More young children are undergoing tonsillectomy, driven by sleep-disordered breathing concerns. Their specific risks are not well described.

A retrospective review was conducted of children aged 1–23 months undergoing tonsillectomy at one institution between 2014 and 2018.

A total of 157 children were identified (3.9 per cent of all tonsillectomies in those aged 0–16 years). Sixty-seven per cent were male. The youngest child was six months old; the smallest weighed 6.9 kg. Sixty-eight (43.3 per cent) had co-morbidities. The indication for tonsillectomy was sleep-disordered breathing in 94 per cent; 29.9 per cent had co-existing airway lesions, mostly laryngomalacia and tracheobronchomalacia. Of the children, 83.4 per cent were managed post-operatively on the surgical ward, and 63.7 per cent stayed 1 night. Emergency paediatric intensive care unit admission occurred in 3.8 per cent. Early respiratory complications and emergency paediatric intensive care unit admission were more common if the patient was medically complex, aged less than 18 months or weighed less than 12 kg. Re-operation for bleeding occurred in 1.9 per cent.

Most children stay 1 night on a general ward, with an uneventful course. Complications are occasionally severe, mostly in the very young and medically complex.