Talking to Your Child About Surgery
Talking to Your Child About Surgery
Having surgery can be a scary experience for a child. You are the person your child looks to in order to understand his or her world. The more comfortable and prepared you are for this experience, the more comfortable your child will be.
Child life specialists are trained in child development and support kids and teens in the hospital. They are here to help children understand their medical experiences and prepare them for what to expect. They often use play and distraction to help kids cope with hospital stressors. Call Child Life at 734-232-5057 to discuss the preparation option that would be best for your family. Pre-surgery tours are available and can be scheduled with Child Life Monday through Friday.
Your child’s care team will include nurses, doctors, anesthesiologists, and child life specialists. You may also ask to speak with a social worker or chaplain. Everyone is here to help.
Learn more about how to help your child prepare for surgery with the helpful Pediatric Surgery Resources below.
Getting Ready
- Be honest with your child about coming to the hospital for surgery.
- Have frequent conversations with your child about coming to the hospital for surgery. Give your child time to think about what you have said and ask what he or she may be thinking.
- Use short, simple words to help your child understand why he or she needs this procedure (i.e. the doctors are going to help your body breathe better and stay healthy by taking your tonsils out).
- Bring your child’s comfort items (i.e. blanket, pacifier, stuffed animal, tablet). If your child is old enough, let him or her choose what to bring.
- Do not make promises or offer choices if there is not a choice. If you don’t know the answer to your child’s question, you can promise to get more details.
- Prepare yourself. Be informed and calm. Your child senses your feelings and watches for your anxiety or fear.
- Use your child’s toys or comfort items as a distraction from changes in routine.
- Ease your child’s fears by letting the staff demonstrate something on you.
- Schedule a pre-surgery tour close to your child’s surgery date.
- Begin talking to your child several days before his or her surgery.
- Use a toy medical kit to play doctor with your child.
- Recommended books about doctors and hospitals
- Schedule a pre-surgery tour a week or two before your child’s surgery.
- Begin talking to your child a few weeks before their surgery.
- Read or offer books about doctors and hospitals.
- Encourage creative expression through play, journaling, and art.
- Remember that teens are often concerned with things that affect their social life, image, and appearance. Include them in decision making and involve them in planning their surgery.
- Many teens will search the internet. Instead, encourage them to write down questions or concerns to ask the medical team.
- Respect your teen’s need for privacy.
Anesthesia
Our number one goal is to keep your child safe and his or her pain controlled. On the morning of your visit, you and your child will meet with the anesthesiologist (the doctor who will give anesthesia to make your child fall asleep). He or she will discuss your child’s anesthesia care (the process of giving sleep medicine to your child). This doctor will talk to you about:
- The safest anesthesia care for your child
- How the medicine will be given (through a breathing mask or an IV)
- What we will do to ease your child’s anxiety
- Whether you can stay with your child while the medicine is given
- When you will be with your child again
We know that anesthesia can be scary for children. That’s why we work hard to ease your child’s fears, and yours as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Children must have an empty stomach to receive anesthesia for their safety. Due to the risk of serious lung problems from vomiting or regurgitation, surgery will be cancelled or delayed if your child eats or drinks past the specified time. Be sure to follow your eating and drinking guidelines.
Most kids can eat after surgery is done and they wake up. They can have sips of water, juice, ice chips, and even popsicles.
At the hospital, there are special places for each part of the surgery day. The pre-op bay is to get ready, the operating room for the procedure, and the recovery room to wake up from anesthesia. There are also rooms for kids that get to spend the night in the hospital.
There's a team of nurses and doctors that will take care of your child. They wear hospital clothes called scrubs and will meet you in the pre-op bay. There will also be other kids who will be having a procedure the same day.
Being in a medicine sleep with anesthesia makes sure you won’t feel anything. With anesthesia, children do not have to worry about holding still or wondering how long it will take. The anesthesia team will make sure your child stays asleep until surgery is done. Explain that “medicine sleep” is not like regular sleep.
The anesthesia team will make sure you stay asleep until the surgery is done. It is their job to make sure your child has exactly the right amount of medicine to stay asleep with anesthesia. When the surgery is done, they will stop the anesthesia and your child will wake up.
Your medical team knows your child doesn’t like shots. He/she has many ways to help your child get medicine. They might swallow it, breathe it through a mask or get it through an IV. No matter how they get their medicine, the medical team will work to keep them comfortable.
An IV is a tiny straw that is placed into your vein. It works like a special drinking straw for your body. After this straw is in place, children do not taste the medicine. An IV lets doctors give medicine even when your child is asleep.
Maybe. Your child might need an IV to help your child’s body be safe during surgery. For younger children, the IV may be started after they are asleep. They will wake up and find it taped in place and working already. If your child will receive anesthesia through an IV, we will start the IV before they are asleep. We will make every effort to limit discomfort caused from starting the IV. Once in place, other needle pokes are not usually needed. We have ways to make starting IVs easier.
It feels different to wake up from anesthesia. It’s hard to think and know what’s going on. Children tell us they feel sleepy or groggy after they wake up. Some say they are dizzy, can’t think, or just don’t like it. Often they are grumpy. Assure your child that you will be there soon to help them, and if something hurts, we can give them medicine.
After surgery, your child will feel different. Children need to know it’s okay to talk about pain. Explain that it’s the child’s job to tell us if he or she hurts. Assure your child that we have medicine to help make them more comfortable. Different surgeries or treatments have different pain levels. Ask your doctor what to expect.
As soon as your child’s nurses and doctors say it’s ok. Let your child know if they will stay in the hospital overnight. Kids who spend the night in the hospital are moved to another room when they are ready. Parents can stay overnight too. If your child is going home on the same day, they can get dressed and a nurse will go over how to care for them at home. Your child will get to ride out to their car in a wheelchair.
