Removing Tonsils - 2 year old

[green1976]

My 26 month old son is seeing an ENT specialist, had lots of ear infections, tonsilitis and recently pneumonia. He also has a speech problem, particularly enunciation so we don't understand a lot of what he says.

Specialist thinks he has glue ear which can cause dulled hearing. He's suggested grommets to hopefully improve hearing and also removal of tonsils & adenoids to prevent further infections.

Concerned its a lot for a 26 month old to go through and wondering if it's a good idea to get his tonsils out at the same time as potentially there's a long recovery and risk of infection etc. But also want him to get better as quick as possible and don't like the idea of him having surgery twice?

Have any of you been in a similar situation? Just really trying to find out some more information so we can make a decision on what to do.

I have had two children who, under the age of 3, had the whole grommets and adenoid/tonsils removed. Tbh it's not usually a long recovery at all - any specific worries just ask me and I'll try to answer

Thanks so much for your quick reply! I'd love to know if the surgery helped your children and what you think pro's/con's are to having it all done at the same time?

Think biggest concern is whether its better to wait until they are older to get tonsils removed, especially as we're having problems communicating with him so will be difficult to explain what's going on.

Also our family think we should wait as better to keep your tonsils for as long as possible. They suggested getting a second opinion but we've been seeing a private ENT specialist (luckily I have medical cover from work) and think it will just delay things further now to see another specialist

But my gut feeling is that I'd rather he just had one surgery and one recovery rather than go through it again at a later date!

Well the grommets surgery is just a day surgery on its own - no over nIght stay necessary and no pain involved. But to be honest if your little boy had really painful, infected tonsils I would suggest getting it all over in one go. My younger daughter ate a bag of crisps on the way hone from hospital ( it was all I had with me as I hadn't expected her to be hungry!). They both recovered very quickly and it did make an amazing differrence - more so with my youngest as her speech was particularly affected. Much better to have it done at that age than school age I believe.
I also know they are much more reluctant to remove tonsils these days so if you have found someone who genuinely believes it is necessary then I'd go with tgeur guidance. Neither of my two have seemed to suffer from a lack of tonsils either ( it was a few years ago now) in fact it wad a blessed relief that they didn'thave such a sore throat every time they had a cold
I'd just warn you that grommets can needto be redone so there's never a guarantee that this will be a one off, but as I said grommets alone are very silken and painless

Simple not silken!!

My 2.6 year old ds had his tonsils out and adenoids 'shaved' (ick). One day in hospital, not nice, but recovered very quickly. It made a significant difference very quickly. I am 100% pleased I choose to have it done.

DS1 had his tonsils/adenoids removed at 2.6 as he had severe glue ear and basically no speech...made a huge huge difference and within several months had caught up to where he should be.

DS2 is 20 months and is on the waiting list to have them done as well. He has got other things going on as well (very long and complicated to explain!) but he also has glue ear and no speech so they are seeing if this makes a difference.

Thanks for all your replies, feeling a lot more reassured that makes sense to have tonsils out at same time as adenoids and grommets.

Just have one more question - have read that its best to avoid sucking after the operation as can cause bleeding, so I guess this means no dummies but what about bottles/sippy cups? Its unfortunate as my boy loves his dummy and only wanted to wean him off it when we could talk to him about it, not sure if we can get him off it in a month and will be really upset after the surgery if can't have it?!

My ds was very attached to dummy at time of op. it was some time ago, but I really can't remember not using it or it being an issue.

Getting him to take pain killers was not easy, but ice pops got him through first dat or two, and he didn't need pain meds for long

Mine only had calpol ... they really didn't seem to feel much pain after the op ( probably because theIr tthroat felt so much better

How often does he have tonsilitis?

I had it twice as a child and I was reffered to ENT, who said my tonsils were larger than normal and that I should have them removed. I was about 9/10.

Anyway they put me on the waiting list, and here I am 30+ years later still with my tonsils.

As an adult I have had tonsilitis, about 3 times, always when stressed. I may be wrong but as the tonsils are part of the immune system I think I get tonsilitis which, had they been removed, would be somethign more serious somewhere else.

If he has only had tonsilitis once it might be uneccesary surgery. On the other hand, if he needs it doing then it is probably best to have it done at the same time as the gromits.

Sorry, not much help.

We've decided to go ahead with have one surgery to remove tonsils & adenoids and put in grommets. Main reason is that my DS woke up sick this morning and has tonsilitis again! 24 hours ago he was fine and now he has bad cough, high temp, no appetite and wax dripping from his ear poor thing. This is 6th time he's had tonsilitis and hopefully he'll be better soon so can go ahead with the operation, keeping everything crossed!

Hi, i just wanted to reiterate the above posts. My DS had his tonsils and adenoids removed and grommits inserted when he was just turned 3. He had been plagued with ear infections (and purferated drums), throat infections since birth and was a very poor eater. The main reason for the operation was sleep apnea and other sleep issues
While the operation was a worry for me, he coped fine. He was sitting up within 30 mins and munching on toast within the hour! Amazing. They keep them dosed up on painkillers and he was running around happy as larry! The recovery was pretty painless actually.
I have to say, that was 2 years ago now and the change in him is remarkable, an overnight instant change in him. He went from being, tired, poorly and miserable to a happy bundle of joy literally overnight
I dont want to make light of the operation as it obviously is not without risks but for us it was the best thing ever and i'm so pleased we made that decision
Good luck