CT scan on my 10 month old tomorrow

[sarx82]

My little one has been booked in for a last minute CT scan in the morning.

Has anyone ever had this with a young child? How do they get them to lay still? I have never had one or experienced it so I am really unsure what to expect with my little one.

He will have a meltdown if I lay him on he's back in a machine like that I really can't see it going well. They didn't give me any information on the phone apart from they can't give an MRI for a month because they need a children's anaesthetist present for that as he will need sedation.

My dd had one at about 10 months old, and they sedated her. It was on her head, and obviously she wasn't going to lie still. I expect that's what will happen.
Don't fret!

Sorry, I skipped the bit about not having an anaesthetist. The nurse did our dds. It was a cannula with sedation. Possibly things have changed in 16 years!

@Tortiemiaw oh bless her that's the same for us it's on he's head also...see they told me the reason they were giving a CT scan was because they can't sedate him. So this is why I'm worrying as he won't be able to say still and will really panic if I lay him on he's back like that 😟

My daughter had one at 2, but she was sedated. There’s no way she was lying still for it.

sorry your LO needs to go through this.

They may give him oral medicine which won't fully sedate him. But enough for him to be still :)

@Lizzieregina thank you for your reply - I did think this would have to be the case! I don't even know what to do now! hope all was well with your daughter

@burntoutnurse can they do this upon me turning up ? They never told me they would be able to do this. Can he still eat in the morning ?

My friends children had them and were sedated.

Yes they can. It's called chloral hydrate (it's what we use anyway. They don't need to be nil by mouth for long before it. It makes them sleepy but not sedated :)

My son was supposed to get an mri without sedation when he was around 1. They turned the lights out, gave him melatonin and I fed him to sleep. They then covered his ears to help with the noise. It didn't work though and he kept waking up. We ended up having to go back a few months later and have it under anaesthetic.

There are levels of sedation. An MRI takes much longer, and is a lot noisier, so tends to need a deeper level of sedation. And because of how the machines work, it's harder to monitor the patient in them. Which means being more likely to need an anaesthetist. We do a low level of sedation to attempt CT without an anaesthetist. Though some CTs are managed by timing it for a feed and nap...