Will it clear up on its own?

Very probably. The AAP's figure is that over ninety percent of blocked tear ducts open by themselves, and that this should have happened by twelve months of age. If it is still going past the first birthday, that is the point at which it is worth a conversation about a simple procedure to open it.

How do I clean the eye?

Cooled boiled water and clean cotton wool, wiping gently from the inner corner outwards, and a fresh piece of cotton wool for each wipe and each eye. That last part matters if one eye is producing discharge, because you do not want to move it to the other one.

Is it conjunctivitis?

Look at the white of the eye rather than the wetness. A blocked duct leaves the eye white and the lid normal; conjunctivitis reddens the eye. Discharge alone does not settle it, since a blocked duct can produce discharge too. In a baby under about a month, any red eye with discharge should be seen promptly rather than treated at home.

It's both eyes. Is that different?

Not necessarily — the AAP notes both sides are blocked in about thirty percent of affected babies. The same rules apply to each eye: white and unbothered means watch, red or swollen means get it looked at.

Newborn days · 4 min read

The eye that always waters

One eye is permanently wet, the lashes are crusted together every morning, and you are wiping it a dozen times a day.

This is one of the more reassuring things on this site: it is common, it is usually nothing, and it very largely fixes itself.

Last updated August 20, 2026

What is actually happening

Tears drain out of the eye through a duct at the inner corner, down into the nose. In a lot of newborns that duct has not finished opening, so the tears have nowhere to go and spill down the face instead.

The AAP's figures are worth knowing because they are so reassuring: the duct is blocked in about ten percent of newborns, both sides are blocked in about thirty percent of those babies, and over ninety percent open up on their own — which should have happened by twelve months of age.

It often looks worse in the morning because the discharge has been collecting all night. Crusted lashes and a gummy corner after sleep, cleaned with cooled boiled water and cotton wool, is the ordinary version of this.

Blocked, or infected

This is the whole question, and the answer is mostly in the parts of the eye that are not the tears.

A simple blocked duct is a constant watery eye where the eye itself is not red and the eyelid is not swollen. The white stays white. The baby is not bothered by it — no rubbing, no pain, no light sensitivity.

The AAP's markers of infection are pus in the eye, or eyelids stuck together. That can happen alongside a blocked duct and is common, and it is treatable with antibiotic eye drops, but the drops need to come from a doctor who has looked at the eye rather than from a guess.

The one that needs attention fastest is a red lump at the inner corner of the eyelid, next to the nose, or an eyelid that is red or swollen. That is not the duct being lazy; it is the tear sac becoming infected, and it is a call the same day.

The massage, done properly

Some doctors suggest massaging the tear sac, and it is worth asking yours whether they want you to, because the technique matters and the instruction is more specific than most parents are given.

The AAP describes locating the lacrimal sac at the inner corner of the lower eyelid, starting at the inner corner of the eye and pressing upward. Be very gentle, use a cotton swab rather than a fingertip, and do it no more than once a day.

Once a day is not a typo and it is the part most often got wrong — the instinct is to do it at every nappy change, and more is not better on an infant's eyelid. Wash your hands first, and stop if the eye is red or the baby is in pain.

When it needs a doctor

Same-day, for a red lump at the inner corner of the eyelid, a red or swollen eyelid, or pus in the eye.

In normal hours, if your baby is more than twelve months old and it is still happening — that is past the window in which it should have resolved, and there are simple procedures for the ones that do not.

Also in normal hours if nobody has actually made the diagnosis yet. A watery eye is the usual story, but it is not the only cause of a watery eye, and it is worth having it confirmed rather than assumed.

Common questions

Will it clear up on its own?: Very probably. The AAP's figure is that over ninety percent of blocked tear ducts open by themselves, and that this should have happened by twelve months of age. If it is still going past the first birthday, that is the point at which it is worth a conversation about a simple procedure to open it.
How do I clean the eye?: Cooled boiled water and clean cotton wool, wiping gently from the inner corner outwards, and a fresh piece of cotton wool for each wipe and each eye. That last part matters if one eye is producing discharge, because you do not want to move it to the other one.
Is it conjunctivitis?: Look at the white of the eye rather than the wetness. A blocked duct leaves the eye white and the lid normal; conjunctivitis reddens the eye. Discharge alone does not settle it, since a blocked duct can produce discharge too. In a baby under about a month, any red eye with discharge should be seen promptly rather than treated at home.
It's both eyes. Is that different?: Not necessarily — the AAP notes both sides are blocked in about thirty percent of affected babies. The same rules apply to each eye: white and unbothered means watch, red or swollen means get it looked at.

If it's this, not that

Still not sure

This page is the general answer. Yours is a specific child.

The advisor can be. It has read everything here, and it knows how old your children actually are — which is the whole difference wherever guidance changes with age. Ask it anything.

She's got a temperature of 100. Is that something to worry about?
He's obsessed with space and galaxies — what toys are worth getting him?

Get the weekly note — and the advisor

Free. It comes with the note.

It answers from the same cited pages you are reading, and when the question is where to go, from the real clinician, hospital and childcare records behind this site — not a link to go search them yourself. It says so when we have not written about something, and it is not a doctor; for anything urgent it gives you the threshold and tells you to call.

Where this comes from

Blocked tear duct: what it looks like and when to callAAP

Every claim on this page traces to one of these. See every source we use →

Written from the sources named above, and it is not a substitute for your own doctor. If something feels wrong to you, that instinct is a good enough reason to call — you know yourself and this family better than any page does.