Surgery and use of anesthesia can upset the fluid balance of even well children undergoing elective surgery. If your child has outpatient surgery, he will come home a few hours after surgery. Maintaining hydration will be an important part of your job in helping him recover. Some surgeries, like tonsillectomies, make drinking painful. Anesthesia can also cause drowsiness or nausea that interferes with a child's interest in drinking. Ask your doctor about your child's fluid requirements after surgery.
Types of Fluids
Keeping your child hydrated doesn't mean giving him nothing but plain water. In fact, infants up to 12 months should not be given plain water, since it can upset their electrolyte balance. Anything liquid, including substances that dissolve into liquid, such as ice pops, counts as fluid. Soup, broth, gelatin, soda, juice, Popsicles and sherbet all count as part of your child's fluid intake. Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, installed slushy machines to increase children's hydration while hospitalized, especially after tonsillectomies.
Encouraging Fluids
Your child may want only a few sips of fluid at a time or just a few bites of a Popsicle. Trying to force a large amount of fluid at one time could cause vomiting. Rather than giving a child a large glass, give him a small juice glass of fluid. Let him have just a few bites of an ice pop rather than pushing him to eat the whole thing. Avoid red liquids, which may resemble blood if he vomits. Encourage frequent small amounts rather than large amounts at one time.
Timing
If your child had a tonsillectomy, he will have a sore throat for several days. Give pain medication as ordered by your child's doctor on a regular basis to decrease his pain and make him more willing to drink. Offering liquids 20 minutes or so after giving the pain medication allows the medication to take effect, which might increase your child's willingness to drink, Loyola University Health System suggests.
Signs of Dehydration
Watching for signs of dehydration after surgery helps prevent complications. If your child develops dry lips, urinates less than usual or has dark yellow urine, has skin that "tents" when you pinch it up, doesn't cry tears or becomes lethargic, he may be dehydrated. In an infant, the soft spot on the top of his head may become sunken. Call your doctor if you detect signs of dehydration in your child. Fever, vomiting or diarrhea can rapidly worsen dehydration; if your child has a fever, vomiting or diarrhea and becomes dehydrated, he may need intravenous fluids and hospitalization.
