Tonsils and Adenoid operation for 2 year 6 month child

[Dad12]

My little boy has been recommended a T&A operation. He has breathing problems at night..but not all the time..and is mostly a mouth breather. His tonsils are enourmous but he does not suffer from lots of tonsil infections. He eats ok and seems to be growing ok. The sleep apnea thing is the biggest worry. Lots of mums report the operation as helping but when i do internet searches there are some reports that the benefits are minimal when compared to the pain and risks the child is exposed to. I don't know if its best to avoid the surgery or go ahead. Any help in deciding very much appreciated

Just wanted to add that I also worry that because we are seeing a consultant private that he might be a bit scalpel happy..also any one with experience of SW London ENT consultants?

Have you looked at whether removing the adenoids alone would be beneficial? Having tonsils removed is way more intrusive than just adenoids especially when he is not suffering from tonsillitus but I believe sleep apnea can be very disruptive to their development because they are always tired?

Dad12 - we had this done for both our boys - slightly older than yours but still under 3. IME the pain was minimal, easily sorted by paracetamol and it was the best thing we could have done for them - particularly ds2. He slept terribly, and suffered dreadful tempers during the day due to tiredness and inability to communicate. Ds1 was much more affected by infections, both ear and throat than ds2 and it was heaven to not be permanently fighting them off. His (ds1's)development was less affected by it though.

OTOH we avoided the surgery for dd - again she suffered more with infections (ear) but she has other medical problems that mean't a GA was very risky. She outgrew her problems by maybe 5 although still has tonsilitis very occasionally.

Both sides of the coin there so not much help I suppose lol. It's a very personal decision to put them through surgery.

Difficult decision, I had my T&As removed when I was 6 and TBH would have preferred to have been left with them, however this was almost 30 years ago and I think they were a little too quick just to whip them out back then. As I understand it they are there as a defence to infection so from that point of view it would be good to keep them, I still suffer from ear infections and painful sore throats even as an adult so I don't know how much of a difference it made to me (only I've never had tonsilitus since having them out as I have no tonsils anymore, so that's a bonus).

My son had his adenoids out grommets at three and went home after four hours. He didn't seem to suffer much pain. He had his adenoids out on the nhs to improve his hearing.

Although my son didn't have his tonsils out, there were other children who did have their tonsils out and they also went home the same day.