After your child's tonsil or adenoid surgery

Now that your child's had a tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy what do you do when you go home? I'm Dr. Alan Greene and I want to give you some tips for going home with a child who's just had surgery. First thing to expect is your child's not going to be feeling great for a week or two, especially that first week they may still have pretty significant throat pain and may feel lower energy. So plan a pretty easy week or maybe 2 weeks after the surgery.

When it comes to diet one of the most important things is getting plenty to drink. So you want lots of popsicles, fluids, juices, but avoid real citrusy or acidic juices. This isn't the time for lemonade. You also want foods that are soft going down and not crunchy or spicy. So things like jello can be good, ice cream. I still remember sherbet after my tonsillectomy when I was 4-years-old, it was wonderful. Pasta can be good, mashed potatoes, you want to avoid though toast. Toast is great after a tummy ache perhaps, but it can be really scratchy on the raw throat after a tonsillectomy. Also want to avoid really spicy foods.

Now your doctor may have prescribed some medication, perhaps some for pain and perhaps some antibiotics and those should be taken regularly as prescribed. And you want to make sure and call your physician if the pain is severe and is not relieved by the pain medications that were given to you. Or if there is bright red bleeding. A little oozing afterwards is normal, but if there's a lot of bleeding it should be looked into. Or if there's real difficulty swallowing even those mashed foods or any difficulty breathing would be reasons to get back in touch with the doctor.