Dacryostenosis

• As rookie parents we had our first health "scare" on Wednesday night.  Bennett's left eye looked something like Mike Tyson's after the Buster Douglas fight (Iron Mike, You were the baddest man on the planet.  How did you let that K.O. happen??? I've been heartbroken for 20 years.  Love, D      P.S. I loved your documentary and nice try in the Hangover).  Okay, it wasn't that bad.  But, I was certain he had an eye infection that would lead to infant blindness (read above: "freaked-out, first-time father").  So K called the on-call doc and he assured us that pinkeye was uncommon in newborns.  But, a blocked tear duct (dacryostenosis) occurs in around 20% of newborns. 
  

  Tears help clean and lubricate the eye and are produced in the lacrimal gland located under the bone of the eyebrow. Tears from the lacrimal gland flow over the eye through tiny ducts along the eyelid. Tears drain away from the eye through two small openings at the inner corner of the eyelids, then drain into a larger passage from the eye to the inside of the nose, called the nasolacrimal (tear) duct. In some babies, the openings into the nasolacrimal duct have not formed properly. This causes a blockage and the tears have no place to drain.

  Bennett's eye just cruds up every now and then.  It looks like the Sandman (not #89 Broderick Thomas.  I'm talking about the mythical character in Western folklore who brings good dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto the eyes of children while they sleep at night.) has been working overtime.  (uh oh, now I have Metallica playing in my head  . . . Enter Sandman).  I digress (again).  Anyway, the duct generally opens on it's own.  We just have to keep the eye clean and massage the duct with a warm, moist cotton ball a few times a day. 
• I read that in their second week many babies can already mimic your facial expressions.  Many ridiculous faces later, I can tell you that Bennett can't perform that trick just yet.