worried about ds operation

[ElinElin]

My son has had a blocked tear duct from birth. He is now 16 months old. Gp referred him to western eye hospital . I took ds for an assessment . It was ok. They sent me an appointment letter for operation. Basically it's probing but they have to put ds to sleep. It said before 7am ds can have milk but after that nothing and operation will be in afternoon. How can I keep my ds from eating and drinking for almost a whole day.?? Has anyone had to do this? Also I phoned up hospital and wasn't very impressed. I had some pretty standard questions and no one could answer them . I would like to take my ds to moorfields instead. Going to ask gp if possible but suppose waiting time will be very long. Its just that I dont feel very comfortable with the hospital ds been referred to and moorfields has a good reputation . Does anyone know if it matters that I delay 'operation'(probing )? My ds has no discomfort due to blocked tear duct. Any advice welcome.

My DS1 had a blocked tear duct from birth too. He was still sticky until he was about 20 months and eventually outgrew it. I don't think it would matter if your DS waited a little longer if it meant that you get an appointment with a hospital that you're happy with. He might even outgrow it in the meantime. I was told DS1 could be 2 before it resolved on its own and so I didn't go back to the Dr after he was tiny except to get a prescription for sterile saline in a can which we could take places with us for wiping purposes. Good luck but don't feel pushed unless there is something else going on like repeated infections.

My ds had grommets op at 20 months.

He had nil by mouth from just after midnight and we were in hospital from 10am.

I have to be honest and say that he suprised me and didn't even get to the point of asking for food. I got some new toys for him to unwrap and play with, and then once we were in the hospital there was so much to look at he didn't seem worried at all.

It was much harder when he was 3.6yo having the same operation. He marched into hospital and announced "My mummy's starving me to death, she won't let me have any food" he was cross.

My DS had a blocked tear duct from birth too, resulting in constant sticky gunk in his eye. I was told that they wouldn't do anything about it until he was 2 as they usually resolved themselves. I went through endless antibiotic creams etc in the early days, none of which helped the stickiness (which would basically glue his eyelids together) so I stopped all that pretty quickly. I was shown how to massage the tear duct to ease out the worst a couple of times a day (which helped to keep it pretty clear and meant it didn't tend to stick the eye together) and washed it a couple of times a day with cooled boiled water and cotton wool pads. His resolved by 18 months.

If you do decide to go ahead, you just don't feed him. Simple as that really. Expect grumpiness and crying as the day passes and try and get a friend or relative over to help distract him. My DD2 has had a couple of general anaesthetics and therefore nil by mouth for periods of time, although she was 3 when had first so not exactly the same as she did kind of understand what was going on.