My little girl is due to get dental work next week and needs to have some general anesthesia. The appointment is at 1:30 in the afternoon. She cannot eat for EIGHT hours prior. How am I going to deal with a hungry girl all morning! She can have clear liquids, but that stops three hours prior.
Normally she is in school. but I am keeping her home that day - she wouldn't be able to have snack or lunch there!
Any tips?
Most dentists will not schedule a fasting appointment in the afternoon, particularly not for a small child. There is no way this is going to go well for either of you, so reschedule the appointment for a morning so that she goes shortly after waking up for the day.
I would call and reschedule it and tell them it has to be the first appt in the morning. Its ridiculous that they would schedule such a young child for something like that that late in the day. she will be nuts. but if you have the first appt then she will have come off of a full nights sleep. and be ok
out of curiosity what kind of dental work does a 3 year old need?
Ummmm...and why is this appointment not scheduled for first thing in the morning??
I question the expertise and competency of a dentist office that would expect a flippin' 3 year old to go all day without food when there is a more simple and compassionate way to solve this dilemma. Let her "fast" overnight!
Please, change the appointment to one of their first appointments in the morning. Problem solved!
I can't remember which child had to do fasting but I just went with everything they enjoy which for that child happened to be the park. As I remember it was a timing issue. When we were coming up to meal time was when we walked out the door to go to the park.
The other thing was the "I'm hungry" was not answered with you can't eat or worse you can't eat because you are having this procedure. I just went with oh look shiny things. Like, hey, do you want me to push you on the swing?!
I am surprised they scheduled you in the afternoon. I work for anesthesiologists and we tend to run our dental peds morning only, especially when they are that young. Kind of a hard thing for little ones to deal with. Not the anesthesia, the starving to death!
Oh, I only had to deal with breakfast and that was hard enough. Good luck and don't give in. They won't do the procedure if you let her have anything and if you lie to them you are putting her life in danger.
I rarely agree with Diane but in this case I do, try to get it moved to the morning.
I'd refuse that day and time and insist on an early morning appt, this is not an emergency, no way id do that to a 3yo
Reschedule it! Why did they even book it for that time. That's crazy.
I agree. Reschedule. Crazy time for a little child.
I'd take her out of the house and away from the kitchen. But it's hard to find a place that's open early and run her around on an empty stomach.
But I think it would be easier to reschedule the appointment for 9 AM. Can't you call the oral surgeon's office and explain that it's a 3 year old and you need an earlier appointment? I'm sure they've dealt with this before and can put in an adult at 1:30 and move your child up to the morning.
That seems very late to me. I'd reschedule it for a morning appt time.
Add me to the reschedule for a morning appointment boat.
First call & reschedule for a later time. That is ridiculous for her age.
Then if for some horrible reason they can't, can she have chicken noodle
soup in a can WITHOUT the noodles & bits of chicken? That might fill
her belly better.
Try to distract her by taking her to an indoor mall where they have a play
area.
I know you didn't ask this but we almost used general on our daughter when she was probably 4. Instead we found another pediatric dentist who says that's ridiculous and our daughter would be fine. He was right. If possible, make sure the general is unavoidable and not just an easy way for the dentist. Our original one wasn't great enough with kids to avoid the general while our current one is. I'm so glad we found him. Good luck! Otherwise agree with the early am appt...
Let her watch TV at the surgical place. Let her color, play toys, play on your laptop/cell phone/tablet, be cranky, etc...tell her the doc said she can't have anything and you have to do what the doc says. Don't make it "I" said anything. This is an easy one to let the hit go to someone else. She won't be mad at you.
There was an infant one time that had to have surgery and their appointment was at 9 or 10 in the morning. The doc had an emergency surgery and didn't get that baby back until after lunch. We all tried to entertain it so the parents wouldn't be so stressed. We all took turns making faces at her and trying to alleviate the stress as best as we could.
In these cases the little people should always go first unless the person in front of them is an emergency case. I'm so sorry you are going to have this happen.
Just know that she should wake up ready to go! Every time we've done the general anesthesia for dental work the kids were bouncing off the recovery bed wanting to go eat! They were rested and happy and hungry!!!
There are usually very few side effects to the general anesthesia. Gas, on the other hand, is often a nightmarish event for kids. They wake up and the gas lingers and lingers. Until their lungs clear out every little bit they are hallucinating and screaming banshees. The surgical center told us that's why they have recovery against the back wall as far as possible away from the front, they also have a back door for parents to take the kids out.
Gas was what the ear doc used to do tubes in our boys ears. He woke up screaming and grabbing on to us and begging us to not let him go. It was heart wrenching. They told us over half the kids wake up like this.
General anesthesia is awesome!!! I would never do gas if at all possible ever again.
Good luck with the kiddo.
Our pediatric dentist only takes kids under ten in the morning . That is so late for her . I would reschedule . By the way what does a three year old need anesthetic for ? A filling on a baby tooth ? Some of these dentists over fill kids teeth .
