Endoscopy/colonoscopy

[Sausages123]

My 4 yr old has been advised to have one for possible colitis has anyone else's child had to have one? If so any tips especially on how to manage the bowel prep?
Thanks in advance

Hi there
My son has had many colonoscopies because of colitis, since age 4..., the bowel prep ....I found that although I followed all instructions rigidly, it did make him go to the loo but it didn't lead to accidents, if that's what you mean?

It is, he has urgency and diarrhoea anyway (hence referral) and loses a lot of confidence when he has an accident. Glad to hear it is vaguely controllable
Thank you

Two of my DC have had this for coeliac disease. No bowel prep required then, so can't advise on that, but my tips would be:-

1. Bring lots of toys/games/distraction things for the wait beforehand. Your DC will be really hungry (they can't eat anything from teatime the night before) and grumpy and bored.

1. Talk them through the procedure, so they know what happens. A 'medical kit' to play with in the waiting room was a hit with my 3yo (lots of pretend injection-giving etc.)

1. Mentally walk yourself through it too. At our hospital, I went into the operating room with my DC, and held them on my knee while they were put to sleep (by injection), and then had to lay them on the operating table and leave them. It's important you're calm and cheerful for the child's sake, but it can feel distressing to do.

1. Bring something for you to eat while they are having the procedure. You might not feel like eating, but you need to keep your blood sugar up and you won't want to eat in front of them beforehand when they can't!

1. Bring food for them to eat when they come round (assuming that's allowed for colitis - not sure). And be prepared for any instructions. One of my DC had coeliac so advanced that I was told by the surgeon not to feed them any gluten from that moment onwards - wasn't prepared for that and didn't have enough gluten-free snacks! Which was bad, as DC was starving.

1. A small present for afterwards for 'doing a good job' is great for cheering them up. Especially if it's all wrapped up in fun paper and is something they can play with straight away.

Good luck, hope it brings some answers.

Thank you