To administer this medication, you will first need to wash your hands thoroughly and dry them.
Shake the bottle to mix the medication. Always think clean – before, during and after. When you take the cap off the bottle, place the cap on its side on a clean tissue. You’ll even want to set aside a box of tissues specifically for this eye-care medication administration. The bottle tip should remain “untouchable” – that is, it should not come into contact with your child’s eyes, your hands, or any surface for that matter.
Your child should be sitting or lying down. Ask him to tilt his head back and look at the ceiling. For a very young child, you can wrap him in a blanket to minimize arm movement.
Then hold your child’s forehead steady with one hand, and raise the child’s upper eyelid with the thumb of that hand. You’ll be multitasking with the fingers of your other hand too, as you hold the bottle with your thumb and third finger above the eye that is to receive the medication. With your bottle-hand little finger, you will pull your child’s lower eyelid down gently – this will form a pocket-like opening. Then, you will put your index finger on the bottom of the medication bottle to release the prescribed number of drops into the pocket-like opening. You may wish to practice these movements beforehand.
You will then gently release the lower eyelid while continuing to hold onto your child’s forehead; and then the upper eyelid, still holding the forehead. With your little finger, you will apply gentle pressure for about five to 10 seconds to the inside corner of the eye, beside the bridge of the nose. This prevents drops from entering the tear duct, and enables them to be absorbed into the eye.