Dear Mommas,
My 3 year old had his tonsils shaved (new procedure ) and some polyps taken out. The morning after the surgery he was singing and dancing and asking for chicken. He has been energetic ever since and is dying to go out :)
My question: our dr said he is to stay at home for one week before going back to pre-school. I did some research on this site and saw that many times a child should not go back to full activity for 10 days to 2 weeks.
What are your post-op experiences about getting your child back into his life???? I don't mind bringing him to nursery school for 2 instead of 4 hours for exampel the first few days....
Thanks,
Jilly
My 3 y/o nephew had his removed on 12/2 and my sister "says" she was told to keep him out of preschool for a month! to me that's ridiculous because like your son he was back to normal the next day. Just thought I'd share.
the reason they want you to keep him home for a week is because of the risk of infection. After surgery you are more prone to getting sick, surgery is a big shock to your immune system so they are more likely to catch something they normally would be able to fight off. They dont want them doing excessive physical activity because of the rick of stitches falling out, which if you son doesnt have stitches then I would worry. While it is true small children heal fast they are still healing, they just have so much kid energy. I would keep on the soft food restriction for the 1 to 2 weeks like the doc probably said and keep him out of preschool/sunday school/daycare. better safe than sorry. trust me, you do not want him getting sick now, especially something that involves his throat!
I think it depends on what activities they do at nursery school. For example, do they have snack? If so, I wouldn't expect he teachers to make sure he doesn't sneak a cracker or orange from the kid sitting next to him. My son (2 yrs old) just had a full tonsil and adenoid removal in November and his recovery wasn't as quick as your son. What our doctor told me was to make sure he didn't have any crunchy, salty or citrus foods for at least a week while the throat was healing. They gave us the same instructions when we were only going to do a partial. I decided to keep my son out of daycare for 2 weeks because I didn't want to burden the teachers with ensuring he didn't get any of those foods inadvertently. They have enough on their hands without having to worry about that too.
I would recommend soft foods at first, maybe 4-5 days. Even if that be chicken make sure it is cut up well. The reason for the for not going back to full activity is because of bleeding starting. You have to let his throat heal prior to full activity. If you want to put him in Nursery School for a couple of hrs. just let them know that he has had his tonsils shaved and perhaps they can give him easier things to do. Basically your Physician is saying no screaming, eating foods that may be hard to swallow and scratch the throat. Allow him softer foods, ice-cream, freezies etc. If you can teach him to gargle with a small amt. of salt and water once per day, that should help as well. The only thing is you dont' want him to swallow it. While going out make sure that his mouth is covered so he isn't taking in alot of cold air depending on where you live. A long time ago it used to be 10 days to 2wks. but the way they do surgery now has changed so much. I would go by your Physicians' request. Being the age that he is they tend to heal that much more quicker, if he was say 10yrs. old or so they may change the timing. Hopefully this has helped. Take care.
I agree w/ 3BoysUnder3. The whole point is to avoid infection.
I'm glad to hear that he is doing so well :)
