Is tonsillitis life-threatening to your child? In most cases, no. However in the case of chronic tonsillitis, it can really make your child extremely miserable. Severe cases bring about a very painful sore throat and swollen glands at the back of the mouth, reducing the size of the throat cavity. High fevers usually follow leaving your child bedridden for days.
Tonsillitis generally begins with your child complaining that their throat hurts and they suffer from a loss of appetite. As the infection sets in, a high fever generally ensues and this goes on for a day, at most two. If you inspect your child's throat, you will most likely see inflamed and red or purple throat opening (a normal throat is usually reddish pink in color). You might also discover puss-covered and overly-enlarged glands if the infection is bad enough. In the case of severe tonsillitis, your child may suffer from a loss of voice due to the swollen glands. Some children have minor breathing difficulties because of the swelling and thus have an uneasy periods of sleep.
Since tonsillitis is quite a common occurrence especially with children under 10 years of age, you do not have to worry too much as it will pass and it is not life threatening. However you will need to make sure the child's fever does not run too high as that can caught severe brain and organ damage. Paracetamol is a good way to keep the fever down while drinking a lot of water is vital. While eating and swallowing will be difficult, you can help your child by giving him or her foods that are easy to take down and digest. Yogurt, oatmeal, porridge and some bread are all great examples of this. Most children love ice-cream and this is the perfect time for them to have it, as having something cold will ease the swelling of the tonsils. As tonsillitis can either be caused by bacteria or a virus, you should quarantine your child during this period and prevent him or her from coming into close contact with other children as the infection might spread.
If the condition persists for more than 4-5 days, it is recommended that you take your child to the doctor to have her checked out. This is especially true for toddlers as their immune system might not be as strong as older children. A visit to the doctor will be a painless procedure and he will usually do a cotton swab test where a sample of skin cells and saliva are taken at the back of the mouth and send to the laboratory for further examination just in case something more serious is at hand. A common treatment for bacteria infected tonsils is a dose of antibiotics where the treatment will last for several days. Usually, the infection would have subsided by then and all would be well. Just a note on taking antibiotics: be sure you have your child consume the pills exactly as prescribed and that the treatment is taken in full, even if he or she recovers beforehand.
If the infection is viral, there is nothing you or your doctor can do except to let the virus run it's course and in the meantime boost your child's immune system with strong doses of vitamin c. In the event of a viral throat infection, expect the severity of the symptoms to subside after about 5 to 7 days. Meanwhile, it is important that your child gets adequate rest during this time whilst refraining from vigorous activity. Make sure she drinks plenty of water as well to keep from dehydrating as high fevers generally cause lots of fluid-loss.
In some cases, some children might have reoccurring bouts of infection in their throats and even with several treatments of antibiotics, the tonsils keep getting infected. Since it's not advisable to be on powerful antibiotics for the long-term, your doctor may suggest your child to have minor tonsillectomy surgery which can be expensive and includes a rather painful 2 week recovery where . This surgery only benefits kids with chronic infections, whereby he or she suffers severe tonsillitis at least 7 times within a 12 month period. Most children do not require this and do grow out of it. Tonsil removal surgery is an absolute last resort and is a rather quick procedure lasting only about 20 minutes. Your child will be under a dose of anesthesia and will not feel the slightest pain. However when the anesthesia wears off swallowing becomes excruciating because of the open wound and will take about three weeks for a full recovery. In the meantime he or she may only eat foods that are easy to swallow.
The recovery after having a child's tonsils removed will be a tough one. The pain can be quite severe and it will be quite painful to swallow. You can give your child ice-cream (cold can help the post-operation swelling so subside a bit and also help numb the pain) to help soothe the throat and drink as much water as bearable in the first 2 days. After that, the child may attempt to eat some softer foods like pasta, porridge or mashed potatoes. - 30443
Tonsillitis generally begins with your child complaining that their throat hurts and they suffer from a loss of appetite. As the infection sets in, a high fever generally ensues and this goes on for a day, at most two. If you inspect your child's throat, you will most likely see inflamed and red or purple throat opening (a normal throat is usually reddish pink in color). You might also discover puss-covered and overly-enlarged glands if the infection is bad enough. In the case of severe tonsillitis, your child may suffer from a loss of voice due to the swollen glands. Some children have minor breathing difficulties because of the swelling and thus have an uneasy periods of sleep.
Since tonsillitis is quite a common occurrence especially with children under 10 years of age, you do not have to worry too much as it will pass and it is not life threatening. However you will need to make sure the child's fever does not run too high as that can caught severe brain and organ damage. Paracetamol is a good way to keep the fever down while drinking a lot of water is vital. While eating and swallowing will be difficult, you can help your child by giving him or her foods that are easy to take down and digest. Yogurt, oatmeal, porridge and some bread are all great examples of this. Most children love ice-cream and this is the perfect time for them to have it, as having something cold will ease the swelling of the tonsils. As tonsillitis can either be caused by bacteria or a virus, you should quarantine your child during this period and prevent him or her from coming into close contact with other children as the infection might spread.
If the condition persists for more than 4-5 days, it is recommended that you take your child to the doctor to have her checked out. This is especially true for toddlers as their immune system might not be as strong as older children. A visit to the doctor will be a painless procedure and he will usually do a cotton swab test where a sample of skin cells and saliva are taken at the back of the mouth and send to the laboratory for further examination just in case something more serious is at hand. A common treatment for bacteria infected tonsils is a dose of antibiotics where the treatment will last for several days. Usually, the infection would have subsided by then and all would be well. Just a note on taking antibiotics: be sure you have your child consume the pills exactly as prescribed and that the treatment is taken in full, even if he or she recovers beforehand.
If the infection is viral, there is nothing you or your doctor can do except to let the virus run it's course and in the meantime boost your child's immune system with strong doses of vitamin c. In the event of a viral throat infection, expect the severity of the symptoms to subside after about 5 to 7 days. Meanwhile, it is important that your child gets adequate rest during this time whilst refraining from vigorous activity. Make sure she drinks plenty of water as well to keep from dehydrating as high fevers generally cause lots of fluid-loss.
In some cases, some children might have reoccurring bouts of infection in their throats and even with several treatments of antibiotics, the tonsils keep getting infected. Since it's not advisable to be on powerful antibiotics for the long-term, your doctor may suggest your child to have minor tonsillectomy surgery which can be expensive and includes a rather painful 2 week recovery where . This surgery only benefits kids with chronic infections, whereby he or she suffers severe tonsillitis at least 7 times within a 12 month period. Most children do not require this and do grow out of it. Tonsil removal surgery is an absolute last resort and is a rather quick procedure lasting only about 20 minutes. Your child will be under a dose of anesthesia and will not feel the slightest pain. However when the anesthesia wears off swallowing becomes excruciating because of the open wound and will take about three weeks for a full recovery. In the meantime he or she may only eat foods that are easy to swallow.
The recovery after having a child's tonsils removed will be a tough one. The pain can be quite severe and it will be quite painful to swallow. You can give your child ice-cream (cold can help the post-operation swelling so subside a bit and also help numb the pain) to help soothe the throat and drink as much water as bearable in the first 2 days. After that, the child may attempt to eat some softer foods like pasta, porridge or mashed potatoes. - 30443
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