Eating and Drinking Restrictions Before Surgery
On the day before surgery, you'll need to carefully follow any instructions your child's surgeon's office gave you at her preoperative appointment. These directions will include information about anesthesia and any eating or drinking restrictions for your child. It will also tell you if your child should take any of his usual medications.
If you have any questions at all about your child's eating and drinking restrictions, call your child's doctor immediately. If your child doesn't properly follow the preparation steps, she may experience complications during the surgery, or the surgery may have to be postponed.
General eating and drinking restrictions
Food
At 11 p.m. the evening before surgery, stop giving your child solid food, including:
- Any solid food
- Formula (see specific instructions below; also, breast-feeding can continue longer;)
- Juice with pulp (such as orange juice)
- Milk or milk products
- Hot or cold cereal
- Pudding
- Chewing gum
- Candy
Formula
If your infant is younger than 6 months old, stop giving her formula four hours before your arrival time. If she's 6 to 12 months old, stop giving her formula six hours before your arrival time. Do not give her cereal in her formula after 11 p.m. the night before her surgery.
Breast milk
If your child is breast-fed, you may continue to breast-feed her until three hours before her scheduled arrival time.
Clear liquids
Your child may have clear liquids — such as those listed below — until two hours before his scheduled arrival time:
- Apple juice
- GATORADE
- Pedialyte®
- White Grape juice
- Water
Two hours before your child's arrival time, stop giving her any liquids.
Medicines
Please do not give your child MOTRIN, ibuprofen, ADVIL, naproxyn, or ALEVE for three days before surgery. TYLENOL is fine up until and including the day of surgery. If your child develops any symptoms of illness (fever, cough, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea) on the day of surgery, please call 267-425-4700.
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