost always at least briefly comforted by Nonna. But the tables soon turned: he slept soundly and I became the fussy one as we left the eye doctor. My eye still has not healed and the doctor is insistent that I need to use a steroid drop. We have been struggling with this for a few weeks now. But I am a pain in the ass, especially when it comes to putting things (like drugs) into my body that could possibly go into my breast milk. It took him long enough just to convince me to use the mild antibiotic drop, Polytrim, for a few days. He checked with the ophthalmologist, I checked with the pediatrician and we both researched on the Internet and then I finally agreed. I used it but it didn’t work.

On Monday, after a wait-and-see period, he prescribed Tobramycin (because I refused Tobradex) and told me to ask the pharmacist for any suggestions for ophthalmic drops safe for breastfeeding. BIG MISTAKE!! I casually told the pharmacist that I was breastfeeding and wondered what she thought of the Tobramycin and her thoughts were that I was going to kill my baby’s kidneys with the two drops a day to one eye I was prescribed. The pharmacist advised me to contact Bausch and Lomb and ask one of their scientists to tell me about the clinical outcomes of using the drops and nursing (because their scientists just happen to answer the phone and willingly explain clinical trials to anyone who calls of course). OK at this point I should have just laughed at this obviously irrational person, but no, I let her get in my head and still asked her if she had any suggestions-she did not. I am such a worry-wart already when it comes to JR and this just set my anxiety off!  Needless to say, I went home and researched every medical journal article I could get access to and still found no good answer. Now a normal person would probably just trust the doctor, who is also a parent, but I am a first-time mom, exhausted with a colicky baby and trusting no one! So I didn’t use them, I decided to use breast milk instead. Hey, it worked great on JR's eye and has ridiculous healing properties so why not?

JR has never had a bottle and until yesterday we did not have a pump so aside from dripping a little in his eyes, I had never purposely tried to express my milk. I briefly looked at a diagram and assumed I was a champ because I spend the majority of everyday as a milk machine. That assumption was my first mistake; my second was the atrocious manner in which I attempted to very painfully express my milk. I pushed and pulled my nipples in ways that are just wrong AND got very little milk out. At first, Ricky found this amusing to watch but after it became clear that I was not doing it right, he became concerned and forbid me to continue on this path. But, as I was able to get enough milk to put in my eye I continued to do so throughout the day. [Not to worry, yesterday I learned the proper way to manually express and things have gone much smoother.]

I knew from the fuzzy vision I still have in my left eye that I wasn’t getting good news today. I had high hopes for putting the breast milk in the eye but it simply did not clear it up. This is because I do not have a bacterial infection at this point (maybe because the breast milk IS an awesome antibacterial) and it is inflammation that has to be healed. So, doc has written a script fora mild steroid drop, FML, and we will go from there. He has assured me that JR will be fine but I am going to check with the midwife, just for my sanity. I mean he is already fussy enough and he spends so much of his day attached to my boob that I want to be sure he is safe. As we sat in the pharmacy drive-thru, JR reclaimed his right as fussiest one so we parked and let him eat to restore the peace….for the moment.


Update (August 8, 2012): I used the fluorometholone (FML) drops and it cleared up most of the problem in my eye and caused no reaction in JR at all. I used the drops for a week and made sure to pinch shut the puncta when using them to lessen the chance of it entering the blood stream and thus my milk. The puncta is basically your tear duct and you can see the tiny hole on your bottom eye lid near the inside corner of the eye. I also tried to use the drops right after JR finished nursing to spread the time between the medicine possibly entering my system and him consuming milk (I am cautious). It has been a couple weeks now and even though I am off the drops I am still not allowed to wear contacts. The doctor wants it to fully heal which it has not yet done. I just want to tell all those pregnant mommas that your eye DOES change shape during pregnancy and it is normal. So if your contacts become uncomfortable during pregnancy, just wear your glasses, it is much easier than all this.