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So my 3.5yo had his adenoids out in March (adenoids only, no tonsils). So, our ENT said there is a range of how fast kids recover, some are bopping around the next day, some not so much. My kid, not so much. I don't want to freak you out, but it was worse than we were expecting/were told, and this was just adenoids. Now, my son's adenoids were huge, swollen, inflamed and he had been sick for 6 months, so I think he had a lot of pain.

Ok - waking up from anesthesia was really rough, he was hysterical and inconsolable. They gave him morphine and that helped. Apparently at our surgery center they don't give them any pain meds except oral Motrin after they wake up?!?!?! Which is crazy to me! So ask about that. My son was just sobbing and moaning and the only thing he could say was "hurts, mouth hurts". After he got IV morphine, he slept about an hour and woke up a lot better (not great). Still did not want to drink.

He ran quite a high fever for about 4-5 days. I mean 103-104 fever. This is apparently a normal reaction from anesthesia but it was hard b/c he was up all night sobbing and miserable from the fever, but I didn't know if it was from the fever or from surgical pain or what.

We did tylenol/motrin round the clock - you may want something stronger for tonsils, I would, in case. My son DID NOT want to drink, so I bought a ton of different options. What actually worked the first 1-2 days post op was diluted Coke (caffeine free).

The final thing I'll say is that my son was just not getting better, still running high fevers, etc. and our ENT had to put him on antibiotics and steroids which helped A LOT. He got a post op infection/swelling, which is quite unusual. BUT if you feel like something isn't right, harass your ENT.

The surgery helped my son a lot and I wish we'd gotten his tonsils out at the same time, tbh.

My daughter had hers both tonsils and adenoids out on her 5th birthday. I was a mess. It was so hard to send her to surgery but it went really quickly. She was in lots of pain for about an hour after but recovered fairly quickly. She ended loving the hospital because she got so much attention from the nurses. Plus a ton of gifts because it was her birthday! Our doctor advised no visitors for 10 days after due to infection. The surgery made a world of difference. She had sleep apnea and was so lethargic all the time. She was instantly better once they were removed.

We did this almost a year ago with our then 3.5 year old. Skip dairy. Buy popsicles. She was tired of popsicles in about 24 hours. Only pain meds are OTC. Stay on top of them around the clock. Breath will be horrendous. Push fluids. The throat hurts more when it is dry. She wanted real food pretty quickly but we held off as long as possibly not wanting anything to scratch her throat. She was home a full week. I slept with her the first two nights to watch for fever, give meds and fluids. DH handled most of it as he stayed home. You will both survive. And day 3 I believe is the worst. So prepare for it and know after that point it gets better.

DS had tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes in ears last month. The recovery was a lot harder than I expected.

It took him a long time to come around from the anesthesia. They wouldn’t let him leave until he ate/drank 2 things. So a juice and a popsicle or 2 popsicles or whatever. He would kind of open his eyes and then go back to sleep. So we tried shoveling liquids in him and he just threw it all up. They said sometimes kids feel much better after throwing up. So again with juice and popsicles. And again he threw it all up. We almost didn’t make it out that day because it took forever for him to keep stuff down.

Then he was not himself for days. Th first morning he was screaming in pain and said he cried most of the night. He continued to be nauseous and throw up and barely wanted to eat anything. Day one he had a couple bites of ice cream and that was it. I think he barely ate for 3 days. Then he slowly got better. The nausea stopped and he was able to eat soft foods.

It was worth it though. The surgeon said behind his ears was filled with thick fluid and that his adenoids were gigantic (and blocking the fluid from draining). And he now has normal hearing for the first time in over a year.