No matter what the reason may be, having your child go through any kind of surgery is hard. It is not only hard on your child, but it is extremely difficult for parents as well. Bradley and I found this out firsthand with our daughter, and we want to share some tips to make this process a little easier for you. Here is our top advice for when your child has surgery:
Try to schedule the surgery for first thing in the morning – As your probably know, your child will not be allowed to eat or drink anything for several hours before the procedure. If you schedule for early in the morning, then this will help a little bit. However, I will warn you that we were originally scheduled for an 8am surgery and got bumped to noon. Unfortunately, there isn’t really anything that you can do at this point. If this does happen to you, I am just going to be honest with you. There is nothing worse than your child begging for water and food, especially when they are too young to understand why you are not giving it to them. Madeline cried the entire drive to the hospital while begging us for water. This was definitely one of the worst events of my life, so I really want you to be prepared that this might happen to you too. You parents will still want to grab a snack and drink to keep your energy up, but obviously, please do not eat or drink anything in front of your child.
Make sure you have your bag packed, gas in your car, and directions to the hospital READY THE NIGHT BEFORE – Your mind will not be properly working the day of the surgery, so you want to prepare everything the evening before. This will really make the morning of the procedure much easier on everyone.
Bring something entertaining for both you and your child – It also helps if you take some sort of stuffed animal or something that they are familiar with. I also suggest taking a blanket, because it can get very cold. Luckily, our hospital had a bunch of toys for children to play with. This entertained Madeline immensely, as you can see below. 🙂 Make sure that whatever you take is washable, so you can clean it as soon as you get home.
Make sure to bring ALL OF YOUR ELECTRONIC CHARGERS – There is no telling how long you will be there, and you don’t want a dead battery. This is something that you should put in your bag the night before, so you don’t accidentally forget it while you are leaving. As I said above, your mind will not be completely clear the morning of the surgery. Make sure to pack those chargers early, and put them somewhere easy to find.
Bring something that is happy, entertaining and/or distracting for yourself – When your child has surgery, it is 100% the slowest hour of your life. Try as best as you can to distract yourself with something you enjoy. This seems obvious, but try to keep it on the happy side. The last thing you need is to read or watch something that is sad.
What helpful tips do you have for parents? Please feel free to leave a comment below, because I would love to hear your ideas. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!
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This is great! Our darling daughter had her tonsils and adenoids taken out two days ago. She is 6, and loves to ask questions about how things work. She likes to know the ins and outs of everything! We thought she might do better if she fully understood everything that was going to happen. We purchased the “Goodbye Tonsils” paperback book off Amazon and read it a few times before her preop appointment. She had a few questions that we couldn’t answer so we had her write them down and she took it with her into her preop appointment. We also showed her an educational (kid friendly) video on YouTube. My favorite though, was throwing a going away party for her tonsils! She loved it! The night before, she got to pick what was for dinner (mac-n-cheese) and then we had cupcakes. We also gave her new PJs for her special day! After surgery, we had a basket full of new toys to keep her occupied while we waited in recovery. Most of it was from the dollar spot at Target, but she loved it!
Faryn, thank you! I LOVE the idea of the going away party! That is so creative, and I will definitely add this one to the list. Thanks, again! 🙂