Has anyone’s child/baby had surgery? If so, how did your baby do during recovery time? My baby is only 7 months old and had to get an extra toe removed and some webbing of the toes taken care of. He will have a second/final procedure done in few weeks. It’s been about a week now, and he still in pain from the surgery. We were given medicine by our surgeon for our baby. We only to give the meds to our son if the pain level was bad at the moment. It is a very small dosage, enough just to calm him down. It’s heart breaking to see him in so pain here and there throughout the day and as well as over night.
I want to hear from parents who may have had to go through something similiar to this for their child and what they did to make things little better for themselves and their child during recovery time. There will be total of about 6-7 weeks of recovery time.
Thank you all for the responses and feedback. It's nice to hear from other parents who have been through this similiar situation.
Please don't WAIT for your baby to be in pain. Give the pain medicine as scheduled around the clock. Not only will your baby be more comfortable, but the healing process will be faster because you are meeting your baby's need.
The best thing you can do is give lots of love and attention during this time. Having surgery is scary for little ones--even babies and you must address it emotionally, physically and spiritually as well.
Please don't let your baby be in pain. Pain meds work best when they are given on schedule before the pain has a chance to get out of control.
Best of luck! My daughter was 7 when she had surgery to remove a tumor from her neck. I understand your fear.
Living Life is right on target. Any medical professional can tell you that it is much easier to keep pain under control if you don't let it get out of control. (Basically, once you are hurting so bad you just have to have medicine to give you relief it takes a lot more medicine to give you relief.) I'm not sure how well I explained that, but if you'll give your son a small steady dose it will be much more managable. I am wondering if you'd be able to use over the counter Tylenol most of the time and only use the perscription if it appears out of control (talk with your Dr. 1st of course).
Good Luck,
M
That's odd... That you're restricting pain meds.
Amputees (even single digit amputees) are usually in extreme pain, the body doesn't heal very well (as in slower and less deftly) when in pain, and ever surgeon / recovery doc I've ever known says to NEVER restrict pain meds post-op. If you don't stay on top of the pain, it gets way ahead of you, and really negatively impacts recovery.
In Children's hospitals, infants occasionally need to be weaned off pain meds after being on them for months and months... But Ive never heard of them being restricted like that, especially on such a short term basis.
((UMMM.... So there's "PRN" in English that translates to "as needed", and there's "scheduled"... Which means every x hours (2,4,6,etc) around the clock regardless as to pain level. I'm wondering if you misunderstood, and you're supposed to be giving the meds PRN? Which means at FIRST sign. NOT letting things get out of hand, then taking the edge off a bit. I would check back and make sure. Also, know that most post op meds are supposed to be refilled. They don't give you the entire recovery period up front in most cases. So if you're looking at the dropper & trying to make that stretch 6 weeks... Don't. ))
My son had a broken collar bone and we were told to give the pain medication on a regular schedule (it was tylenol with codeine and every 4 hours). Your child had an amputation done (no matter what you call it, a part of his body was surgically removed = amputation). I would follow whatever advice your doctor gave. Please bear in mind that adult amputees (including mastectomy, etc.) will tell you that there is a lot of pain involved for a long time. Call your baby's doctor and get him on a better pain management system.
Our son was 10 months old when he had surgery, but we gave him the maximum dose and gave it as soon as was permitted. If the bottle said give every 4 to 6 hours, we gave it every 4 hours, at least for the first few days. After about a week we gave it every 6 hours. After a few days, we just watch him to see if he started to get grouchy or whiny. If it had been at least 4 hours (and hopefully closer to 6 or more hours) since he had last had meds, we gave it to him.
Hey, I'm a wuss when it comes to pain, so I feel perfectly fine babying my baby.
Poor thing!! Yes, definitely give him the medicine if he is in pain.
My 11 y/o daughter broke her arm about a year ago, and she had to get surgery. She was in pain too, and I gave her medicine. Try to distract him as much as you can. Since he is only seven months, then maybe you can try to get him to go to sleep. Or give him a relaxing bath.
Good Luck, and just ty to remember, the worst of it is over.
-A.
Mom of 5
Yes my 6 month old had eye surgery and it was the scariest moment of my life! I cried all the way down to the surgery room where I had to hand her off to a nurse. She put her arm around me after she took my baby from my arms and said "oh mom, we take extra special care of babies, she is in the best hands". She did fine after the surgery but just that moment of knowing she is going under anesthesia and what was going to happen. Big hugs.....
Our son has had 2 open heart surgeries--the first at 11 days old and the second at 6 months. He was in the ICU for over 2 weeks after the first surgery. He recovered from the second OHS much faster.
Can you only give him the pain meds when the pain gets bad or you only want to give him the meds when the pain gets bad? I would tell you to keep the pain meds on a regular schedule to reduce his discomfort.
