Six Year Old After Tonsillectomy

Hello, I remember when I had my tonsils out, I would not eat or drink anything, I was almost ready to have to go back to the hospital. But then I tried a piece of watermelon. So give him a piece of nicy juicy watermelon. I really worked for me. Hope he feels better. B.

Hello,

My son was 3 when he had his tonsils, adnoids and tubes placed in his ears. He had a rough time with the pain from the tonsils and it took him over a week to start feeling better. He also would not eat anything that would make his throat feel better either. After a week he was up running around and now he is 5 and we have no trouble at all with his throat. Dont worry and hang in there.

Expect this first week to be kind of rough. Then the second week you will see him get better each and every day. Don't, don't worry about food, he's not going to starve and would you feel like eating after this? Probably not. Every 30 min put a very small amount of liquid in a very small cup (it's a little deceiving to them, they see the bigger cup and think, oh no) and tell him he has until XXX time to drink it. Hydration is the key thing here. If more dry his throat gets the more it hurts to swallow, so if you keep it moist he'll not be as likely to fight you about it. It will get better.

my daughter is nine and she had her tonsills & adenoids removed at the same time. The had them done last May. She had been so sick that we couldn't even wait until school was out for the summer. I too thought that this was going to be a walk in the park. It took two whole weeks for her to get back to school. Even after that she would complain about the inside of her nose hurting. I tried to push food and drink on her too than I realized how bad I felt when I had a sore throat and multiplied that by 100 and I knew how she must be feeling. I played games with her....I would let her pick her most favorite fruit then we would freeze them and act like we were "experimenting" with them since we had never frozen them before. I would let her take her favorite drink and freeze them in ice cube trays then put them in a cup for her to suck on, bite on, or let them melt a little. Good luck.

Hi, S.! I'm sorry to hear about your son. My son was also 6 when he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. It's a horrible procedure, but trust me, you and your son will be happy when he gets the results of the procedure. It was more than a week of pretty rough pain. The key is getting him to drink, which he won't want to do, because it hurts. There is more pain at night, because he is sleeping and his throat dries out, but keep ice water by his bed and encourage him to drink if he wakes up... even though it really hurts. It tends to be a little worse on the 2nd and 3rd days, because scabs are forming and the healing process is really kicking in. It is horrible, but it will very slowly get better. What he is experiencing is normal. The pain is hard for a little boy to deal with, and it's hard to explain to them why it is so important to drink when they are in such pain. Give him anything cool/cold and wet. Like all the things you mentioned, I would also give him Jello, applesauce, pudding, anything cold and wet. I wish you and him a speedy recovery! I promise it will get better!

Hi S., hang in there it takes a while. My daughter had hers out about a year and a half ago. When she was ready for solid foods she craved french fries. The Dr. said it was the salt. They also told us to let her chew gum. It keeps them swallowing. She is very picky & can't stand anything minty so we got juicy fruit gum. He said she could have pop as long as we stirred the bubbles out. Jello, solid or liquid was one thing she really liked too.

Good luck & I hope your son gets feeling better soon. I know what you are going through, my daughter was almost 12, and a big baby.

L.

My ex-stepson, if that makes sense ha! Anyways he had his tonsils out and it was at least a good 2 weeks before he was back eating regular food! I didn't realize at the time how much pain he was in, but now that I think back to it, he was in pain and didn't want to eat anything just drink. So it sounds like your son is just having the normal after pain and i'm sure he'll be eating better by next week!

My 3 year old had his tonsils out in January and my ENT said he should be back to himself in 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks were misreable for him, but exactly 2 weeks to the day he was back to his usual self. Just make sure he stays hydrated.

my son was 4 when he had bi-lateral tube implants in his ears-sinuses cartorized-adnoids & tonsils removed. it was close to 2 weeks before he got enthusiastic about food again. he mostly drank ice cold gatoraid, he would get sick if it was anything heavier. then around the 3 week time frame he got up one morning put some waffles in the toaster for himself, ate, then told me he was ready to go to school. i took him to the doc for his check up & he said everything was ok & he could go back to school & resume the things he was doing before hand. i think you also have to realize, every child is different and is going to heal & recoop in a different way. if he starts running a temp higher then 101 or bleeding from the mouth, or doesn't pee for 24 hours, then take him straight to the doc or ER if the docs office is closed. good luck.

My youngest had her adnoids removed - tonsils still intact. Yes, it is a slower recovery than a Mom thinks it should be. We were told to avoid dairy, as the mucus builds up and may cause discomfort. Jello, popsicles and other clearer liquids do fine, so long as urinating fine. You can always let them have their fill of ice cream a few weeks from now to put the weight back on.
P.S. Per your profile, I see you have a dd with sensory processing issues, If you care to, please write to me personally to discuss anything about it. I have learned a lot and like to share the info.

I am 53 and had mine removed when I was in the thrid grade. My sister had hers out the same time. She was 3 years younger than me . I was in bed in pain unable to eat anything solid for about 2 or 3 weeks. I couldn't even hardly move for the pain. Now she was doing cartwheels the day we left the hospital and ate anything. I recall the dr told Mom that each child is different and the older you are the harder it is on you. I also recall eating chocolate ice cream (which was a fav back then) hurt so bad I don't eat any chocolate any more. Brings back too many memories. We were told dairy products were fine and got them in the hospital.

I got my tonsils out when I was 42 and my son got his out when he was 2 1/2 so we have some experience with this. It's a pretty painful experience and for me it just got worse the 2nd week although my son seemed to recover much quicker than I did. Make sure that he is taking pain meds regularly if he received a prescription from the doc, if not, give him tylenol or motrin. Keep taking them before they wear off. I lived on apple juice, hot tea, toast and cheezits. I know it sounds like it would be painful but it wasn't. Warm liquids actually felt better and the scratchier foods didn't hurt and helped to slough off the yuckiness in the throat.

Make sure you are giving him pain medicine! You wouldn't go without pain medicine, and neither should your son. If tylenol/ibuprofen isn't holding him, call your doc and ask for something stronger. My son was 8, and it took a good 10-12 days before the pain went away. Once the scabs come off, it hurts worse again for a few more days. Hang in there, he will get better. And I was like you and thought it wouldn't be too bad. I had my son's done about 5 days before Christmas. Talk about feeling like a horrible mom. He is now 16, and no worse for the wear.
R.

My son(almost 6) had his out on Friday 8/6. He is doing awful right now. Refusing to eat and drink. He tries to eat pancakes cause he's so hungry. A few bites and he gives up. It's so hard to get him to drink anything, but I take away tv and he tries his best, poor baby. He also can't stand taking his hydrocone. I was told by the nurse that it takes about 3 days of this and this started on Tuesday 8/10. I'm hoping he's better today.

it's a very painful operation. i had mine out when i was 20. OUCH! my 7 year old son just had his out last november. he was drinking almost immediately after surgery. he was eating within 24 hours.

i would probably make sure he was staying on the full dose of pain meds. if he feels better, he may start to want to drink.

My 2 older kids both had tonsils out at age 7. It was 2 weeks before they would eat and drink normally. The doc said they could eat hamburgers the next day! Boy was that a joke. I had to sit and force them to keep taking sips of drinks. It is not as easy as they make it sound! They definitely did not want ice cream. Just keep at it so their throats dont dry out.

It took my 6 year old a week before he would eat solid foods. We kept him medicated (around the clock motrin/tylenol even without pain), kept ice on his neck for 20 minutes 3X's a day and kept a drink at his side non stop always asking him to take a sip each time we walked past. I told him I would stop telling him to drink if he would drink it all, then I'd give him a hour break.
Try milk shakes! They work great.

I am surprised to see that he's been getting ice cream and yogurt. When I had my tonsils and adenoids out the Dr said NO MILK PRODUCTS! Milk makes you produce more mucus which does not help at all with sore throats. The Dr also told me that eating solid foods would help the healing process more, but I was just too sore for that! I lived on canned mixed fruit (chilled or frozen was nice) for a whole week! Which is also about how long it took for me to start feeling better.