7 yr old daughter had fundiplication surgery

Hi everyone, so glad I found you all! My 7 yr old daughter had her fundiplication surgery 6 days ago. Although we had a great , experienced Dr., we did not get a lot of advice as far as diet goes. She did not eat or drink at all the first day, the next day was liquid only diet and the day she left the hospital she had some mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. We were told to see what soft type foods she could tolerate when we got home. She has been eating soups, small pieces of chicken, small pasta noodles cut up , juices, and ice cream with no issues. Today she had a small piece of a very mushy toaster strudel and she has had mucas type spit in her mouth several times.I guess that food was a mistake. She says nothing hurts so that is a good thing . Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I feel like I just dont know enough.

Post Edited (lorene desjardins) : 3/3/2013 2:05:33 PM (GMT-7)

thank you very much. I was letting her drink apple juice from a straw, I had not thought of that as adding air to her stomach. Amazing what Dr. dont tell us.

lorene desjardins

Welcome to Healing Well.

For the first couple months stay away from soft bread and solid meats, ground is Ok.

Remind her to chew,chew,chew. Anything that can be chewed to basically a liquid is alright. Toast is usually ok as it can be chewed to a liquid. While she is healing it's important to get calories. Puddings and such are good. Also only small amounts at a time. Like 1/4 to 1/2 cup, but 4 to 6 times a day.

Keep her hydrated! If she gets dehydrated she will feel much worse. Room temp is best to drink. Also something warm before eating can help relax things in there so food goes down easier.

Remember this is a long recovery. Things can get worse about 2 to 3 weeks due to peak swelling.

Here is a link to another of our Mod's recovery journal.
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=2183443


Also, don't worry about asking questions. That's why a lot of us are here for. Feel free to email me anytime. My email is on my profile and it's under my user name, the envelope.

Oh, if something does ever get stuck, try to get her to relax and take swallows of warm water to help push it by. Sometimes the esophagus will bring it back up. It's not vomiting, but more like the esophagus reversing gears. We usually refer to it to be like a cat with a hairball,

I assume she had it done lap. The left upper incision can be sore for a way onger time than the others. It's because that one was for holding the liver out of the way and had a lot more pressure on it. Ice and a heating pad can help a lot too.

I found that sleeping more upright was more comfy than laying flat. Since she is so young she will probably bounce back much quicker than us adults.

Remember that full healing takes about a year. Most of the healing will be done in the first 6 months though. Be patient.

Take care,
Bill

lorene desjardins
You are very welcome, we try to help all we can.
No she definitely isn't ready to eat like that yet, not for a while anyways. BE prepared for some sort of setback around 2 to 3 weeks. It may not happen with her, but adults usually feel good the first week and then at the 2 to 3 week mark start to feel worse again. This is from the swelling peaking. Then it gradually gets better from there.
It's so hard to tell though with kids. She may not have much of an issue at all unlike us adults. I hope this is the case.

Take care,
Bill