My three year-old little girl just had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A). When I first received the recommendation, I took to Google and read some very harrowing stories about the recovery period that had me trying to talk myself out of the procedure every day leading up to the big day.
Background
When I speak to other moms about the T&A, the first question I get is “what were her symptoms that led to the surgery?” My daughter had ear infections off and on but her ears always healed quickly. Whenever we would go to the pediatrician for these ear infections and post ear infection check ups, the pediatrician we saw that day would always comment on her “huge” tonsils. It was always said as an after-thought, and I never thought much of the comment. At our three-year well visit, our primary pediatrician recommend we see an ENT, just as a precaution.
The ENT conducted a hearing test and looked in my daughter’s ears, quickly declaring the ears healthy. “Yea! No tubes!” my inner voice declared. Then he said the tonsils were abnormally large and proceeded to ask me a series of questions. Yes, she snores. Yes, she is an “active” sleeper. Yes, she often wakes up a little grumpy. Yes, she is a somewhat picky eater. These responses, coupled with her large tonsils and ear infections, led him to recommend a T&A. Despite my anxiety and doubts as a result of way too many Google searches, I decided to defer to the experts and schedule the surgery.
The Procedure
We did not give my daughter very many details of what was about to happen to her. She knew we were going to the doctor to fix her ears. Luckily her only reservation at the surgery center was getting in the hospital bed. The sweet nurse offered to carry her back which saved all of us some tears. The little patient had already been given her “silly juice” so she was pretty relaxed by the time they took her back.
Only 30 minutes later, the ENT was out letting me know that all went well. Her tonsils were enormous and a little infected, confirming that we made the right decision.
Waking Up
The nurse came to get us as soon as my daughter started to wake up. I had read and heard many stories about how tough this part can be, so I thought I had prepared myself. Seeing my sweet girl confused and in so much pain was by far the hardest thing I have gone through so far as a mother.
I tried holding her and rocking her, but she was so agitated. She wanted her IV out of her foot. After that she was better, but it was still tough. I dreaded the days ahead. She got a popsicle (and one for her brother at her insistence) and off we went with our instructions of no activity for 7 days and round the clock meds every 4 hours for 5 days. Hello newborn days!
Recovery
The first two days were filled with sleep, movies, ice cream, applesauce and 
yogurt. I was a little tired from getting up during the night, but everything was going extremely well. My son was staying at grandma’s, but his presence was quickly requested by his sister…love the twin bond.
Day 4 was probably the toughest. This is approximately when the scabs start to come off causing a lot of pain in the throat. The breath is also just rancid. I can’t imaging what taste that caused in the mouth.This is also about the time we were told to expect some bleeding, but fortunately never had that issue.
The tough little patient was a trooper. She wasn’t eating or drinking as much days 4 and 5, but still getting enough liquids to avoid dehydration. By day 7, she was back to her old self with me constantly telling her to stop jumping and to take it easy!
We were back to our summer fun activities on day 8, with some rest breaks 
just to be sure everything was ok. All in all, my little girl was such a trooper.
I was hesitant to give her the pain medication every four hours for five days, but I honestly believe it helped her recovery. I also gave her Motrin three times a day. After day 5, we reduced the pain medication to half doses and then went to Motrin only for the last two official days of recovery.
Obviously every child is different, and I am by no means writing this from a medical professional perspective. I just wanted to share my experience from one mom to another.
One last recommendation – get a trusted sitter once your little one is on the mend and have a nice dinner with your husband. You will have earned it.
Results
One month post-op, the little girl who would snore and moan during the night sleeps so soundly. She has not complained of any ear or throat pain and wakes up very happy.
Has your child gone through a T&A? What was recovery like for you?
Thank you so much for sharing this. My 4 yr old daughter is getting her tonsils and adenoids out, and I keep wondering if we are doing the right thing, but she has all the same issues! This makes me feel better!
Hi, my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter is on day 5 post op. I dont know where to begin, i just hope that it corrects her sleepless nights and constant congestion. This little girl is stubborn, so trying to get her to take her medicine, drink something, is like pulling eye teeth! Shes lost weight, pale, lethargic, and alot of congestion in her chest! If shes not doing better tomorrow, im taking her to the doctor. Im starting to regret even putting this little girl through this. Its very painful and little by little shes showing some improvement. I know that my story is one of tbe few that hasnt gone well, and i just wanna say that All these children that endure this, your real troopers. Good Luck
My daughter is 8. Going for a tonsillectomy, tubes, adenoidectomy, and cyst behind ear removed. Doc prescribed 5mg oxycodone liquid without tylenol. Prescribed 4ml but said to start with 2.5. I’m really hesitant to give this to her. Hoping tylenol and ibuprofen will be enough. What is your opinion? You just said pain meds so I’m not sure if you meant tylenol or something stronger. Thank you. 🙂
Hi, my son is 7 years old, we are on day 7 post-op, he had no complications during surgery or after but because he has a congenital heart disease we had to stay over night, he was prescribed hydrocodone with acetaminophen every 4 hours for 5 days, he was doing so good after we came home that I was hesitant about giving it to him by day 5 I changed my mind, he woke up crying, couldn’t swallow and was in so much pain I cried…please DO NOT hesitate on pain medicine, you have a better chance of getting your child to eat and drink if they aren’t in a lot of pain…good luck getting anything down them if your not on top of the pain! Yesterday (Day 6) was the worse, (his scabs are falling off) which is very painful) today is the 7th day, he is gagging from swallowing the scabs, hopefully this will be over by tomorrow!
Do NOT give any child under the age of 12 any narcotics especially codeine. There have been many FDA warnings against this even though some doctors still prescribe it. I know this post is years old, but had to respond in case someone else might see it.
A few children have died from using Tylenol with codeine. They metabolize the drug differently in adults and this can affect their breathing.
My 20-month old had a T & A, and we are on post-op day 9. She’s still in quite a bit of discomfort (mainly when Tylenol/Motrin wear off, at night or after waking in the morning). She’s refusing to take meds- she screams so violently that she often starts choking and spitting up mucus. The mucus is abundant and is especially awful at night. What could help with that? We are having to hide medicine in food or juice and often she only gets part of it bc she won’t eat/drink all of what we offer. Everyone else seems to be showing much more improvements at this point. Is the end in sight? Doc told us one week!!!
We are on day 6 of a T&A for our 3 year old daughter as well. Your post was encouraging as it’s been a rough 6 days! Today is our first day of “improvement” and I was just debating whether or not I needed to wake her up in the middle of the night for meds.
This was so helpful and definitely helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks!
We are on night 8, and my 4 year old daughter is still having throat pain when meds wear off. Things are gradually improving, but as a father it has been one of the toughest things to contend with. *** pharmacy dopes their hycet (hydrocodone) with alcohol for shelf life, dye for stupid coloring to make it look like the wretched flavor they try to make it. Clearly if you have open wounds in your throat and you pour alcohol laden medicine on it you get a screaming hysterical kid. That was our case. I found a compounding pharmacy that’ll make the meds without alcohol. Health insurance being the nazis they are wouldn’t pay for anything of high quality from a legit compounding pharmacy, evidently they’re deep in bed with the major pharmacies who are purveyors of cheap, shitty medicine choc with unnecessary crap in it to cut costs. I digress. The clean medicine free of shit costed 50 out of pocket, tastes more like sugar water than cheap flavored whiskey. We found the best way to mix it is in fresh watermelon juice. It has a high alkaline base that is easy on the stomach and is rich in vitamin c that doesn’t burn.
Other than that to be prudent, we have remained on a soft diet as to not disrupt the scabing process. So far so good. Cannot wait for this to be over. already sleeps better, no more snoring. In the end its worth it, but it will not be easy unless you’re simply dead inside. If youre reading this, You’ll make it through, but I promise it will sting a bit.
This is a great read. We just secheduled our 3 year old for her T and possibly A surgery. We are very worried how she will react but know it’s the best for her.
We have been dealing with so many sore throats and swollen tonsils for many months along with fevers that just won’t go away. Just in the past 2 months she has missed 8 days of “school” (daycare) and has had swollen tonsils every time. Poor girl has very large tonsils, snores like a chainsaw, gasps for air when sleeping (it’s worse when sick) and doesn’t sleep through the night.
We are hoping after this surgery, she will be so much better.
Thanks for this. My just-turned-4 year old will be getting his adenoids and possibly his tonsils out early next month. He will also be getting ear tubes. Poor little dude. I’m stressed out about it. He obviously needs the surgery as his adenoids are humongous and he has chronic ear infections and snores and is a picky eater and has behavioral problems, but at least his hearing is nearly normal. I just want him to feel better! I’m trying to work ahead a little because I plan on spending a good week curled up with him (assuming my 1 year old will let me) on the couch or in bed.
This was a great article to read – however, after reading it, I feel like I have so many more questions, mostly around whether I really need to go ahead with my almost 3-yr old son’s surgery to remove both his tonsils and adenoids. He is a great sleeper, has been since he was about 6 weeks old. He sleeps 10-12 hours each night and takes 2 1/2 hour naps daily. He has also been a mouth breather since he was born. He constantly has his mouth open and the ‘Darth Vader’ breathing as his ENT specialist calls it, is constant. He hasn’t had recurring ear infections, nor strep throat and doesn’t have apnea (at least yet??). He does snore very loud and is a very active sleeper meaning he rolls around a lot, but he wakes up in a great mood, has no behavior issues at school, and has a fairly healthy appetite. So I am very borderline on this decision after reading about how painful this has been for our kiddos.
I did have a 2nd opinion who said that it was better to do these kinds of procedures young and there is a risk that his palette would not develop as it should due to mouth breathing and he would need a palette extender later which he said would ‘cost more than this would.’ I don’t care about the cost, I care about whether this makes sense. Any others out there who were either severely on the fence and decided not to go ahead or that you did and feel it ended up being the right thing?
I was like you. My son had his surgery about 6 days ago, he’s still refusing to eat or drink. The only u sue he had was constant ear infections and he stopped eating completely 6 weeks before surgery. It’s been awful. We were actually going to cancel surgery. But it’d happened. The ENT made me feel better about it. I’m still on the fence as to weather or not it was 100% the right choice. I’ll let you know in a month or so after we are pass the dehydration and starvation faze.
Mouth breathing is not normal. If you want to know for sure, you should be referred for a pediatric sleep study. My 3.5 year old is scheduled for T&A tomorrow. He has never had a tonsil infection, moderate amount of ear infections and was a champion sleeper (10-12 hrs a night plus long nap). However, he snored and always was reluctant to get out of bed. His dentist observed that his tonsils were huge and suggested we see an ENT, who said the tonsils could be removed, but suggested a sleep study to know for sure. The sleep study showed severe sleep apnea (oxygen desaturation in the low-80s and 11.6 times interrupted breathing per hour). So, even with only the mouth breathing and snoring, we were unknowingly living with a serious issue that needed to be treated (there is a significant correlation between apnea and ADHD and pallate development). Hope that helps!
Hello from Ireland. My 3 year old is on day 4 and he was great yesterday but today he’s back to not eating and sore and his breath smells really bad. But I feel much better after reading your blog as now I know it’s part of the healing process. I’m terrified he will start to bleed as I never want him to go through anything like this again. I’m top of that he is refusing all meds so I am having to give him suppositries. Without wishing his life away I cannot wait for him to recover and get back to his happy self xx