Adenoidectomy - bad breath after op

[arsenpants]

My ds (3yo) had his adenoids out and a grommet put in on Tuesday. For the past few days, his breath has been really smelly, to the point where it even stinks out his room at night. Was wondering if this is normal after this surgery? He hasn't been sleeping too well and we are administering regular pain calpol etc; he seems well enough in himself and temp, although occasionally slightly raised, is mainly normal.

My DD was exactly the same back in April this year. I began to wonder if there was infection but in the end decided not. The smell took about 2 weeks to go. I was nearly at point of going to GP to get it checked. I decided it was mixture of cauterisation burning tissue and healing. Hope it settles soon.

Yes it's completely normal - didn't the hospital tell you this is a completely expected side-effect? If it oeasn't go away or if he develops a bad fever then call the GP, but otherwise he should be fine.

Completely normal afterwards.

Please be on the lookout for infection.

My dd had her tonsils out at Easter (so not quite the same) and her breath was vile afterwards. i just assumed it was normal and it the smell of the dead skin. Turns out it was an infection.

She ended up hemorrhaging twice and had to be hospitalised for several days, and get two more operations to stop the bleeding each time. The nurses actually gave me a bit of a telling off and said i should have called the ward as soon as i noticed the smell and they may have been able to prevent the bleeding. Made me feel like crap.

Obviously, i don't want to scare you. Just passing on my experience. Hopefully it's nothing, and just a normal part of your child's healing process, but it might be worth calling the GP and asking them to have a quick check tomorrow if you're worried.