8 month old with hernia - advice needed

[Willow2]

My nephew has just been diagnosed as having a hernia. He is eight months old. An operation has been advised. Does anyone know more about this problem?

I found a lump in my ds's groin just before his six week check which turned out to be a hernia - he had an operation when he was four months old. Basically a hernia is when there is a hole in the abdominal wall and the lump that you see is part of the intestine protruding through the hole.
These seem to be more common in boys as they are related to the descent of the testes which develop in the abdomen and descend through the abdominal wall into the scrotum (prior to birth) - the hole left behind should close before birth but in a very few it fails to close adequately and results in a hernia.
You often only notice the hernia when the baby is crying or straining - the reason they operate fairly quickly after the hernia has been found is because the intestine can get stuck which can result in strangulation of that part of the intestine.
My ds had a small incision in the groin under a general anaesthetic and the hole in the abdominal wall was repaired, he came home the next day.
All the above, of course, is assuming that your nephew has a groin hernia - is that right or is it umbilical?

Jaybee - yes it's a groin one. How long did it take your ds to recover?

Willow2 - my son had a groin hernia when he was 16 months old. He had the operation about 9.30 am and was let home about 3pm the same day. He was a bit stiff for a couple of days but otherwise totally normal. He was given some Nurofen but only had one dose. He had some steristrips over the dressing which had to be kept dry for 48 hours. After that he could do anything as normal such as swimming. It really is a very routine operation and nothing to worry about. I was more concerned about the general anaesthetic but no worries there.

If your sister/sister in law breastfeeds then the best thing for her son would be to put him to the breast straight after surgery. My ds was wheeled straight out of theatre to me and only cried a short time and remained clamped to me for about an hour.

Sorry for the delay in responding Willow2 - not been on the boards this week - to be honest you would not know he had had an operation - he was only four months so he was not walking or very active. I think I was more concerned about it than him. Before his op I brought pyjamas for him so I wouldn't need to get his legs into bodysuits but apart from that I continued as normal, nappies were not a problem and he was fine in the car seat (which were my two main concerns) for about an hour immediately out of hospital - it was just before Christmas so we drove straight from the hospital to mil's for Christmas.

My boss had a hernia operation a few months ago at the Hernia Clinic in London (they have super tacky ads on the radio). They have some sort of unique procedure that doesn't involve a general aneasthetic and has a much quicker recovery time than a traditional hernia operation. It's not available on the nhs, but he felt that the difference in recovery time and the lesser risk involved because there was no general anaesthetic made it well worth the private fee. He was even able to go to the gym the next day! I have no idea if this procedure is available for children as well, but it might be worth looking into.

My ds had an inguinal hernia (the first thing we noticed was an enlarged testis). He had it operated on when he was 2.5 yrs, and it was very straightforward. He went in in the morning and was home by teatime. The hole in his groin that they operated through was tiny, and they stuck it together with some sort of glue so he doesn't even really have a scar (at 5 you would not notice it if you didn't know where to look). He was bouncing around the hospital room playing trains within an hour of coming round from the anaesthetic, and although they gave us some Nurofen to take home he didn't need to take any. The person who was most upset by the whole procedure was me!