To think a 3yo should be sedated for MRI

[Shiny88]

So today my DD who is three, doctor has referred her for an MRI to check her brain for a tumour as she's been vomiting in the morning and some other stuff aswell.
Anyway I asked him if she would be sedated for the procedure and he said no.

Now I know the risks of sedation etc but surely they would have to sedated her to keep her still in order to get a clear scan?

Has anyone else been in this position? We're your children sedated and how long did the MRI take?

Thanks in advance

My sons had one at 4. I was amazed he stayed still but they were so good at explaining to him what was going to happen. He got to choose a film to watch during the process. They told us that they prefer to try without sedation initially but to be ready to come back for a second attempt with sedation. His scan was clear thankfully and I hope your child’s will be too.

Bless your little lad! I think an older child has more chance to not need sedation but my little girl being 5 months she won't have a clue so it's asleep or be sedated. I can't bare the thought. She has a fatty lymphoma on her back/butt crease and they just want to cross the T and dot the I so To speak!

Hi. No it was general anaesthetic - maybe because she was a bit older so more able to move about? It was fine. They let me carry her to the to where they did the anaesthetic and stay with her till she was under. Then they called me to the recovery room before they woke her up so I'd be there. You might be able to stay the whole time if it's just sedation?

DD had one at 3 years and a couple of months and it was under GA - no suggestion of trying without.

My ds had an MRI when he was 10 months old. He was given a sedative orally that made him drowsy. He slept through the test. They put lots of padding with towels around his ears to block out the loud noise. I sat in the room with him and held a device that I could click if he woke up mid test. He slept through it though. There was another boy on our ward who was 4 and he also had a sedative for the MRI test. I'd definitely ask about having one as it's intense in the machine.

My daughter had one around 11 months with just melatonin to aid sleep. We had to keep her awake through the day and then feed immediately before the MRI so she would be ready to sleep through.

I've had quite a few as an adult. When it's the brain you do need to be fully inside the machine, and it's really quite noisy. They offer headphones with music to distract. The brain scan takes longer than other scans. It's maybe upto 10-15 minutes in the machine. I find it quite relaxing to be honest and often nearly doze off. Can you make it like a game? See how still you can lie in here and listen to the music while this cool machine looks at your brain? kind of thing. The technician will be hopefully very reassuring as it's a young child.
They might have a kind of mattress thing that the kid lies on to make their movement a bit less, not restraint but just as they are smaller than adults.