Anyone's LO had an MRI under general anaesthetic?

[NewMumSept2014]

Hi,
Just back from first appointment with paediatrician and my DD (7 months old) is going to have to have an MRI of her brain under general anaesthetic. Her head circumference has been going up centiles, but development is fine so doc says hopefully nothing to worry about. (Possible benign external hydrocephalus?).

Just doing some reading on the procedure for MRI and panicking a bit that I'll have to keep her fasting (incl milk) for several hours (?6 hours) before the scan. Has anyone had any experience of this? If I have to keep her fasting for 6 hours she'll just be screaming for 2 of them! Dreading it already!

Ds has had a ct under general, and a couple of other ops.

Babies will generally be first on the list so hopefully you won't have too much waiting. I seem to recall something in the pre op information which said babies could have milk up to a certain time before - closer than 6 hours.

If it's anything like the ct scan it will all be done pretty quickly, I actually waited outside the room the whole time and he was in recovery within half an hour.

DD was about the age of your DS when she had her first MRI under GA. Each hospital operates its "lists" slightly differently but usually the youngest and/or poorliest children are seen first. Having said that, there are often two lists: am and pm, and sometimes you randomly end up on the pm list (usually after lunch) which can make fasting harder. As for fasting, again it varies. We've had 6 hour fasts but we've also had emergency MRIs under GA that didn't afford us the chance to fast at all. Breast milk is usually allowed to be fed closer to procedure time than formula. But again, all of this varies between hospitals and trusts. You'll get full details of arrival times and fasting details when you get your appointment. And they'll be a number you can call on there if you want to ask any questions or query something.

I won't sugar coat it. Fasting a baby and GA in little ones isn't fun however they don't carry out MRIs willy nilly so as tough as it is, it's a superb diagnostic tool for ruling in and ruling out things that other scans can't.

Take LOTS of distractions. Favourite toys. Favourite loose clothing (DD always wears her own clothes - just no zips or poppers) and be prepared for him to wail. Trust me, he won't be the only hungry grumpy baby and the staff have always been fantastic with distraction techniques. The good news is that almost as soon as he is conscious and you're back by his side, they'll let you feed/nurse him. And you can tell them that you want to be in recovery with him so that more or less as soon as he opens his eyes, you'll be there snuggling him.

I know it's all dreadful but DD is 7 next week and doesn't remember a thing about any of them. Just the present that comes afterwards

Best of luck to you all x

*DD you have a DD
Sorry!

No but we've got one next week

My DD has Prader-Willi Syndrome (constant overwhelming hunger) and is on the afternoon list so I am DREADING it. She can't eat after 0730 and is going to be unbearable by lunchtime.

So I'm sympathetic to your plight!

Yes mine has. He was a bit older. I absolutely dreaded it but it wasn't as bad as I expected. We took along his fave toys and he actually didn't cry for food at all. He was oldest so last on list. Any other questions, do ask.

Thanks so much everyone. It kinda caught me by surprise today, it hadn't occurred to me that they might want to do an MRI.
I obv haven't got the info through from the hospital yet as scan was only requested today but I just looked up the info sheet for Great Ormond Street online which says 6 hours for milk (less for BF but I'm FF).
I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that she's first on morning list so the grumpiness is out of the way quickly! (And make sure not to forget Sophie the giraffe and her favourite crab!).

Sidge, let me know how it goes next week?

I will!

My DD had an MRI in January, age 8 months. We were first on the list but still were at the hospital for about 2 hours before she was taken down, due to having to see doctor and anaesthetist first, sign forms etc. We had set an alarm to give her a feed the latest she was allowed (think it was 4 hours before 7.30am appt and she actually starved for 6 hours) she then slept until we had to leave so it was only the time at the hospital that was difficult she screamed the place down
We were able to go down to the anaesthetics room with her and hold her whilst they anaesthetised her with a gas given by mask. I was unprepared for how upsetting I found this as her little body went all limp, but I would rather that than have her held by strangers. We could also get her from recovery as soon as she was conscious and take her back to the ward (with a nurse accompanying us) The plus side of a gas induction is they wake up very quickly, she was fine later in the day, and we were encouraged to feed her straight away on recovery. Kicked out by lunchtime, so although it was a trying and emotional morning, it really is done and dusted pretty quickly.
good luck!