[MK24]

DD1, 2 years is due to get her tonsils and adenoids removed next week and whilst I know this is the best thing for her I am worried about how she will go after the operation and after some helpful tips to help her recovery.

So for those of you who have been through it, how did your little one cope, is there any tips that will ease her recover and for those who had an active toddler did you manage to keep them to quiet activities whilst they recovered.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mamabug]

Hi, I went through this with an active just turned 3yo lad, and a whiney just turned 5yo girl!

My son had chronic tonsilitis and had been very sick for half of his young life. Turned out he had permanently infected tonsils and massive adenoids. He kept himself quiet while he needed to be, but was up the following afternoon. He did crash again with pain around the day 4-5 (?) mark, when the ent said there was a peak of post-op pain. So we kept the pain stop up to him for 48 hours and then he was fine.

He recovered really well. The anasthetic made him sick, but didn't ruin his appetite - he had a bowl in one hand and a bread roll in the other...

He ate each meal, but small amounts for the first few days. Volume increased as the pain went, but he didn't fight eating.

He had a rough night and his blood oxygen kept dipping, so needed a bit of oxygen, but was okay come morning and was ready to go home.

My daughter was a different matter - but she wasn't used to the pain and sickness that her brother endured before the op. Her removal was for sleep disordered breathing.

She had a bad reaction coming out of the op and needed to be re-sedated and tubed as her throat swelled and she couldn't breath properly. It was traumatic for me, but I held it together to help try and keep her calm.

She refused to eat which slowed the healing process, and up until day six it was a real struggle to get even fluids into her. We wer told if she didn't get something intoher she would be back in hospital on a drip to rehydrate - the thought of that got her swallowing! She too had the pain spike and again, it was pain stop to the rescue.

My boy was really ready to get back to normal life after one week, but we kept him home from daycare for two weeks. My daughter was quiet for the full two weeks and then was ready to re-enter society!

While they stress that eating normal food is important, we were told a baked dinner isn't vital in the first couple of days. Bread is still soft, but real, and keep fluids up - especially hearty ones (smoothies etc) if they are struggling the first couple of days.

I'm not sure why your little one is having the op, but for my son, the change in his health was incredible. He stopped being permaently sick, he could sleep, he could eat, he started to grow, he lost the translucent look he had. The surgery was emotionally hard for me (after I left him in theatre I went to the coffee shop and cried - the staff were wonderful and another parent walked over and asked 'first time?' - I was holding his bear which must have been the give away!!!), but I haven't regretted it a single day when I look at my healthy 5yo.

[tickly_rain]

DS2 had his tonsils and adenoids removed a year ago (aged 5). The difference to his health and sleep has been amazing!

He is a shocker for taking any medicine, so the greatest struggle for us was to get pain relief into him...especially when it's the middle of the night and he's in pain - can't reason with that!

Anyway, days 4-5 post op were the most troublesome for pain and apparently this is usual as Mamabug has written above.

Best wishes OP - it was definitely worth it for my DS.

[MK24]

Thank you both for your reply, she is getting them removed as she has extremely large tonsils which is causing severe sleep apnoea so it is definitely a necessity.

I think i am just worried about her having to go through the operation and am not looking forward to seeing her go in. I have tried to tell her she will be going to hospital and will have a sore throat for awhile and she seems to understand and is generally pretty good with pain so i guess its just a wait and see how she goes.

Her eating worries me as well as i have heard that eating helps with their recovery but she seems very picky with what she eats (although it could be that her tonsils hurt and she doesn't want to eat), i do have plenty of ice blocks on hand which i don't think she will knock back and will also eat hot chips so hopefully i can get something into her.

Thanks again for your stories

[tweedle-dee]

DD looks to be a candidate for tonsil and adnoid removal...recurrent ear infections and tonsillitis, snoring and wheezing that is non responsive to ventolin. We have appt with specialist in a month, but am afraid they'll tell us she's too young (16mths). What's the youngest age your child has had tonsils and adnoids taken out?

[Thestral]

Hi OP! It's a relatively minor procedure and I'm sure you DD will recover quickly after it... when little ones get their tonsils out they recover much quicker than when teenagers or adults have them out.

Her nose may be a little snotty/runny/have some discharge for a few days following the procedure but when that clears up it will be all worth it! No more snot!

Throat should be relatively fine from experience - soft foods like jelly and icecream will help but they also recommend eating harder food like toast as it helps clear the throat of any unwanted discharge.

Good luck! I am sure she will be fine. It is such a common procedure for kidlets and she will recover in no time

[MK24]

Tweedle-dee from what I have heard from other people and specialists is that they won't do it before 12 months so 16 months shouldn't be a problem. We went for a sleep study first to see if dd had sleep apnoea or not as it wasn't the case of her constantly being sick more that she had big tonsils(you can see how large when she opened her mouth) and she is really tiny and struggles to put on weight (although that could always be the case if she takes after me) so because of her age they wanted to make sure it was absolutely necessary, which I'm sure they will make sure that is the case for you as well.
The operation is this thursday, she was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago but was sick so I am hoping all goes well, it's reassuring to know so many others have gone through it.

[tweedle-dee]

Thanks mk24, how old is your daughter, out of interest? If you don't mind, please let me know how she goes.

[MK24]

Dd was 2 last month. I'll keep you posted.

[MARsmum]

My three have all been through this!

DD1 was 3, DD2 was 20 months and DS was 15 months. So, tweedle-dee, your DD will definitely be old enough although it really depends on the situation. My 15 mo DS saw the ENT on the Monday and was having surgery on the Thursday after I showed him a video of his sleeping. He was swallowing his huge tonsils in his sleep causing sleep apnoea which was really scary!

Their recoveries varied. With DD2 and DS you would not have known they had anything done 24 hours after their surgery! They were both a bit quiet on the day of the surgery then had a bad night but were fine the next day. The bad nights were caused more from the drip than their surgery. They both hated being attached to something and kept trying to pull it out!

DD1 struggled a bit more although she refused to take pain medication which really didn't help! I think being older made it more difficult ~ as she had attitude as well! She took a few days to get back to herself and then had a bad day about a week after surgery.

The post surgery difference to all of their sleep, eating and behaviour has been huge. My DD2 barely ate and weighed 10 kgs at 2 because her tonsils were making it uncomfortable to eat! Once they were out her appetite picked up and she started to finally put on weight!

I know how frightening it is to have your little one go through this. I found the hardest part was having to hold them down on the operating theatre whilst they administer the anaesthetic. My DD2 looked me in the eye and said please don't do this to me mummy ~ which totally broke my heart! However, it was a necessary evil and she is a much happier and healthier child now!

Good luck and I hope everything goes well!