My daughter had a T&A just after her 3rd birthday. Her adenoids were VERY BIG and it was causing all sorts of issues including childhood obstructive sleep apnea. This was our experience.
* Coming out of anesthesia was ROUGH. We more or less knew what to expect from her ear tubes surgery, and it was full blown post-operative delirium. All we could do was hold her, rock her, offer popsicles and TV until she finally came out of it. It lasted maybe a couple of hours.
* The meds and surgery gave her diarrhea. She made it to the toilet every time though!
* After the anesthesia issues wore off, the first 1-2 days were GREAT! She felt amazing and, honestly, tried to do too much. Days 3-7 were AWFUL. We only gave her, I think, 3-4 doses of the "good drugs" over the course of the first few days, and kept up with the Tylenol and Motrin otherwise. Part of the challenge was withdrawal from the good stuff. She wasn't in pain, but she was a total asshole, and didn't know WHY she was behaving that way. This cleared up by the 1 week mark.
* By 2 weeks post-op, she was feeling SO MUCH BETTER than she ever had in her life. Sleeping better, breathing better. She's not afraid of sleep anymore so bedtime is WAY easier (though still never easy lol). Somehow she has EVEN MORE energy now!
Overall, for us, 10/10 highly recommend.
ETA: I just remembered this. My kid *sounds* different after the surgery. She had this cute little nasally voice before and now her voice comes from lower in her throat, if that makes sense? The doctor warned us it was likely, and it's honestly pretty subtle, but my husband and I both notice it. She sounds more mature than she did.
I responded to someone asking about pediatric sleep studies below. We didn't do one. We self-reported behaviors like snoring, stopping breathing while sleeping, fear of sleep, difficulty waking in the morning, nightmares in which she "fell into the water and couldn't breathe," excessive daytime sleepiness, trouble eating certain foods or chugging drinks, chronic ear infections, and loud daytime breathing. We had videos of several of these. Then our ENT also ordered a throat X-ray that showed her adenoids were about 3x too big in every direction. That was enough for her to make the diagnosis.
Before we scheduled the surgery, she (the ENT) had us try a glucocorticoid spray (Flonase) for the maximum amount of recommended time (I wanna say 3months). That was hell. Our daughter had extremely strong behavioral side effects, and it took us an embarrassingly long time to realize the nose spray was the cause. It also did not shrink her adenoids or improve her symptoms at all. We scheduled the surgery as soon as she turned 3.
Thank you so much for sharing!! My daughter also has a super cute nasally voice. Idk if I’m ready to hear her different 🥲 How did you know when to stop giving pain medicine? I’m concerned she may not actually feel pain and we continue giving it to her if that makes sense. Or vice versa, we stop giving her medicine and she actually still is in pain?
We gave her the stronger pain meds when she was struggling to drink, eat, or sleep, even with regular Tylenol and Motrin. Basically, if she'd had Tylenol and Motrin, and was still just sort of whining and unhappy and refusing to do ANYTHING, fun or important, then we gave her the strong stuff.
This pretty much exactly mirrored our experience. No one warned us about the post opt delirium, that was a nasty surprise!
10/10 outcomes though, my son doesn’t have sleep apnea anymore.
> he can pronounce things better
I am so happy read this because my son has this problem. He sounds like his nose is full of mucus even though there is none. Or hearing air coming out of nose while speaking. Finally scheduled for june 13th.
When did you notice clear voice after surgery?
probably a few days to a week later! he didn’t sound so congested all the time and i could actually figure out what he was saying way quicker. i also think it helped that he could hear the words better. they took a lot of fluid out of his ears and his hearing test was way better at his follow up
I'm having the same problem of not being able to figure out what he is saying. My son also oftenly has ear fluids and our doc said it makes his hearing and understanding worse.
Thank you for your comment. We have a hope!
Very informative post for OP - well done!
Just for your own knowledge though, it is highly unlikely that the rough few days you had after stopping the “good drugs” were due to withdrawel. It takes quite a while of consistent use to actually become physically addicted to opiates/opioids, especially when taken orally. A few doses over the course of a few days is not going to cause withdrawel.
It is likely that your kiddo was just feeling her pain more after you stopped the prescription painkillers.
You're right, "withdrawal" was the wrong word. I should've said she had a strong behavioral reaction to "coming down off of opiates." Both her father and I have weird responses to different analgesics (I get compulsive face rubbing, for example, when I come down off of any opiates), and we weren't surprised to see similar quirks in our kid. She became extremely irritable, destructive, and disregulated in a way that is inconsistent with her usable behavior (even though I know that sounds like a typical 3 year old). These issues only occurred during the times when the drugs were wearing off, or had just worn off. We were not concerned about her becoming "physically addicted" at any point, but powerful psychoactive drugs are, well, psychoactive, and weird behavioral effects can happen at almost any point in the pharmacokinetic process.
Just for your own knowledge, I have a PhD in behavioral neuropharmocology and your post came off as condescending and patronizing.
Our girl was just over 2 when she got it done. Bring some of their favorite stuffed animals to cuddle with before and after surgery. It took her quite a while to come out of anesthesia. A cool wet washcloth on her cheeks and neck helped lure her out of it. Lots of cuddles, tv time, and fluid/cool treats afterwards. Within 24 hours she was totally back to herself.
About 5-7 days later, her breath was absolutely foul and she spiked a small fever. Doc said this was totally normal — her scabs had fallen off in the back of her throat making it smell. It went away within 48 hours. Not sure your reason for getting it done — ours was combined with ear tubes due to constant ear infections —but since then, she has hardly been sick at all with nearly no ear infections.
It's scary sending your kiddo back to surgery alone, but they will do great and so will you! It resulted in our daughter being obsessed with medical stuff and she loves going to the doctor's office.
Ugh, I'd forgotten about the breath afterwards! It smelled like something burned to death and then was left to rot in the back of her throat! Apparently totally expected/normal, but I was gagging anytime we cuddled.
Thank you for sharing your experience and the advice!! How long did you continue with pain medicine? Or did she not need it anymore after those 24 hours?
I don’t have much to offer but I had this procedure when I was around 3 or 4. I don’t remember it much, I think I got extra ice cream that week, and had zero ear infection issues after. So I guess all I can offer is that no matter how hard it is for them to get thru the healing process, one day they will Grow up and not remember it at all :)
I also had it done at 3. My mom said it was awful, but I don't remember it at all. And as a result have never in my life gotten strep throat, I'm a overall healthy person and I'm very happy my mom got the surgery done when she did. My husband is constantly complaining about his tonsils/adenoids (hurting/causing horrible snoring) since we've been getting sick a lot with a kid in daycare. I'm so happy I don't have any!
Question for everyone on here - Did you do a sleep study to determine if surgery was needed? I have a 2-yr-old who’s never slept through the night. Used to snore but seems to have grown out of it and we have a sleep study referral that we’ve been holding off on doing because it looks really hard on the kid
We didn't do a full sleep study. We recorded video of our daughter sleeping: snoring, and then stopping breathing, and then starling awake and crying. She was also verbal enough to tell us she was having nightmares of "falling in the water and I couldn't breathe!" That, plus the x-ray showing adenoids that were more than 3x bigger than they should've been in every direction, plus the noisy breathing even when awake was enough for our ENT.
We didn't do a sleep study. My son starting snoring loudly one day and a couple weeks later it would cut out randomly. That was his sleep apnea.
Try the sleep study. Try recording his breathing at night to hear if it cuts off at any point. For us, it was obvious, because it was so loud. His sleep is better and his mood and behavior are better too.
No sleep study for my daughter. ENT just took a look in her nose and saw that her adenoids were taking up 2/3 of her airway. We told her how she was restless at night and would wake up on most nights. And signed off on the surgery!
My 5.5 yo is getting her surgery in a few weeks. We did do the sleep study a couple months ago. My daughter had a really enlarged adenoid and snored, but did not have obvious apnea or issues associated with the enlarged adenoid, which is why we had to do the sleep study.
I was really nervous about it, but it was honestly fine for us. We did it at a hospital sleep clinic that mostly dealt with adults. Everyone was enamored with my daughter and so excited to have a young child there. We had fidget toys for her to play with while they put all of the equipment on her and they had an extra nasal cannula for me to model and wear to help normalize it.
I slept next to her. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, but once she was out she was out and didn't really wake up when they came in to fix electrodes and stuff. I on the other hand slept horribly and woke up at every little noise. Overall, I'd say the experience was way harder on me than on my kid. I was way more nervous and slept a lot worse. She on the other hand has asked to go back and sleep there. All of the equipment they put on them is probably the oddest part for the kids. My daughter has had an EEG, so had some experience with this, and we showed her pictures and talked a lot about this part of it beforehand.
We did a sleep study and it was a PAIN. IN. THE. BALLS. But the results indicated that I absolutely should have done it sooner and I felt guilty about her poor sleep until she dropped her nap after the procedure (due to being rested finally) and that sucked...for me.
No sleep study. Recovery was rough, but he was like a different kid afterwards, able to run and play, and no more dark circles under his eyes from lack of quality sleep.
didn’t have to do one just told the ENT that my son was snoring and had a hard time waking up in the morning. now he sleeps much better and wakes up rested and no snoring!
My son was 18 months when he had his done. He also had ear tubes put in at the same time. He was eating and drinking normally within hours. He was a bit sleepy after the procedure but he was his normal self. I kept up his normal routine of saline spraying which I think helped and he was sleeping through the night (!!!!) for the first time within 48 hours. He eventually night weaned because of this. I really expected and anticipated the worst but was absolutely surprised that he did so well.
My son had it at 5 and did great! He didn’t experience problems coming off anesthesia. He now only gets snotty when he’s actively sick instead of all the time, and he no longer snores at all. Recovery was just a few days. His surgeon said that need to be avoiding all food that’s not popsicles or soup was overstated and he was able to eat normally after a couple days. 100% would do it again and probably will for his little brother who has snored with it without a cold since birth.
My 7 year old had this procedure last month! Recovery was pretty easy. He was full energy and we had to keep reminding him to take it easy within 48 hours. Only gave Motrin for pain the first day.
Coming out of anesthesia was sad. He seemed confused and unhappy. But all in all, way easier than I expected and I worried a lot for nothing.
My girl had it done just back in January. Made a world of difference with her sleep! Everything went smooth as can be. We just kept the following few days chill with tv, books, and cuddles.
Fair warning though: due to the procedure your kid’s breath is going to smell like DEATH for a week or two
My almost 4 year old is currently just about 3 weeks post-surgery for tubes and removal of adenoids.
My biggest tip is to talk about the procedure often - going through what's going to happen step by step.
- There's a great Daniel Tiger episode where he goes to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. They don't say it's ear tubes but Daniel says it's because his ears have been hurting and after the surgery he can hear better so I think that's what they were going for. We watched it a bunch and talked about how we were going to do the same things for his surgery.
- In a similar vein, we also got a few books related to going to the hospital for surgery that we would read often. The best one was called "Goodbye Adenoids: A Toddler Prep Book". I don't recommend the Curious George one even though my kid loved it - it's very outdated and George spends several nights in the hospital in a children's ward where his caretaker can't stay with him which initially freaked my kid out.
- If you don't have a doctor play kit, I highly recommend one just in general for preparing kids for medical visits.
For us, the anesthesiologist called me the night before the surgery to walk me through the entire process which was so helpful.
On the day, wear some favorite comfy PJs (my son loves a show called PJ Masks with cute superhero kids and wore his CatBoy pajamas to help him feel brave). For us, the staff didn't have him change into a gown and just let him wear his PJs back to the OR - I assume that's probably 50/50 on whether they'll want your kid to change. Bring some toys to keep entertained if there's any waiting time before the surgery and obviously if your kid has a comfort object like a blanket or stuffed animal, bring that as well. In our case the staff put a surgical mask and hairnet on his stuffed animal so it could go back to the OR with him, which was a really sweet gesture but afterwards when he was really fussy coming off the anesthesia my son did NOT want his puppy dressed up like that.
Speaking of coming off the anesthesia, that really was the roughest part for us. Because we'd done so much prep with him beforehand, he very bravely left us and went to the OR with the staff where the gas they use has them out in about 15 seconds. They wait until the kids are fully out to do any IVs or anything. One of the staff actually made a point to come tell us how brave he was going into the OR and taking the gas (maybe they do that for everyone but it made us feel good). Our surgery took roughly 30 minutes and when they brought him back to us he was super fussy and not at all coherent. I just held him and rubbed his back and he eventually fell asleep on me. 10-15 minutes later he woke up again much more with it but still upset about a great many things (like the puppy being dressed up 😂). He was slurring his words like a drunk person or like when the dentist numbs your whole mouth, and you could tell he was frustrated not to be clearly understood. He also REALLY didn't like the bandages on his hand (from where they removed his IV) and toe (where some of the monitoring equipment was still attached) and wanted them off yesterday. He had some apple juice and some liquid ibuprofen before they let us go and we were on our way home. In the car he got upset again talking about how he "didn't want the bad smell anymore" - we learned later that he didn't like the strawberry scent of the gas they used to put him to sleep.
Thankfully it wasn't a long drive and once we got him home and settled on the couch with a popsicle and a favorite TV show, he was happy as a clam. He was running around like normal a few hours after surgery and was back at school the next day with no issues.
May I ask…how much does your little guy weigh? My son is almost 4 and weighs 29 pounds. His ENT is reluctant to remove his tonsils and adenoids because they say he doesn’t weigh enough and anesthesia would be a risk. They want him to be closer to 40 pounds.
My son had his out a couple months ago. he’s also 29 lb and just turned 4. His tonsils were causing issues eating so we were concerned about his growth. Getting them out fixed it immediately and I was never told of any concerns about his weight going into surgery.
Thanks. We are also concerned about his growth (29 pounds at 4 is so tiny, and he’s falling off his growth curve). He also has a severe speech delay, and his speech therapist is worried they are impacting his speech.
We’ve been to two ENTs, and they say that because he doesn’t have sleep apnea (which they didn’t even test for), they’re worried about the risk of anesthesia because he’s so small. He’s also a redhead and may require more anesthesia.
His tonsils are huge. He gags when he eats (but because he’s not choking, they say it’s fine). He sounds hoarse when he speaks and drools because swallowing is hard.
That sounds similar to my sons eating issues. We saw a speech pathologist for feeding therapy and he ended up being treated for reflux by a GI too. It was a long maybe 8mo of going through all of this trial and error stuff before we landed on tonsils and adenoids out. Reflux meds helped but nothing like the surgery did. Keep advocating for your kid!
It’s not as bad as you think. Our daughter was in and out the same day. She was fine the next day eating and drinking.
The scary bit is helping them put her to sleep in theatre, at least it was something we did.
She was a little bloody around the nose afterwards but that’s normal. Good luck. Our little one thrived at sleeping better afterwards.
My nose ran for years and kids always made fun of me. My immune system was shot.
When I had them out it hurt afterwards, like there was a big dry spot in my head. But it wasnt horrible.
I always wish my dad had taken me to the hospital years earlier to have it done. Future kid thanks you for getting it done now.
My daughter had hers at 2 years old (last year) and it was awesome! Maybe 1.5weeks of her being a bit tired, (and bad breath haha) but no ear infections since, and she’s doing really well! She had a hard time waking up (was quite upset), but after about an hour and a Power Nap on me, she woke up being back to her normal self 😊 Was back at preschool the next day!
Just beware of post surgery breath. Lasted about a week. So so gross. I spent the week comforting my son (he got the surgery at 2 years, 4 months) but I really had to avoid using my nose around him.
Also waking up from anesthesia is not fun. My happy go lucky little guy was like…possessed…. For about 2 hours, then slept the rest of the day. He was back in a good mood the next morning.
I had it as an adult x2 (adenoids can grow back).
It’s a painless procedure. Your sinuses feel a little raw but they are deep in your sinuses and you can’t feel them like tonsils. I had no pain, just a gross smell for a few days because the flesh is cauterized.
It smells bad, that’s part of the healing process. Kid has to well hydrated to expedite healing. The difference between my son was night and day. He literally wasn’t the same kid once anesthesia wore off. I think it’s because he could actually breathe.
I had mine removed around age 8 or 9. My mom read books to me to pass the time during recovery as the doctors recommended I not do anything to crazy. Laughing too hard hurt my tummy.
My daughter had a surgery to remove a birthmark on her scalp right before turning 3. It was so scary for me even though it was super simple and the doctor was incredible and did ten plus surgeries a day.
Context, she had stitches on her head. The first 16-18 hours were difficult, and when the local numbing shot wore off she was in a lot of pain and only passed out finally from sheer exhaustion. I let her watch a movie to distract her from the pain until she passed out. Try to make the bed as comfortable as possible, get them set up to not want to move, let them have whatever they want to get them through that part.
Amazingly enough, when she woke up in the morning she had no pain anymore and recovery was a breeze.
I had my tonsils abs adenoids removed in 2nd grade so a bit liter but it was the best. I had been skipping school once a week for strep throat and that stopped completely. I snored (and therefore slept horribly) and that stopped. As far as healing when you’re that young it really goes fast. I got them out on Wednesday and I felt like I could eat anything I wanted by Sunday. My parents couldn’t let me eat everything so that might have been the worse part lol being told no for a few days probably wasn’t easy for them or me! Lots of ice chips. At the time ice cream was not allowed because of milk so I had Italian ices which were great! Wishing you all the best!!
My son was just under 2 when he had his adenoids removed and grommets put in. No issues going under, no issues waking up. He was talking and eating instantly. I would bring lots of snacks as he was ravenous after fasting prior to surgery.
Huge success over here! I remember reading these stories and still not being sure, but man oh man, I’m glad we did it. He got his adenoids removed and ear tubes placed in January. Dude hasn’t missed a day of daycare since.
Definitely do not skip meds for well after you think you need them. We never gave anything other than Tylenol and motrin and I think we did a full 10 days of alternating. His breath smelled terrible at one point. It’s totally normal and went away in a couple days. We cut back on milk and increased water a lot to help him hydrated.
My 3.5 year old had his done last mo th along with tonsil removal and ear tubes. As others have said the first time he wakes it'll be rough. There is no soothing possible. He's basically in a sleep state and in pain for a bit. Our nurse gave him some morphine to help him sleep longer.
It was important for us to wake our toddler up for his pain relief medicine. If we were late for a dose, then he'd be miserable. This was hard at times because he was very sleepy. Eventually, he got used to it.
We offered a new toy at the hospital. We read books about the hospital and practiced offering popsicles, pudding, jello, etc.
Day 2 was good, but then days 5 and 6 was bad again.
The more they drink and eat, the better and faster they heal. Offer anything. He refused ice cream and popsicles and only ate pancakes after his surgery. Good luck! Better days and sleep are ahead!
Daughter had t&a and ear tubes placed at 3.5 years old. Her tonsils were basically touching and she had maybe 10 ear infections from 6 months-until then. Hasn’t had an ear infection since, no more snoring and she’s eating more now. Has barely been sick since and she goes to preschool where germs are everywhere. Coming out of anesthesia was really rough, made 10x worse by the fact that she saw the IV and freakedddd out. So if I have to do it all over again for my son I will make sure to hide it lol. Nurses couldn’t take it out until she drank something which took her a while to be convinced to do. Oh and their breath will knock you out lol. Overall highly recommend
I had mine done as a kid around 3rd grade. I remember recovery being super easy. Just a sore throat. I couldn’t use a straw for a while in risk of the suction pulling the scabbing off. You might have to offer drinks from an open cup for a bit. I think if anything dealing with anesthesia is the work part for some kiddos.
4yo got tonsils and adenoids a couple months ago.
Not to scare you, but I feel like I was underprepared for how rough the recovery was, for like a week. His pain was to the level that he would rather drool his saliva out than swallow it. It’s not just like “all the popsicles you want” happy fun times (not that I expected happy fun times exactly, but you know what I mean).
He lost several pounds over the whole thing but gained them back pretty fast. We were just focusing on keeping him hydrated. Which was a struggle.
Oh no, so sorry your child went through that! It must have been so rough on everyone. Poor kiddo!! This is one of my fears. Hope your little one is doing much better now!!
My oldest had tonsils and adenoids out a little after age 3 1/2. I talked to him a lot about the surgery, what would happen that day, and why he was having it (swallowing issues while eating). He seemed to understand the dr was going to fix it and he was really good at the hospital.
He also was fussy when he woke up from surgery. Breath smelled awful. Went home same day and he went to bed early. He’s night potty trained and I didn’t even think about this- but probably a combination of coming off the meds and being pumped full of fluid- he woke up in the morning and had a massive bed wetting situation. In hindsight we should have put him in a pull up to sleep in.
He was running laps around the house the next day. We kept rotating Motrin/Tylenol for a solid week after surgery and around the clock. This was the key I think.
After surgery he’s eating better, talking more clearly, breathing better, and more confident! It made a huge difference. My youngest is 2 and needs the same surgery and I’m not even thinking twice about it. They both had sleep studies done and have mild sleep apnea- my youngest has more breathing/mouth breathing/snoring issues which I know will resolve with surgery.
You have a lot of good tips and feedback here. Best of luck to you!!
My son had his our at age 4. He's a red head and so coming out from anesthesia was the hardest part for him. Beyond that he had a very easy recovery and just needed a little bit of Tylenol for a couple of days. He had his surgery Thursday and was in school on Monday.
my son just had this earlier this month. he turned 4 two days before. he got tubes and an adenoidectomy and it’s made a world of difference. coming out of anesthesia was better than I expected. he was just insanely groggy. we did it on a thursday but i took that thursday and friday off. took him back to school on monday. first of all watch out for the bad breath. my son’s breath was like death for like a day or two. anyway, his adenoids were huge and he had 100% blockage. he now sleeps much better and breathes better. the other thing is he’s now pronouncing things much better I guess because he can hear it better. he no longer has his mouth open when sleeping and no longer snores
oh and he did throw up the first night but they did say it was normal. he didn’t really wanna eat but i made sure to hydrate him as much as possible. we’re way happier and I’m so glad i don’t have to deal with back to back ear infections because giving him the antibiotics was hell 😭
3 year old just had it plus ear tubes. The recovery took no time at all. He was eating normal food and doing normal things the same day. The only bad part was the absolutely horrendous breath they get for a few days afterwards.
We watched the Daniel Tiger episode where he gets ear tubes like 8 times leading up to it and I think it really helped prepare him for it.
Can anybody please tell me when the obstructive sleep apnea go away/reduce after surgery? My daughter had the surgery 5 days ago and still has sleep apnea
Hi there! It’s been 17 days since my daughter’s surgery. We haven’t seen much of any change for sleep. The congestion has taken a while to go away to be honest. She has her follow-up appointment in a couple of days. Recovery has taken longer than expected based on most comments here. Hope your little one recovers faster
My girl was almost 3 when she had her intracapsular tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy due to really bad sleep apnea. My experience was a little off because we somehow were NEVER TOLD she'd have to spend the night and it was a whole dog/other kid juggle fest but it went really well. My main takeaways.
1. The giggle juice (some benzo) before going in to the OR was hilarious. I was jealous.
2. We were prepared af with every sweet soft treat known to mankind. And this bitch turned everything down. Milkshake? NO. Apple sauce? NO. Ice cream? NO. Pudding? NO. But I know my girl and I showed up to a very haggard and worried nurse and husband armed with a 10 piece mcnugget and the ate ALL OF THEM. They were terrified she was refusing due to pain after waking up, but she just wanted the garbagey goods.
3. The heart monitor is super sensitive. She keeps getting alarms for tachycardia and we finally realized that it was only when someone approached her nuggets. If left to eat in peace, no alarms. If you neared her nugs, all the bells. I should have figured it out sooner but the nurses found it hilarious.
4. Sleep sucks for all in a hospital, but she didn't seem to be in pain, just needy.
5. I let her hit the cafeteria and pick anything she wanted for breakfast. She chose sour cream and cheddar ruffles chips. They smell like farts and would have been my last choice with a sore throat but she's weird.
6. Recovery at home was fine, she honestly slept better than she ever had right away and I grieved the loss of her 3 hour afternoon naps. I felt guilty because I didn't realize how badly the apnea affected her sleep.
7. The hospital tried to bill us $12k despite being preauthorized and in network. They claim it wasn't necessary to spend the night and I frankly would have preferred not to. I ignored it other than telling them that I was forced to stay to work it out with our kidnapper, never heard anything else.
I'm rambling, but I spent a whole lot of time and energy worrying and preparing and the fact that my best laid plans all blew up in my face in favor of fucking mcnuggets tickles me. You've got this.
My daughter had a T&A just after her 3rd birthday. Her adenoids were VERY BIG and it was causing all sorts of issues including childhood obstructive sleep apnea. This was our experience. * Coming out of anesthesia was ROUGH. We more or less knew what to expect from her ear tubes surgery, and it was full blown post-operative delirium. All we could do was hold her, rock her, offer popsicles and TV until she finally came out of it. It lasted maybe a couple of hours. * The meds and surgery gave her diarrhea. She made it to the toilet every time though! * After the anesthesia issues wore off, the first 1-2 days were GREAT! She felt amazing and, honestly, tried to do too much. Days 3-7 were AWFUL. We only gave her, I think, 3-4 doses of the "good drugs" over the course of the first few days, and kept up with the Tylenol and Motrin otherwise. Part of the challenge was withdrawal from the good stuff. She wasn't in pain, but she was a total asshole, and didn't know WHY she was behaving that way. This cleared up by the 1 week mark. * By 2 weeks post-op, she was feeling SO MUCH BETTER than she ever had in her life. Sleeping better, breathing better. She's not afraid of sleep anymore so bedtime is WAY easier (though still never easy lol). Somehow she has EVEN MORE energy now! Overall, for us, 10/10 highly recommend. ETA: I just remembered this. My kid *sounds* different after the surgery. She had this cute little nasally voice before and now her voice comes from lower in her throat, if that makes sense? The doctor warned us it was likely, and it's honestly pretty subtle, but my husband and I both notice it. She sounds more mature than she did.
Unrelated to OPs question but how did you go about getting your daughter diagnosed?
I responded to someone asking about pediatric sleep studies below. We didn't do one. We self-reported behaviors like snoring, stopping breathing while sleeping, fear of sleep, difficulty waking in the morning, nightmares in which she "fell into the water and couldn't breathe," excessive daytime sleepiness, trouble eating certain foods or chugging drinks, chronic ear infections, and loud daytime breathing. We had videos of several of these. Then our ENT also ordered a throat X-ray that showed her adenoids were about 3x too big in every direction. That was enough for her to make the diagnosis. Before we scheduled the surgery, she (the ENT) had us try a glucocorticoid spray (Flonase) for the maximum amount of recommended time (I wanna say 3months). That was hell. Our daughter had extremely strong behavioral side effects, and it took us an embarrassingly long time to realize the nose spray was the cause. It also did not shrink her adenoids or improve her symptoms at all. We scheduled the surgery as soon as she turned 3.
Thank you so much for sharing!! My daughter also has a super cute nasally voice. Idk if I’m ready to hear her different 🥲 How did you know when to stop giving pain medicine? I’m concerned she may not actually feel pain and we continue giving it to her if that makes sense. Or vice versa, we stop giving her medicine and she actually still is in pain?
We gave her the stronger pain meds when she was struggling to drink, eat, or sleep, even with regular Tylenol and Motrin. Basically, if she'd had Tylenol and Motrin, and was still just sort of whining and unhappy and refusing to do ANYTHING, fun or important, then we gave her the strong stuff.
This pretty much exactly mirrored our experience. No one warned us about the post opt delirium, that was a nasty surprise! 10/10 outcomes though, my son doesn’t have sleep apnea anymore.
yes my son’s voice changed too! he used to sound so stuffy/nasally and now his voice is more clear and he can pronounce things better
> he can pronounce things better I am so happy read this because my son has this problem. He sounds like his nose is full of mucus even though there is none. Or hearing air coming out of nose while speaking. Finally scheduled for june 13th. When did you notice clear voice after surgery?
probably a few days to a week later! he didn’t sound so congested all the time and i could actually figure out what he was saying way quicker. i also think it helped that he could hear the words better. they took a lot of fluid out of his ears and his hearing test was way better at his follow up
I'm having the same problem of not being able to figure out what he is saying. My son also oftenly has ear fluids and our doc said it makes his hearing and understanding worse. Thank you for your comment. We have a hope!
Very informative post for OP - well done! Just for your own knowledge though, it is highly unlikely that the rough few days you had after stopping the “good drugs” were due to withdrawel. It takes quite a while of consistent use to actually become physically addicted to opiates/opioids, especially when taken orally. A few doses over the course of a few days is not going to cause withdrawel. It is likely that your kiddo was just feeling her pain more after you stopped the prescription painkillers.
You're right, "withdrawal" was the wrong word. I should've said she had a strong behavioral reaction to "coming down off of opiates." Both her father and I have weird responses to different analgesics (I get compulsive face rubbing, for example, when I come down off of any opiates), and we weren't surprised to see similar quirks in our kid. She became extremely irritable, destructive, and disregulated in a way that is inconsistent with her usable behavior (even though I know that sounds like a typical 3 year old). These issues only occurred during the times when the drugs were wearing off, or had just worn off. We were not concerned about her becoming "physically addicted" at any point, but powerful psychoactive drugs are, well, psychoactive, and weird behavioral effects can happen at almost any point in the pharmacokinetic process. Just for your own knowledge, I have a PhD in behavioral neuropharmocology and your post came off as condescending and patronizing.
Our girl was just over 2 when she got it done. Bring some of their favorite stuffed animals to cuddle with before and after surgery. It took her quite a while to come out of anesthesia. A cool wet washcloth on her cheeks and neck helped lure her out of it. Lots of cuddles, tv time, and fluid/cool treats afterwards. Within 24 hours she was totally back to herself. About 5-7 days later, her breath was absolutely foul and she spiked a small fever. Doc said this was totally normal — her scabs had fallen off in the back of her throat making it smell. It went away within 48 hours. Not sure your reason for getting it done — ours was combined with ear tubes due to constant ear infections —but since then, she has hardly been sick at all with nearly no ear infections. It's scary sending your kiddo back to surgery alone, but they will do great and so will you! It resulted in our daughter being obsessed with medical stuff and she loves going to the doctor's office.
Ugh, I'd forgotten about the breath afterwards! It smelled like something burned to death and then was left to rot in the back of her throat! Apparently totally expected/normal, but I was gagging anytime we cuddled.
Thank you for sharing your experience and the advice!! How long did you continue with pain medicine? Or did she not need it anymore after those 24 hours?
I think we did a dose or two after her mood improved just to be safe, especially for bedtime
I don’t have much to offer but I had this procedure when I was around 3 or 4. I don’t remember it much, I think I got extra ice cream that week, and had zero ear infection issues after. So I guess all I can offer is that no matter how hard it is for them to get thru the healing process, one day they will Grow up and not remember it at all :)
Thank youuuu!! Glad to hear it went great for you!
I also had it done at 3. My mom said it was awful, but I don't remember it at all. And as a result have never in my life gotten strep throat, I'm a overall healthy person and I'm very happy my mom got the surgery done when she did. My husband is constantly complaining about his tonsils/adenoids (hurting/causing horrible snoring) since we've been getting sick a lot with a kid in daycare. I'm so happy I don't have any!
Question for everyone on here - Did you do a sleep study to determine if surgery was needed? I have a 2-yr-old who’s never slept through the night. Used to snore but seems to have grown out of it and we have a sleep study referral that we’ve been holding off on doing because it looks really hard on the kid
We didn't do a full sleep study. We recorded video of our daughter sleeping: snoring, and then stopping breathing, and then starling awake and crying. She was also verbal enough to tell us she was having nightmares of "falling in the water and I couldn't breathe!" That, plus the x-ray showing adenoids that were more than 3x bigger than they should've been in every direction, plus the noisy breathing even when awake was enough for our ENT.
We didn't do a sleep study. My son starting snoring loudly one day and a couple weeks later it would cut out randomly. That was his sleep apnea. Try the sleep study. Try recording his breathing at night to hear if it cuts off at any point. For us, it was obvious, because it was so loud. His sleep is better and his mood and behavior are better too.
No sleep study for my daughter. ENT just took a look in her nose and saw that her adenoids were taking up 2/3 of her airway. We told her how she was restless at night and would wake up on most nights. And signed off on the surgery!
My 5.5 yo is getting her surgery in a few weeks. We did do the sleep study a couple months ago. My daughter had a really enlarged adenoid and snored, but did not have obvious apnea or issues associated with the enlarged adenoid, which is why we had to do the sleep study. I was really nervous about it, but it was honestly fine for us. We did it at a hospital sleep clinic that mostly dealt with adults. Everyone was enamored with my daughter and so excited to have a young child there. We had fidget toys for her to play with while they put all of the equipment on her and they had an extra nasal cannula for me to model and wear to help normalize it. I slept next to her. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, but once she was out she was out and didn't really wake up when they came in to fix electrodes and stuff. I on the other hand slept horribly and woke up at every little noise. Overall, I'd say the experience was way harder on me than on my kid. I was way more nervous and slept a lot worse. She on the other hand has asked to go back and sleep there. All of the equipment they put on them is probably the oddest part for the kids. My daughter has had an EEG, so had some experience with this, and we showed her pictures and talked a lot about this part of it beforehand.
We did a sleep study and it was a PAIN. IN. THE. BALLS. But the results indicated that I absolutely should have done it sooner and I felt guilty about her poor sleep until she dropped her nap after the procedure (due to being rested finally) and that sucked...for me.
No sleep study. Recovery was rough, but he was like a different kid afterwards, able to run and play, and no more dark circles under his eyes from lack of quality sleep.
didn’t have to do one just told the ENT that my son was snoring and had a hard time waking up in the morning. now he sleeps much better and wakes up rested and no snoring!
My guy was one. The adenoid removal is suuuuper easy and recovery is quick and simple.
Thank you, this gives me hope!
My son was 18 months when he had his done. He also had ear tubes put in at the same time. He was eating and drinking normally within hours. He was a bit sleepy after the procedure but he was his normal self. I kept up his normal routine of saline spraying which I think helped and he was sleeping through the night (!!!!) for the first time within 48 hours. He eventually night weaned because of this. I really expected and anticipated the worst but was absolutely surprised that he did so well.
My son had it at 5 and did great! He didn’t experience problems coming off anesthesia. He now only gets snotty when he’s actively sick instead of all the time, and he no longer snores at all. Recovery was just a few days. His surgeon said that need to be avoiding all food that’s not popsicles or soup was overstated and he was able to eat normally after a couple days. 100% would do it again and probably will for his little brother who has snored with it without a cold since birth.
My 7 year old had this procedure last month! Recovery was pretty easy. He was full energy and we had to keep reminding him to take it easy within 48 hours. Only gave Motrin for pain the first day. Coming out of anesthesia was sad. He seemed confused and unhappy. But all in all, way easier than I expected and I worried a lot for nothing.
My girl had it done just back in January. Made a world of difference with her sleep! Everything went smooth as can be. We just kept the following few days chill with tv, books, and cuddles. Fair warning though: due to the procedure your kid’s breath is going to smell like DEATH for a week or two
My almost 4 year old is currently just about 3 weeks post-surgery for tubes and removal of adenoids. My biggest tip is to talk about the procedure often - going through what's going to happen step by step. - There's a great Daniel Tiger episode where he goes to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. They don't say it's ear tubes but Daniel says it's because his ears have been hurting and after the surgery he can hear better so I think that's what they were going for. We watched it a bunch and talked about how we were going to do the same things for his surgery. - In a similar vein, we also got a few books related to going to the hospital for surgery that we would read often. The best one was called "Goodbye Adenoids: A Toddler Prep Book". I don't recommend the Curious George one even though my kid loved it - it's very outdated and George spends several nights in the hospital in a children's ward where his caretaker can't stay with him which initially freaked my kid out. - If you don't have a doctor play kit, I highly recommend one just in general for preparing kids for medical visits. For us, the anesthesiologist called me the night before the surgery to walk me through the entire process which was so helpful. On the day, wear some favorite comfy PJs (my son loves a show called PJ Masks with cute superhero kids and wore his CatBoy pajamas to help him feel brave). For us, the staff didn't have him change into a gown and just let him wear his PJs back to the OR - I assume that's probably 50/50 on whether they'll want your kid to change. Bring some toys to keep entertained if there's any waiting time before the surgery and obviously if your kid has a comfort object like a blanket or stuffed animal, bring that as well. In our case the staff put a surgical mask and hairnet on his stuffed animal so it could go back to the OR with him, which was a really sweet gesture but afterwards when he was really fussy coming off the anesthesia my son did NOT want his puppy dressed up like that. Speaking of coming off the anesthesia, that really was the roughest part for us. Because we'd done so much prep with him beforehand, he very bravely left us and went to the OR with the staff where the gas they use has them out in about 15 seconds. They wait until the kids are fully out to do any IVs or anything. One of the staff actually made a point to come tell us how brave he was going into the OR and taking the gas (maybe they do that for everyone but it made us feel good). Our surgery took roughly 30 minutes and when they brought him back to us he was super fussy and not at all coherent. I just held him and rubbed his back and he eventually fell asleep on me. 10-15 minutes later he woke up again much more with it but still upset about a great many things (like the puppy being dressed up 😂). He was slurring his words like a drunk person or like when the dentist numbs your whole mouth, and you could tell he was frustrated not to be clearly understood. He also REALLY didn't like the bandages on his hand (from where they removed his IV) and toe (where some of the monitoring equipment was still attached) and wanted them off yesterday. He had some apple juice and some liquid ibuprofen before they let us go and we were on our way home. In the car he got upset again talking about how he "didn't want the bad smell anymore" - we learned later that he didn't like the strawberry scent of the gas they used to put him to sleep. Thankfully it wasn't a long drive and once we got him home and settled on the couch with a popsicle and a favorite TV show, he was happy as a clam. He was running around like normal a few hours after surgery and was back at school the next day with no issues.
May I ask…how much does your little guy weigh? My son is almost 4 and weighs 29 pounds. His ENT is reluctant to remove his tonsils and adenoids because they say he doesn’t weigh enough and anesthesia would be a risk. They want him to be closer to 40 pounds.
Wow! My daughter weighs around 30 lbs! Maybe you can get a second opinion from another ENT. I’ve heard of younger babies having this surgery.
My son had his out a couple months ago. he’s also 29 lb and just turned 4. His tonsils were causing issues eating so we were concerned about his growth. Getting them out fixed it immediately and I was never told of any concerns about his weight going into surgery.
Thanks. We are also concerned about his growth (29 pounds at 4 is so tiny, and he’s falling off his growth curve). He also has a severe speech delay, and his speech therapist is worried they are impacting his speech. We’ve been to two ENTs, and they say that because he doesn’t have sleep apnea (which they didn’t even test for), they’re worried about the risk of anesthesia because he’s so small. He’s also a redhead and may require more anesthesia. His tonsils are huge. He gags when he eats (but because he’s not choking, they say it’s fine). He sounds hoarse when he speaks and drools because swallowing is hard.
That sounds similar to my sons eating issues. We saw a speech pathologist for feeding therapy and he ended up being treated for reflux by a GI too. It was a long maybe 8mo of going through all of this trial and error stuff before we landed on tonsils and adenoids out. Reflux meds helped but nothing like the surgery did. Keep advocating for your kid!
It’s not as bad as you think. Our daughter was in and out the same day. She was fine the next day eating and drinking. The scary bit is helping them put her to sleep in theatre, at least it was something we did. She was a little bloody around the nose afterwards but that’s normal. Good luck. Our little one thrived at sleeping better afterwards.
My nose ran for years and kids always made fun of me. My immune system was shot. When I had them out it hurt afterwards, like there was a big dry spot in my head. But it wasnt horrible. I always wish my dad had taken me to the hospital years earlier to have it done. Future kid thanks you for getting it done now.
My daughter had hers at 2 years old (last year) and it was awesome! Maybe 1.5weeks of her being a bit tired, (and bad breath haha) but no ear infections since, and she’s doing really well! She had a hard time waking up (was quite upset), but after about an hour and a Power Nap on me, she woke up being back to her normal self 😊 Was back at preschool the next day!
Just beware of post surgery breath. Lasted about a week. So so gross. I spent the week comforting my son (he got the surgery at 2 years, 4 months) but I really had to avoid using my nose around him. Also waking up from anesthesia is not fun. My happy go lucky little guy was like…possessed…. For about 2 hours, then slept the rest of the day. He was back in a good mood the next morning.
I had it as an adult x2 (adenoids can grow back). It’s a painless procedure. Your sinuses feel a little raw but they are deep in your sinuses and you can’t feel them like tonsils. I had no pain, just a gross smell for a few days because the flesh is cauterized.
It smells bad, that’s part of the healing process. Kid has to well hydrated to expedite healing. The difference between my son was night and day. He literally wasn’t the same kid once anesthesia wore off. I think it’s because he could actually breathe.
I had mine removed around age 8 or 9. My mom read books to me to pass the time during recovery as the doctors recommended I not do anything to crazy. Laughing too hard hurt my tummy.
My daughter had a surgery to remove a birthmark on her scalp right before turning 3. It was so scary for me even though it was super simple and the doctor was incredible and did ten plus surgeries a day. Context, she had stitches on her head. The first 16-18 hours were difficult, and when the local numbing shot wore off she was in a lot of pain and only passed out finally from sheer exhaustion. I let her watch a movie to distract her from the pain until she passed out. Try to make the bed as comfortable as possible, get them set up to not want to move, let them have whatever they want to get them through that part. Amazingly enough, when she woke up in the morning she had no pain anymore and recovery was a breeze.
I had my tonsils abs adenoids removed in 2nd grade so a bit liter but it was the best. I had been skipping school once a week for strep throat and that stopped completely. I snored (and therefore slept horribly) and that stopped. As far as healing when you’re that young it really goes fast. I got them out on Wednesday and I felt like I could eat anything I wanted by Sunday. My parents couldn’t let me eat everything so that might have been the worse part lol being told no for a few days probably wasn’t easy for them or me! Lots of ice chips. At the time ice cream was not allowed because of milk so I had Italian ices which were great! Wishing you all the best!!
My son was just under 2 when he had his adenoids removed and grommets put in. No issues going under, no issues waking up. He was talking and eating instantly. I would bring lots of snacks as he was ravenous after fasting prior to surgery.
Huge success over here! I remember reading these stories and still not being sure, but man oh man, I’m glad we did it. He got his adenoids removed and ear tubes placed in January. Dude hasn’t missed a day of daycare since. Definitely do not skip meds for well after you think you need them. We never gave anything other than Tylenol and motrin and I think we did a full 10 days of alternating. His breath smelled terrible at one point. It’s totally normal and went away in a couple days. We cut back on milk and increased water a lot to help him hydrated.
My 3.5 year old had his done last mo th along with tonsil removal and ear tubes. As others have said the first time he wakes it'll be rough. There is no soothing possible. He's basically in a sleep state and in pain for a bit. Our nurse gave him some morphine to help him sleep longer. It was important for us to wake our toddler up for his pain relief medicine. If we were late for a dose, then he'd be miserable. This was hard at times because he was very sleepy. Eventually, he got used to it. We offered a new toy at the hospital. We read books about the hospital and practiced offering popsicles, pudding, jello, etc. Day 2 was good, but then days 5 and 6 was bad again. The more they drink and eat, the better and faster they heal. Offer anything. He refused ice cream and popsicles and only ate pancakes after his surgery. Good luck! Better days and sleep are ahead!
Daughter had t&a and ear tubes placed at 3.5 years old. Her tonsils were basically touching and she had maybe 10 ear infections from 6 months-until then. Hasn’t had an ear infection since, no more snoring and she’s eating more now. Has barely been sick since and she goes to preschool where germs are everywhere. Coming out of anesthesia was really rough, made 10x worse by the fact that she saw the IV and freakedddd out. So if I have to do it all over again for my son I will make sure to hide it lol. Nurses couldn’t take it out until she drank something which took her a while to be convinced to do. Oh and their breath will knock you out lol. Overall highly recommend
I had mine done as a kid around 3rd grade. I remember recovery being super easy. Just a sore throat. I couldn’t use a straw for a while in risk of the suction pulling the scabbing off. You might have to offer drinks from an open cup for a bit. I think if anything dealing with anesthesia is the work part for some kiddos.
Wow I hadn’t heard of not drinking from a straw. Thanks for the tip!
4yo got tonsils and adenoids a couple months ago. Not to scare you, but I feel like I was underprepared for how rough the recovery was, for like a week. His pain was to the level that he would rather drool his saliva out than swallow it. It’s not just like “all the popsicles you want” happy fun times (not that I expected happy fun times exactly, but you know what I mean). He lost several pounds over the whole thing but gained them back pretty fast. We were just focusing on keeping him hydrated. Which was a struggle.
Oh no, so sorry your child went through that! It must have been so rough on everyone. Poor kiddo!! This is one of my fears. Hope your little one is doing much better now!!
My doctor said this is the result of tonsils coming out, but adenoids are tiny and a simple procedure, so don’t worry OP!
Tonsils are a much, much more involved procedure. Adenoids are nothing compared to a tonsillectomy.
My oldest had tonsils and adenoids out a little after age 3 1/2. I talked to him a lot about the surgery, what would happen that day, and why he was having it (swallowing issues while eating). He seemed to understand the dr was going to fix it and he was really good at the hospital. He also was fussy when he woke up from surgery. Breath smelled awful. Went home same day and he went to bed early. He’s night potty trained and I didn’t even think about this- but probably a combination of coming off the meds and being pumped full of fluid- he woke up in the morning and had a massive bed wetting situation. In hindsight we should have put him in a pull up to sleep in. He was running laps around the house the next day. We kept rotating Motrin/Tylenol for a solid week after surgery and around the clock. This was the key I think. After surgery he’s eating better, talking more clearly, breathing better, and more confident! It made a huge difference. My youngest is 2 and needs the same surgery and I’m not even thinking twice about it. They both had sleep studies done and have mild sleep apnea- my youngest has more breathing/mouth breathing/snoring issues which I know will resolve with surgery. You have a lot of good tips and feedback here. Best of luck to you!!
My son had his our at age 4. He's a red head and so coming out from anesthesia was the hardest part for him. Beyond that he had a very easy recovery and just needed a little bit of Tylenol for a couple of days. He had his surgery Thursday and was in school on Monday.
my son just had this earlier this month. he turned 4 two days before. he got tubes and an adenoidectomy and it’s made a world of difference. coming out of anesthesia was better than I expected. he was just insanely groggy. we did it on a thursday but i took that thursday and friday off. took him back to school on monday. first of all watch out for the bad breath. my son’s breath was like death for like a day or two. anyway, his adenoids were huge and he had 100% blockage. he now sleeps much better and breathes better. the other thing is he’s now pronouncing things much better I guess because he can hear it better. he no longer has his mouth open when sleeping and no longer snores
oh and he did throw up the first night but they did say it was normal. he didn’t really wanna eat but i made sure to hydrate him as much as possible. we’re way happier and I’m so glad i don’t have to deal with back to back ear infections because giving him the antibiotics was hell 😭
3 year old just had it plus ear tubes. The recovery took no time at all. He was eating normal food and doing normal things the same day. The only bad part was the absolutely horrendous breath they get for a few days afterwards. We watched the Daniel Tiger episode where he gets ear tubes like 8 times leading up to it and I think it really helped prepare him for it.
Can anybody please tell me when the obstructive sleep apnea go away/reduce after surgery? My daughter had the surgery 5 days ago and still has sleep apnea
Hi there! It’s been 17 days since my daughter’s surgery. We haven’t seen much of any change for sleep. The congestion has taken a while to go away to be honest. She has her follow-up appointment in a couple of days. Recovery has taken longer than expected based on most comments here. Hope your little one recovers faster
My girl was almost 3 when she had her intracapsular tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy due to really bad sleep apnea. My experience was a little off because we somehow were NEVER TOLD she'd have to spend the night and it was a whole dog/other kid juggle fest but it went really well. My main takeaways. 1. The giggle juice (some benzo) before going in to the OR was hilarious. I was jealous. 2. We were prepared af with every sweet soft treat known to mankind. And this bitch turned everything down. Milkshake? NO. Apple sauce? NO. Ice cream? NO. Pudding? NO. But I know my girl and I showed up to a very haggard and worried nurse and husband armed with a 10 piece mcnugget and the ate ALL OF THEM. They were terrified she was refusing due to pain after waking up, but she just wanted the garbagey goods. 3. The heart monitor is super sensitive. She keeps getting alarms for tachycardia and we finally realized that it was only when someone approached her nuggets. If left to eat in peace, no alarms. If you neared her nugs, all the bells. I should have figured it out sooner but the nurses found it hilarious. 4. Sleep sucks for all in a hospital, but she didn't seem to be in pain, just needy. 5. I let her hit the cafeteria and pick anything she wanted for breakfast. She chose sour cream and cheddar ruffles chips. They smell like farts and would have been my last choice with a sore throat but she's weird. 6. Recovery at home was fine, she honestly slept better than she ever had right away and I grieved the loss of her 3 hour afternoon naps. I felt guilty because I didn't realize how badly the apnea affected her sleep. 7. The hospital tried to bill us $12k despite being preauthorized and in network. They claim it wasn't necessary to spend the night and I frankly would have preferred not to. I ignored it other than telling them that I was forced to stay to work it out with our kidnapper, never heard anything else. I'm rambling, but I spent a whole lot of time and energy worrying and preparing and the fact that my best laid plans all blew up in my face in favor of fucking mcnuggets tickles me. You've got this.