Would you quarantine your child?

[Friendlylightupbear]

DD, 16 months, profoundly Deaf, is scheduled for cochlear implant surgery next month. Obviously we're very excited, it's been a long time coming .

It's a surgery under general anaesthetic, so she won't be able to have the op if she's poorly. At the pre-op they told us to contact them if she is poorly in the two weeks before the op, so I'm considering whether to quarantine her in the two weeks before the op. She goes to nursery two mornings a week, and is looked after at the Deaf centre for a few hours while I do my BSL course. I also usually take her to a couple of classes and playgroups. She has no siblings and I can easily limit visitors. She's generally pretty robust (touch wood), hasn't had anything worse than a cold.

I've chatted to the CI coordinator, and they have other patients on standby to have the op in case of cancellations (we've been on the standby list ourselves), so if she was ill then she wouldn't be wasting the slot unless it was cancelled literally on the morning.

I'd be gutted if she was ill enough for the op to be cancelled. But two weeks of quarantine sounds bloody awful. She gets so bored just being at home. She loves nursery and will be off for two weeks after the op, so I'd have wasted a months worth of fees! And even with the best will in the world, DH could bring home a cold and get her ill.

So more of a WWYD than an AIBU - would you quarantine?

I would just keep her away from chickenpox and any known infections. Not easy I know. But make nursery aware. We look after children having cochlear implants on my ward and they are one of my favourite operations to look after. Any questions pm me. Good luck!

i would make sure you were all scrupulous with hand washing etc and healthy eating in the run up and hope for the best. I dont think id quarantine

Dd2 had surgery at 6 months old we quarinted her for 2 weeks before hand excluding us all from a wedding and a funeral though I do except a 6month old is different but this also included her 3 year old sister incase she passed anything on.

You can still do lots of things go to the park, feed the ducks, painting, do you have a garden? Lots of water play, digging ect but anything with a high risk of picking up a bug like soft play or kids groups were out.

Could you go to a supermarket or shop and pick up small bits daily for after the operation? Stickers small toys to cheer her up nice treat food.

Do what you can, but don't get overly obsessed. Do things outside. You don't need to be confined to house. I hope operation goes well. DD had her CI operation 14 years ago this week. I can't remember what precautions I took.

I'd be tempted to semi quarantine I think. So skip the groups but keep the more important things.

Being summertime, there should be fewer germs flying around, but that's no guarantee of course.

Thanks all! I think semi quarantine is sensible.

Great suggestions rosie

I'd skip the group's and just do things in big open spaces maybe buy a few big toys (swing and a peddle go cart), little stuff like stickers and building blocks, a tent for the garden and hopefully that should keep her busy. My daughter didn't start playing with toys till she was three those are the things she would of loved at that age.

Small children get up to 10 coughs and colds a year, however there are less bugs around in the summer. Just take sensible precautions on the run up to surgery. Hand washing stay away from children with known infections skip big groups, avoid swimming and the germ soup that is soft play areas.
Also give her a really good bath and hair wash before surgery to help prevent infections.
Good luck it will all be fine and you will be well cared for I'm sure.

I would, we got all the way to seeing the anaesthetic, gown on when the last temp check was up. Operation was cancelled and the next available slot was 3 months away.
After that we kept her away from groups, nursery etc for a couple of weeks for the next sets of operations.

How long would you have to wait for another slot if this one got cancelled?

What a nightmare queen.

I don't think it would be a massive wait tea, a month or two at most. I'm just desperate to get it done now. And from a language development perspective the sooner it's done the better, as language acquisition gets harder the older they get.

I do worry about temperature checks because DD runs quite warm even when she is perfectly well, she's a very hot child!