Tonsillectomy Aftercare (Meds advice)

[brimmond2]

My 4yo had a Tonsillectomy 4 days ago. I am giving meds as stated below. Just want to be sure I,m giving enough, at the best times etc as don't want him to be in pain. Any advice/thoughts much appreciated.

8AM - 10ml Calpol & 7.5ml Nurofen (together)
12 noon - Calpol only
4pm - Calpol only
8pm - Calpol & Nurofen
Nothing stronger was prescribed nor was an anti biotic??

I did
Calpol every 3 hours
Calprofen every 3 hours
Also at night
It seemed to work...He was never in any pain

My LO was in lots of pain. I alternated calpol with nurophen every 3 hrs. Eg. 7am calpol, 10am neurofen, 1pm calpol etc, including through the night. That way there was never a gap to allow pain to come through.

I alternated. Also ask or pharmacist to work out dosage precisely by your son's weight as they can often have more than dose stated on the bottle. I also found dd2 improved and needed less medication so just gave paracetamol, but then 10 days post op was in lots of pain again and I needed to go back to alternating with ibuprofen, something to do with the scabs and the healing process.

You only get four doses of calpol in 24 hours and you're giving the whole lot in the space of 12 hours. Space it out more, we recommend giving it six hourly and waking up overnight to give it, else you're going 12 hours without anything.

Why are you only giving nurofen twice a day? You can give 3 doses in 24 hours, so 8 hourly. Or you can give a smaller dose six hourly.

I would find out what a six hourly dose of nurofen was (based on weight, ask your pharmacist) and give calpol, three hours later give nurofen, three hours later give calpol and repeat, repeat. Stagger and give regularly for at least a week. Your current schedule makes no sense for optimum pain control.

Codeine is no longer given to go home with and not all hospitals give antibiotics.

Ibuprofen can be given 3 x daily and lasts longer so I'd possibly not double up on the paracetamol and ibuprofen and give them singly ending up with a dose of ibuprofen before you go to bed so that it takes him through the night. Having said that, you might remember that DD refused all painkillers after about day 3 post her op and she soldiered through without making too much fuss (goodness knows how and why as she'll happily take some now and did so before with no trouble - fickle things, kids!).

We only got the 'strong stuff' in hospital immediately on waking as DD was so distressed and I don't think antibiotics are given routinely (a little boy had been readmitted and was on IV antibiotics as he'd started bleeding when we were in - but it turned out he'd only been eating soft foods/limited liquids so his recovery wasn't as it should normally have been). Don't worry - sounds like you and he are doing fine. They soon let us know when they're not.

I asked in hospital abut dosage by weight as I've often seen it advised on here but was told that they just go by what's on the bottle confused. I tend to go on the lower end of what's advised age-wise as DD is small for her age.

even!

If you've got medicine given to you by the hospital it will be based on their age/weight and will be on the discharge letter and the bottles.

We definitely don't just go by what's on the bottle whilst you're in hospital. If you've bought your own at home you'll be told to go with the instructions on the bottle.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice & so lovely to hear from you again Mejon. No meds given by hospital so just going by what's recommended on each bottle. Have gone over what to give & when so many times in my head.. The 3 hourly sounds good. Only used 2 doses of Nurofen as only gave this through the day. Didn't want to wake my son to give meds through the night if he,s sleeping ok + giving Nurofen on an empty stomach is not advised. Will give Nurofen 1st thing, Calpol through the day, both before bed but keep a dose of Calpol for through the night if needed. We are on day 5 post op. Not sure if we are just away to hit a
rough patch now or....? My son is eating & drinking very well at the moment so no concerns there. Fingers X,d things stay that way ??

Meant to say too, we stayed 1 night in hospital & they never woke my son to give him meds.

We stayed overnight too and my son was woken every 4 hours during the night for pain meds.