Caring for Your Child After a Tonsillectomy

Your child had a tonsillectomy (surgery to take out the tonsils). You can help them recover by giving the pain medicine as directed and making sure they get enough to drink. They should feel better within a week or so. Follow these instructions as you care for your child.

Care Instructions

General Care

  • Have your child rest at home in the days following surgery and take it easy for 1–2 weeks.
  • Don't let your child blow their nose for the first 2 weeks after surgery as this could lead to bleeding in the throat. They can wipe their nose gently with a clean tissue if needed.
  • Your child can bathe or shower as usual when they feel up to it.
  • Your child can return to school or daycare when they can eat normally, are sleeping well, and don't need pain medicine. Usually, this is a week or more after surgery.
  • Check with your surgeon about when it's OK for your child to go back to gym class and sports.
  • Your child may have bad breath, white patches on the back of the throat, or a change in the tone of their voice while they're healing. This is all normal and should go away within 2 weeks.

Pain Control 

  • Follow the surgeon's schedule for giving medicine for throat, neck, and ear pain. It's important to give these on time in the first few days after surgery because pain will make it harder for your child to drink.
  • Pain medicine may include acetaminophen (such as Tylenol® or a store brand), ibuprofen (such as Advil®, Motrin®, or a store brand), or prescription pain medicine. Some pain medicines include the same or similar ingredients. To avoid giving too much, give the medicines exactly as your surgeon recommends.
  • When your child's pain starts to get better (after about 3–5 days), you can start to give the medicine only as needed for pain.

Preventing Dehydration

  • For the first 3 days at home, offer a drink every hour that your child is awake. Try water, apple juice, broth, or oral rehydration solutions (such as Pedialyte®, Enfalyte®, or a store brand). 
  • Your child can eat once they feel up to it, but it may take a day or two for them to want to eat. At first, offer soft foods like flavored gelatin, ice pops, ice cream, or frozen yogurt, mashed potatoes, soup, or pudding. As they do OK with soft foods, they can slowly go back to their regular diet. 

Call Your Health Care Provider if...

Your child:

  • gets a new or worsening fever
  • throws up (vomits) more than once on the day of surgery
  • throws up at all in the days after the surgery
  • has pain not controlled by pain medicines
  • won't drink anything
  • has blood-tinged throw-up or spit

Go to the ER if...

Your child:

  • shows signs of dehydration, such as a dry or sticky mouth, peeing less often than usual, dark pee, sunken eyes, or crying with little or no tears
  • spits out or throws up blood
  • throws up something that looks like coffee grounds
  • has trouble breathing or is breathing very fast

More to Know

What are the tonsils? They're lumps of tissue on both sides of the back of the throat and are part of the body's germ-fighting immune system. The body has many ways to fight germs, so taking out the tonsils doesn't make your child more likely to get infections. But your child can still get sore throats, colds, and throat infections just like kids who have their tonsils.

Why are tonsils removed? In kids, it's usually done because they have:

  • tonsils that are very big and/or block normal breathing, which can lead to obstructive sleep apnea (pauses in breathing for short periods during sleep)
  • frequent throat infections

What problems can happen after a tonsillectomy? Most kids recover from a tonsillectomy without any problems. Some kids get dehydrated if the pain after surgery makes them not want to drink. Less often, someone can have bleeding or an infection.