Caring for Your Child After an Upper Endoscopy and Colonoscopy

What to Expect

• Your child may notice a mild sore throat. Gargling with lightly salted water or sucking on hard candy may help.

• Your child may have a feeling of fullness or gas pains. Walking around can help relieve these pains.

• Your child may not have a bowel movement for 1-2 days.

• If biopsies were taken, your child may have a small amount of rectal bleeding.

At Home

• Rest today. Your child may resume her normal daily routine the next day.

• Your child may resume her routine medicines unless told otherwise.

• Your child may resume her normal diet.

• Your child may have some soreness and redness at the IV site for a day or two. Placing a warm, moist washcloth over the site can help relieve pain. Please contact your child’s doctor if this does not get better in a couple of days.

• Do not make any important decisions today or return to school.

• If the doctor took biopsies, you will get the results within 1-2 weeks.

• Your child can take Tylenol® as needed for pain.

• Your child should take Maalox®/Mylanta® per instructions on the bottle to coat the throat and help with pain.

When to Call

• Vomiting blood

• Bloody stools

• Chest pain

• Severe abdominal pain or extreme bloating

• Large amount of rectal bleeding (greater than 1-2 tablespoons)

• Fever over 101⁰ F or chills

Who to Call

If you have questions or concerns, please call your child’s doctor or the Pediatric GI Clinic.

Doctor _____________________

Pediatric GI Clinic
Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
(608) 890-9400

After clinic hours, this number will be answered by the paging operator. Ask for the GI doctor on call. Leave your name and phone number with the area code. The doctor will call you back.

If you live out of area, please call 1-800-323-8942.

If you are a patient receiving care at UnityPoint – Meriter or a health system outside of UW Health, please use the phone numbers provided in your discharge instructions for any questions or concerns.