Question: what's the stuff they put on babies' eyes after birth?

Question

Hey everyone,
So in a lot of these posts people share adorable pics of their fresh little babies. But I see a lot of them have something on their eyes...like a gel or a cream. 
My baby didn't get that so I've been wondering for a while now what it was. 
Anyone care to elaborate? Thanks!

Answer

It is erythromycin. Just an antibiotic to prevent infection and protect their eyes. I work at a hospital and keep it stocked in l&d.

Answer

It's an antibiotic ointment, that they for some reason use routinely in many hospitals in the US. They don't use it here unless medically necessary.

Answer

It erythromycin and is a profolactic treatment for ophthalmia neonatorum, which can cause blindness and life long vision problems. We do it in the US, along with STI testing because it's caused by a mutititute of bacteria, even common ones such as staph and strep. The mindset is, it's easier to treat this profolactically with one dose than allow it to fester and need the same treatment four times a day for two weeks.

Answer

I believe it’s called Erythromycin.

Answer

It’s antibiotic drops. Mostly used to protect against untreated/unknown stds after delivery.
It’s a lot less common now in my country (Canada) since they do routine testing at the beginning of the pregnancy for any stds and will test again if you have any concerns or any change in sexual partners. It used to be very common and done in almost every case, but that’s mostly because it was not commonplace to test for stds (according to my midwife).

Answer

I can’t remember what it is, but here they only use it if you’ve had an STI.

Question: what's the stuff they put on babies' eyes after birth?

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