What foods to eat after tonsillectomy?

[Natsku]

DD is getting her tonsils out on Tuesday and the doctor just said on the phone to avoid anything hot or hard. Need some ideas as all I can think of is things like ice cream and smoothies but that's hardly a balanced diet. Also if anyone has an idea of what to expect pain-wise and recovery for her, doctor said two weeks rest to limit chances of bleeding, I'm guessing that's not bed rest for two weeks but just taking it easy, right?

Dry, crunchy things and plenty of fluids as apparently you want to scrape away the rubbish, and then clean it.

To be honest, it's a few days. Feed her what she wants! DD was 4. On day 1 at home she ate 1 McDonald's chip having been back to hospital as she refused to swallow anything for 24 hours, not even Calpol or fluids. On day 2, she managed four chips. It took weeks to get her back to "normal food" but it was totally worth it and we managed to do 10 years without antibiotics after that (from every 28 days like clockwork!)

Urgh strong memories of having to force down weetabix which I wasn't even allowed to eat in bed, I had to sit in a playroom set up for infants aged children, I was 14 and have never like weetabix in my life.

Once I got home I ate cottage pie, soup and ice cream for a couple of days then just normal food.

She loves eggs, especially eggs in a cup, didn't think of that but she will definitely eat those.

I'm going to ask at the hospital about this toast thing, I don't want to go against the doctors advice but if the hospital say different then I'll go with what they say. But I won't worry if she refuses the soft foods and wants to eat toast, no matter what they say. I better stock up on paracetemol and ibuprofen then.

She was actually supposed to get them out 3 years ago but there was some mix up and it didn't happen and I assumed they had decided it wasn't necessary after all, this time we got referred last week and already got the appointment! I thought covid would make things take longer but apparently not.

When I had mine out (as an adult) I had toast.
Not, I hasten to add, dry toast, but soft buttered toast.

The reasoning is that if you eat soup and ice cream you aren't using the swallowing mucsles much, you need to eat proper solid food so that you use the muscles as they heal.

As to pain relief, I was fine until the paracetamol wore off and then in a lot of pain. So getting that alternating regime with calpol and ibuprofen was key. The worst was waking up at 4 am, as everything had worn off.

But to be fair, after the first 2-3 days, it was 100% better than the sore tonsils had been for months before, and I felt much better in myself, full of energy etc, as I had had sore tonsils for months and months

My daughter has hers out for sleep apnea aged 3 and was told rough age. She was fine and lived off jelly babies for the first 24 hours.

Having them and her adenoids out was life changing for her and sleep apnea. Completely resolved it, got more confidence, ate more and grew more!!

@hanner414

My daughter has hers out for sleep apnea aged 3 and was told rough age. She was fine and lived off jelly babies for the first 24 hours.

Having them and her adenoids out was life changing for her and sleep apnea. Completely resolved it, got more confidence, ate more and grew more!!

That's really good to hear, really want DD to be able to sleep!

My main would be to avoid acidic foods. I had mine removed by laser and diothermy privately as an adult and for 1-2 weeks afterwards anything acidic such as orange juice or tomato based sauces really stung.

I had mine out when I was 14 (40 now). I had to eat dry toast before I was allowed out.

But at home lots of custard and rice pudding.

Best thing I ever had done

We used to advise hard foods not just a soft diet. Just normal food should be fine just make sure you keep up painkillers for the first few days at least then taper off as time goes on.

Natsku

hanner414
My daughter has hers out for sleep apnea aged 3 and was told rough age. She was fine and lived off jelly babies for the first 24 hours.

Having them and her adenoids out was life changing for her and sleep apnea. Completely resolved it, got more confidence, ate more and grew more!!”

That's really good to hear, really want DD to be able to sleep!”

Oh, she will! Our son was 6, I’d been battling from birth because I knew what he had, it was apparent from 6 weeks (again, obstructive sleep apnoea).
He was the only person on the high dependency unit that night (don’t worry, it’s a procedural precaution) so it was very quiet but I couldn’t sleep at all. I sat in wonder watching him sleep peacefully, lying down, no chest stopping or breath catching at all, for the first time in his life.
As others have said , it absolutely changed the whole family’s lives.
Only afterwards looking back at old photos did I see that it was normal for a child of that age to have dark circles under their eyes and their mouth permanent hung open.

Looking back, I think they did recommend dry cornflakes too.

All the best for a peaceful future 💐

Not normal !

@DenisetheMenace

Natsku

hanner414
My daughter has hers out for sleep apnea aged 3 and was told rough age. She was fine and lived off jelly babies for the first 24 hours.

Having them and her adenoids out was life changing for her and sleep apnea. Completely resolved it, got more confidence, ate more and grew more!!”

That's really good to hear, really want DD to be able to sleep!”

Oh, she will! Our son was 6, I’d been battling from birth because I knew what he had, it was apparent from 6 weeks (again, obstructive sleep apnoea).
He was the only person on the high dependency unit that night (don’t worry, it’s a procedural precaution) so it was very quiet but I couldn’t sleep at all. I sat in wonder watching him sleep peacefully, lying down, no chest stopping or breath catching at all, for the first time in his life.
As others have said , it absolutely changed the whole family’s lives.
Only afterwards looking back at old photos did I see that it was normal for a child of that age to have dark circles under their eyes and their mouth permanent hung open.

Looking back, I think they did recommend dry cornflakes too.

All the best for a peaceful future 💐

Oh it must have been such a relief to see him sleep peacefully that night. Its just a day surgery for DD, no staying overnight as its a private clinic rather than a proper hospital so no wards. I'm planning on sleeping in her room when we get home, keep an eye on her and so I can give her painkillers if she wakes up in the night.

I had slim fast shakes! Couldn’t manage food when I had quinsy so I just had these. I figured it was liquid and a meal replacement so it was fine. That and ice cream.

I lost a lot of weight as a teen as I had so many episodes and couldn’t eat anything at all so it worked for me - some nutrition was better than none!

Natalie

“Oh it must have been such a relief to see him sleep peacefully that night.”

I can’t express it. I’m welling up thinking about it now (he’s about to celebrate his 18th). We all stumbled through his first 6 years in a haze but didn’t realise it until afterwards.

He was only in overnight because of shift patterns, etc., and because they hadn’t planned on the adenoids too, only realised they needed removing as well once they were in surgery. Makes perfect sense that it’s day case now, especially, privately.

You’ll be surprised how very quickly your daughter bounces back. It seems such a big thing, but within a few days she’ll be - was going to say back to normal, but she won’t. You won’t believe the difference 😃

Sorry, no idea who Natalie is:: spellcheck I guess!

My son had his out in October and he had toast and custard creams on the ward before he left! They told us to eat normal stuff but avoid anything too spicy. He had no problems after his and was shouting about to his friends on Fortnite the day after

We were also told crisps and toast, my son was 9 when he had his out and he recovered with no issues at all. Just keep on top of medication for two weeks and save the morphine for night times.

How old is DD? I'm a children's nurse and deal with lots of tonsillectomy patients. We don't give any advice on what food to eat, just that eating food post op is so important, it really helps prevent infection because it basically scraps the slough off the tonsils which cause the infection. Toast is absoutely fine because with butter it goes quite soft, even pasta etc is fine. Just whatever she will tolerate.

It's also really important she has her pain killers regularly for 10 days after the operation to also avoid infection. Younger children seem to cope so much better than teenagers and are bounding around later the same day generally. I had mine out as an adult and it was horrendous, I was in so much pain but I have never looked back.

When she has them done the nurses will give you a leaflet with lots of information on it but I'd say just let her eat whatever she fancies for those two weeks.

My DS had his out aged 5 a couple of years ago. It is most definitely toast/crunchy foods that are recommended, and it’s something to do with wound granulation and actually reducing the risk of bleeding that happens around day 7 when the scabs fall off. www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-information/surgery/day-surgery/tonsillectomy.pdf

My child was unlucky and bled in the first 24 hours so we were back to hospital and nil by mouth and then soft diet. He was back in hospital again days 5-7 because the soft diet meant that he had scab issues and bled again. Go for the toast.

All in all it was a very positive thing for him as he was so poorly before. The fortnight after was stressful, and he ate a lot of ice lollies. He was pretty much lay on the sofa for most of those 2 weeks though.

Normal food, just not very hot or cold - my daughter was running around the next day 😳🙄

I was told not to have anything dairy initially, as it can cause an increase in saliva, which means you swallow more. Ice lollies we're ok but not ice creams.

Cucumber from the fridge was wonderful too!

@DenisetheMenace
My DD is having her adenoids and tonsils out on Monday. What you've written has given me so much hope! She's finally going to be able to breathe without a struggle.

She's 10. Will definitely give her toast if that's what she wants to eat. I think it will be hard to get her to eat if she's in a lot of pain, she barely ate at all when she had hand foot and mouth because of the mouth blisters. All the hospital and clinic advices here are soft foods for the first few days, so weird that they advise so differently from other countries.

I had mine done in the uk when I was 9 and I had to drink a glass or orange juice and two pieces of toast gmfor breakfast otherwise I would have not been able to leave. I forced myself and it felt like someone was scraping my throat with glass but I got to go home whereas the 15 year old in the next bay wouldn't eat and didn't get to go home. At home my mum fed me soups, ice-cream, mash, salmon and white fish and slowly it got easier to eat more textured food.

I had mine out 40 yrs ago and I remember days of eating angel delight, jelly and soft vanilla ice cream. It was lovely!