Well, I just spent all day yesterday looking after five children who had their adenoids and tonsils out, so I might be able to offer some advice...

The surgery is usually offered to children who have repetitive bouts of tonsillitis that are interfering with schooling, or that are causing significant sleep difficulties. There are some risks involved - the main one being bleeding - but these complications are rare, and your child will be kept in hospital overnight and closely monitored to keep that from happening.

The best thing you can do to help your little one recover quickly is to make sure they eat foods. Some surgeons suggest sticking to soft and cool foods, but there is no evidence that eating a normal diet causes any problems. The important thing is that they eat something, as soon as possible after the operation, and keep eating afterwards when they go home, and the best way to ensure this happens is to give them regular pain relief for the 48-72 hours after the operation. While they are in hospital they should be given their pain relief regularly, and once you go home you should continue it. Most surgeons recommend paracetamol or codeine for pain relief, and you should not give any nurofen, ibuprofen, or aspirin for at least 14 days after the operation.

Good stories? Well, of the five children I looked after yesterday, three of them barely even cried after they came back to the ward; two of them were quite upset but settled down within half an hour of coming back to the ward; and all of them were eating chips, biscuits, and sandwiches by the end of the evening.

The benefits to sleeping and attention might not appear at first; initially, they have a lot of swelling where the tonsils were and this takes a few days to settle down, and depending on the surgical technique there may be some burned tissue or clots at the back of the throat that can take 10-14 days to peel away. But after that, you'll find they will start sleeping better, be better behaved during the day because they're not so tired, and grow like they've been fertilised because they're not using all of their energy to fight off tonsillitis.