Has anyone experience of General anaesthetic for an 18 month old.

[VenusWineTrap]

My DD needs a very very minor operation to remove a cyst that keeps getting repeatedly infected, in an older child this would easily be done under a local but because she is so young and will be unable to stay still, it has to be done under a general.
It has really worried me - people talk about the risks of a general but I'm not sure what they are (I dare not and will not google)
We've been given a few days to think about it as I was a bit upset and shocked this morning as I thought she just needed another course of antibiotics.
What are your thoughts?

DS had a GA when he was 18 months old. His was only a small operation and he was out for around a hour.

He had no issues with the anaesthetic, was a bit grumpy afterwards which was put down to the pre med he was given, but within a few hours he was running around happily! I think it was worse for me than him!

ok, i shouldn't really reply here, as my daughter was 5 at the time she had general but it was still really scarey, especially when they give it, her eyes rolled back in her head (normal and what happens) but it's ended up fine. don't listen to all the scare stories, don't google. every day children go under ga and they are fine, of course there is a risk they will have a reaction etc, but there is a risk you could be struck down crossing the street too. in my experience doctors don't put kids through unneccessary surgeries, so i would just have faith.

My DD had 4 GA's all before the age of 2, she was absolutely fine after all of them. 2 were very quick (1 for an MRI, one for a CT scan) and 2 were much longer (for surgery). Even after the surgeries she was up and playing within a couple of hours.

Thank you, you are all really helping. A friend of mine said she'll possibly only be under for half an hour or so, it's such a tiny op.
Were you able to hold your LO's while they were put under? And was the anaesthetic given by injection? The doctor didn't go through any of this as I have to make another appointment to discuss it when we've talked it through.

Ds was on the bed with me holding his hand while they did the injection in the other hand. I am sure I could have had him on my knee but as he was calm there it made sense to leave him x

DS1 had a general anaesthetic at 9months for about 5 hours for an operation. He was fine afterwards. I was more worried about the anaesthetic than the operation beforehand. I was reassured a bit by the fact that the operation was carried out in a childrens hospital where the anaesthetists are used to dealing with the smaller doses of anaesthetics that children require. Do you have the option of choosing a childrens' hospital?

Prehaps I should not post on this thread as my son was three years old when he had a GA for having grommets and his adenoids removed. Young children always have the consultant anaesthetist so that the dosage is right.

The toughest thing I found was that my son was not allowed anything but water 12 hours before the op. My son was very grumpy that he was not allowed breakfast. However most hospitals operate on young children as early in the morning as possible. I suggest that you bring a small picnic so that your son can eat after the op as soon as the doctors say its OK.

Don't worry about any injections as hospitals use magic cream on children. If you use distraction and plenty of toys then hopefully your son will not notice the injection. My son had the injection into his hand.

I think that the biggest trauma for my son was a nurse suggesting that he wore a nappy during the operation. The poor nurse was faced with toddler red mist at the suggestion of wearing a nappy while asleep. In the end the nurses used an incontinence pad to protect the bed during the op.

I don't think so, it can't be done at our local hospital, but there is a paediatric unit in a neighbouring hospital than they were wanting to refer us to.

My DS had a GA for grommets at 15 months - he was fine, I was a weeping wreck . I did hold him but I wouldn't recommend it, he went so limp in my arms it was horrible,I wish I had just held his hand or cuddled him on the bed. Within half an hour after waking up he was playing on the floor and eating jam sandwiches.

Another one with experience in an older child (ds is 5 and recently had his first general anaesthetic for an MRI), but there were quite a few children of your dd's age when we went in and the younger ones really did seem to sail through the experience from what I saw of them before and after, and speaking to a couple of mums.

We had to go in for 7.30am and they started taking them in about 9.30am. It was done by age so that the youngest didn't have to wait too long without something to eat.

Once they'd got their pjs on and had gone through the checks etc we went to a play room until called for the anaesthetic.

They put cream on to numb the hand when we arrived so by the time they put the cannula into ds's hand he couldn't feel a thing. Ds sat on my knee and I held him while they put the anaesthetic in the cannula and it took maybe 5 seconds for him to go under. They're so experienced and ds wasn't at all worried at any stage - all calm etc.

Ds was very sleepy afterwards and took maybe an hour to fully come round, but quite a few of the children in the recovery ward were wide awake coming up from surgery and it seemed to vary from child to child. After they'd managed something to drink and eat they went to the recovery playroom for half an hour and then home!

It was a long day for me (7.30am - 3.30pm in the hospital), but ds loved the toys and was totally unfazed by the whole experience.

My DS had a general at 10 weeks in GOSH to remove an extra little digit on his hand. The worst part was starving him before hand, but he was fine and soon recovered and glugged a couple of bottles down to make up for it!

Ds2 had a hernia repair at 3 months. Was quite calm about it until we had to carry him into the room, take his clothes off and put him on the bed. They didn't let us stay for the anaesthetic (mask). I was terrified, but he was absolutely fine. One thing i would warn you is that they will prob tell you how long the op will take, but don't time it and wonder why you haven,t heard anything. I don't think he went in straight away after we left him and it took a lot longer than expected before they called us to go to the recovery room, by which time we were sure something had gone wrong and i was almost hysterical! Good luck, i'm sure all will be fine.

My DD1 had GA at 15 months for a fairly minor op. In our case it was an emergency op so we didn't really have time to worry- we were told it was necessary in the morning and it happened afternoon/evening. It was fine, though. Only one parent could stay with her when she went under, and my DH did it. Apparently she was a bit upset at first at being restrained and having the mask on, but she went under very quickly.

It was really nerve wracking waiting around while it went on, and seemed to take forever until we were called back. It wasn't exactly pleasant seeing her all drowsy when she came round, but she was fine afterwards- no sickness or anything.

My ds has had GA for grommets at 20 months and 3.6 years. Actually it was easier at 20 months, I just put a stairgate across the kitchen and checked there was no possible food around anywhere he could get at it.
Both times he fought the mask, but was worse when older as he was stronger.

Hi, my son had a GA when he was 13 months. I felt ok about it as I work as an ODP and assisting anaesthetists is my day-to-day job.

He was not pleased about being starved but quite enjoyed the tiny hospital gown! I carried him down to theatre accompanied by a nurse and there was a special paediatric area with toys etc where he pottered about whilst the ODP did the final checks (allergies etc). We then went into theatre and DS was allowed to take his teddy in to play with, I sat on a chair with DS on my knee and the anaesthetist 'gassed him down'. This basically consists of him putting the mask with O2 and anaesthetic gasses on the child's face and the fact that the child usually takes a big breath in in order to complain makes them go off pretty quickly.

I was then asked to put DS on the operating table and ushered out of the room. This is when the staff will put a little Venflon in the child's hand and get them ready for the op.

With DS the ward gave me a beeper and I had coffee in the hospital cafe and they beeped me when he was in recovery, the op took about 1 1/2 hrs I think. The paed nurse took me straight to the recovery room and we were taken back up to the ward on his bed. He was absolutely silent until he saw me then started screaming blue murder, so I sat on the bed with him on my knee having a cuddle and porters pushed us back.

They took the Venflon out on the ward as soon as he fancied some water and toast and wasn't in any pain. He was fully recovered from the anaesthetic v soon afterward and we were discharged about 2hrs after the op.

Children seem to be pretty resilient on the whole about the process and the staff do fuss over the tots and look after them very carefully. I really think it's more distressing for the parents, so ask your anaesthetist, nurse, ODP lots of questions so you know what's going to happen.