Eye drops for baby at birth?

Question

I searched the app for this topic but couldn't find anything. Who is planning to give the baby the eye drops and who is not? Reasons? I'm leaning towards not, but it sounds like I might have to sign a waiver because of it being part of the law where I live to give these drops. But if I've been tested for STDs and don't have any I can't find any research that gives me another reason to say yes to the eye drops. My hubby of course is just like "meh, whatever they usually do."

Answer

I won’t be allowing them to give the Erythromycin drops or treatment - I don’t see any need for it and I’ve read it clouds baby’s eyes and can get in the way of bonding if the baby can’t look at you!

Answer

If I can prevent my baby from going through a terrible infection like this by giving a one time dose of eye ointment, I’m going to. I don’t care if I’ve already tested negative for it during pregnancy, I’m not taking any chances.

Answer

This site goes over the pros and cons objectively https://evidencebasedbirth.com/is-erythromycin-eye-ointment-always-necessary-for-newborns/

Answer

Totally up to you and your hubby - we give them to everybody to prevent the very small percentage of babies who could end up blind if we didn’t. It’s similar to treating for GBS - even among GBS-positive women, only a very small percentage of babies would end up with an infection, but because those cases are so bad, we treat everyone. In this case, the risk is gonorrhea or chlamydia, both of which we usually test for early in pregnancy, but rarely test for at the end. Unfortunately, these infections can have few or no symptoms in some women, so you could have it and not know it. I’ll be doing the eye ointment just to eliminate the risk.

Answer

wow I’ve never even heard of this. It’s not done at all in Aus. 
I have to say, it’s pretty ridiculous to treat the baby for something you, and the entire medical team, know you don’t have. I’m pro vax 100% and a nurse but this just doesn’t make sense. 
I wouldn’t be worried about “clouding baby’s eyes” and reducing bonding. Baby can barely see at birth anyway lol and eye drops/ointment clouds your eyes for all of 10 minutes. But I just can’t understand why a woman who has not had any new sexual partners and has recently been cleared of the relevant STIs would need to use this on their baby?

Answer

If you tested negative for gonorrhea and chalmydia there’s no need to. I’m refusing them, it’s just unnecessary.

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I think it’s kinda weird hey still do this, however we did it with our first. We are big into vaccinations and truly believe there’s a purpose but this one always kinda weirds me out. I mean they should just test mamas for these things and only give it if needed (like GBS)...? Anyways we will probably do it again because it’s the norm here.

Answer

i did with my first two...had no problems...i see no reason not to with this one.

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Basically it’s because of the risk of cheating partners!! It also may help protect baby eyes from other non-std bacteria.. I will do it after the initial breastfeeding, just as I did with my first. Really, baby is sleeping so much the first day that the ointment doesn’t seem to be bothersome and it does offer protection.

Eye drops for baby at birth?

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