Toncils, Adenoids, Tubes in Ears in 20 Month Old and Dehydration Worry

Updated on July 29, 2011
K.C. asks from Boise, ID
10 answers

So my 20 month old son is having his toncils & adenoids removed as well as tubes in ears, due to cronic ear infecion, constant fluid in ear, and sleep apnea. My older son had to as well have them out when he turned 5 for same reasons. My concern is ENT doctor said that this age group are at higher risk of getting dehydrated due to you cant "reason" with a 20 month old that they NEED to drink. He said if it happens, just go back to hospital, they put IV in and watch them, and they feel better and the worse is over. So to you moms out there, have you went thru this surgery at this age? How did your little ones do? My older son who is now 7.5 years old did start to get dehydrated, luckily I got him to drink, and no trip to ER, however I am scared of surgery yet again with my little guy since he is still small, and now worrried for after surgery and him refusing to drink, and back to hospital, ugh :( Just wondering how it went for you other mommies out there.

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P.K.

answers from New York on

Pedialyte ice pops! Little sips often. Sometimes the younger they are the
easiest it is. Mine did fine. If he does not like the Pedialye just get the
regular ice pops in the plastic. Just do the best you can.

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K.W.

answers from Youngstown on

I have not been through this but my first thought was popsicles. It is liquid and will help keep him hydrated. I usually make my own popsicles with juicy juice and my kids love them. Most kids love popsicles.

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J.P.

answers from Salt Lake City on

15 years ago my little guy was not gaining weight, couldn't sleep well, waking often and gasping for breath. I was pretty scared. At age 2 he only weighed 18 pounds. I knew I had to do something. His pediatrician listened to my concerns and I asked her how she felt about getting his tonsils out. She imediately gave me a referral to an ENT. He told us or son had suffered a lot of tonsilitis, he had scar tissue built up on them and recommended getting them removed. It was truly a blessing. He was able to sleep, gained 6 pounds that year.I would do it again in a heartbeat. The kids manage somehow to eat and drink. Good luck

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L.C.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Seems to me that the way little ones react is so variable. My son had adenoids out and ear tubes in at 30 months. I was prepared for at least a week of pain and difficulty for all of us. However, by the time he woke up, he was asking for food - ate two full popsicles, a full cup of ice chips and was asking for more because he was hungry. Eventually the nurse gave us crackers and he went through about 6 of those before I decided he needed to slow down. He was groggy for around 1 hour and then I started struggling to keep him in the hospital bed because he was ready to go. By the next morning he was completely back to his normal self and I couldn't keep him still and popsicles wouldn't satiate him - he was begging for normal food. So, I would say not to worry and take it as it comes - he could have some pain (which I imagine is normal) and would need meds, ice, popsicles, etc. or he could be alright, or anywhere in between.

M.W.

answers from Fort Collins on

Hello, My daughter went through this a few months ago. She was 23 mos at the time. Because she was under two it is our hospital's policy to make them stay overnight and they would NOT release her until she had 3 wet diapers! I found this helpful because if she would not take the pain meds and drink for me, she would do it for the hospital staff!
Honestly her and I both were SO miserable! It was unbelievably hard to get her to drink even eat for up to a whole week. Looking back now it was truly the hardest week of my life. It was like she was a newborn all over again. She didn't want to talk cause her throat hurt so badly, and she just wanted to be held all the time. The Tylenol with codeine that they give you for pain tastes awful and it burns their throat going down! She would just scream and scream after having to force it down.
All I can say is hang in there, try to get him to drink as often as possible, and keep the drinks as cold as possible. If he likes Popsicles those help!
Oh another thing, my daughter had a preference of sippy cup at that time and I think it was because the suction hurt her throat. She preferred a straw or a sports bottle type lid. Best of luck, it's so worth it in the end to get rid of those ear infections! =0)

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E.P.

answers from New York on

My daughter had tubes put in when she was about 5. Afterwards, she vomited on and off for almost 8 hours. I was worried about the dehydration too and then my sister told me to spoon feed her tea. So I made a cup of warm tea with a little sugar and lemon and then sat on the edge of the couch and spooned her one teaspoon at a time - maybe one every minute or two until the whole cup was gone. When you do it that way, they're less likely to vomit it back up. I honestly don't know if that would work with such a small child, but you could try it. Ice pops sound like a good idea too.

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C.W.

answers from Washington DC on

We did adenoids and tubes and my son did fine. I would imagine it is the tonsils that would cause him not to drink. Freeze pops work wonders. I only wish my ENT had taken the tonsils out when we had that surgery.

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J.F.

answers from Colorado Springs on

My daughter just had this surgery in March when she was 14 months old. It was kinda nerve racking. I think that the biggest hurdle was coming out of anesthesia. Her surgery was at 9am, only took 20 minutes. But it took until about 5pm for her to really come to and to see her eyes recognize us. She cried and slept on and off all day. But it wasn't until evening that she really came to. She was hungry and thirsty. The first couple of swallows were definitely painful for her, but she wanted it so bad. The colder the liquid the better. Our nurses were very reassuring and positive about it, I think that helped a lot too. I would say it took about 2 weeks for her to be back to herself. I was still cautious as far as what I gave her to eat (don't want to scrap off the scab) but she was just happy to be feeling better and didn't care if she didn't get her normal stuff. Good luck-you and your little one will be fine!

L.A.

answers from Austin on

Our daughter did fine. We gave her Gatorade and even made her some "Gatorade ice" we froze it in a pan and then scraped it with a fork and she sipped the ice..

I bet your son will do great.

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M.G.

answers from Kansas City on

If worse comes to worse with the drinking you can give him water by a medicine dropper. Just remember, it is harder to get pain under control once someone is in real pain. Keep up the pain meds on a very regular basis until about day 5 (or when it seems the worst is over). Also, with my son days 2 and 3 weren't any big deal pain wise, but when day 4 hit he was really hurting. For some reason it really hurst when the healing process is in full swing.

Good Luck.

M.

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