It is can be very unnerving time as a parent or guardian supporting a children before and after an operation or procedure. Fortunately children tend to cope very well and recover rapidly from operations and anaesthesia.

Fasting children is a struggle and we try to minimise the impact of this. The list order is normally done according to age, with the youngest first.

Going off to sleep is very variable and depends very much on the child. Dr Hunt has no one size fits all technique and will decide what is best for your child in the moment. Having a calm parent or guardian present is usually very helpful. Often Dr Hunt gets the children to breath of a mask to go off to sleep. For some children going of to sleep with a little drip is better. As a parent, watching this can be very upsetting. In the process of going odd to sleep it is common that some children may cry, move about and resist the process. However the team is focussed entirely on your child, and so as soon as we are underway and your child is getting sleepy the team will show you outside so we can focus solely on looking after your child.

During the anaesthetic Dr Hunt will give pain killers and medications to reduced the chance of your child feeling sick. Your child will wake up shortly after the operation is done and be transferred to the recovery room. Once they are starting to wake, you will be called in. It is great to have a parent to be able to comfort a child as they wake up. Sometimes children can be a bit confused or upset on waking, but normally settle down quite rapidly with a parent and a drink.