Why is general anesthesia usually required for pediatric surgery? Does anesthesia affect intelligence? Adults understand surgery, and although they are inevitably nervous, they can control themselves and cooperate to the maximum extent possible. However, children are different, especially those who have a strong fear of surgery, and children under 3 years old are more difficult to cooperate with the surgery and anesthesia, which will bring more risks and affect the results of the surgery and aesthetics. On the contrary, general anesthesia allows the pediatric patient to have no pain and no memory of the procedure. It not only allows the surgery to go smoothly, but also protects the child physically and mentally. Currently, there are no institutions in the world as well as information that suggests that children become stupid under regular anesthesia operations. The anesthesiologist will start the surgery by adjusting the medication so that the child will quickly enter a “painless deep sleep”, but at the same time ensure that the child has no pain, breathes steadily, has stable blood pressure, and relaxes his/her muscles during the surgery. The anesthesiologist will observe the child’s breathing, heartbeat and blood pressure throughout the surgery. At the end of the surgery, the child is slowly awakened from his/her “deep sleep”. Since the development of the child’s organs is still not perfect, the body’s compensatory function is poorer than that of adults, so pediatric anesthesia is indeed more risky than adult anesthesia. However, professional pediatric anesthesiologists will carefully select the indications and master the drug dosage, and will carefully observe the vital signs of the child during the operation. With professional pediatric anesthesiologists “escorting”, pediatric general anesthesia is still very safe, and will not affect intelligence or other long-term prognosis. What should I pay attention to before pediatric anesthesia? 1, fasting and drinking time: many parents feel sorry for their children, will secretly give their children some water, eat something. But this is actually very dangerous. If there is food inside the child’s stomach under anesthesia, it will return from the stomach to the mouth and then choke on the trachea, leading to blockage of the respiratory tract and causing hypoxia. In fact, every child will be hooked up to glucose before surgery. Glucose is energy, and although there will be hunger in the stomach, the child will not be weakened by fasting and abstaining from food and drink. Therefore, for the safety of your child, please observe the fasting and drinking time. Generally, children need to fast from food and water for 6-8 hours before surgery. Parents should strictly follow the time told by the doctor to give the child fasting water. 2.Prevent colds: If your child has a cold, fever (temperature >38 degrees), runny nose, or chest X-ray showing pneumonia before surgery, be sure to tell your anesthesiologist that surgery may have to be postponed. Because these conditions will increase airway reactivity, greatly increase the risk of anesthesia, and easy to respiratory distress during surgery. 3.Pre-anesthesia visit: Please pay attention to the anesthesiologist’s pre-surgery visit and tell the anesthesiologist about your child’s past medical history, including the history of allergy, asthma, family history, trauma, hepatitis, medication history and so on. The anesthesiologist can only assess the safety of anesthesia with a clear understanding of your child’s past medical history and physical condition, combined with physical examination, and plan the most suitable personalized anesthesia method and anesthesia medication for your child to reduce the chance of accidents. (1) Before entering the operating room, please change your child’s surgical gown. If there is no suitable one, please bring your own clean cotton clothes and pants, and the top should preferably be a cardigan, so that it is easy to put on and take off for your child. (2) Please remove all accessory items carried by your baby, such as bracelets, jade pendants and so on. If there are any braces for straight teeth, metal teeth, please contact your bedside doctor for proper solution. (3) Please tie the girl’s long hair into two pigtails on both sides. A ponytail in the center will be uncomfortable for your child to lie flat during surgery. Do not wear hairpins in your hair. Girls do not wear nail polish, it will interfere with vital sign monitoring. (4) If the child is in the period of tooth replacement or loose teeth, please inform the anesthesiologist in advance, loose too much during the operation will help the child to remove, so as not to fall into the esophagus or trachea during the operation. (5) Please keep your child’s wrist or ankle “wristband identification” with your child’s name, do not lose it. What should I pay attention to after pediatric anesthesia? 1, postoperative position: after surgery, the baby try to lie down, do not pad pillows. The head is slightly tilted back, so as to keep the airway most open. 2, postoperative breathing: pay attention to the baby’s lip color, if red, please do not worry, the baby is breathing well. If there is a sudden bruising of the lips, please call your healthcare provider immediately. It is possible that phlegm or other blockage of the airway, pediatric vital signs change quickly, please pay attention to observation. 3, postoperative eating time: baby can drink moderate amount of water after 2~4 hours after surgery, no vomiting and choking before eating anything else. Eating 6 hours after surgery. Try to eat fluids within 6 hours after surgery to prevent vomiting. 4, postoperative vomiting: if your baby vomits after surgery, immediately turn your baby’s head to the side, let him vomit, and help him clean up the vomit in his mouth to prevent accidental choking into the airway. 5, postoperative irritability: some babies will be a little irritable after surgery, please be careful not to let him scratch the wound, and to prevent falling out of bed. Irritability is a normal postoperative reaction and will return to normal within 24 hours, please do not worry.