You’ve probably been counting sore throats in your head. Put in the actual number, and I’ll show you — in one line — where your child’s count sits against the exact threshold ENT surgeons use, plus the sleep question the count alone misses. This helps you prepare for the appointment. It can’t decide whether your child needs surgery — only a doctor who examines them can.
If your child is struggling to breathe, drooling and can’t swallow, has blue lips, can’t be woken, or is bleeding heavily from the mouth after recent surgery — don’t use this tool. Call 000 now.
This may need urgent help right now.
From what you’ve described, this can be a sign of something that needs to be seen urgently — not something to wait for the next appointment.
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Just to check — is this happening right now, or is it something to ask the GP about?
This tool helps you prepare — it can’t tell if something is urgent. If you’re worried right now, call 000 or your GP.
Dr HB Lo · Integrative GP
Tonsils: where your child’s count sits · generated
General information to help you prepare for your child’s appointment. Not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an emergency service. Only a doctor who examines your child can decide if surgery is right. If your child is seriously unwell, call 000.
Where your count sitsdrhblo.com/tools
Your child
What this means
Where this sits
Throat infections, last 12 months
surgeons’ line 7 / year
07+
Window
Threshold
Your child
Last 12 months
7 episodes
5/yr across 2 years
5 each year
3/yr across 3 years
3 each year
There are two separate reasons tonsils come out. The throat-infection count is one path — your child’s path is the other.
Path A
Recurrent throat infections
Counted against the 7-in-a-year threshold. Not the relevant question for your child right now.
Path B — your child’s path
Breathing in sleep
Snoring with gasping or pauses is judged differently — by what’s happening at night, not by a count.
▲ This is the path to raise
The honest part
What to ask at the appointment
Email the one-page count to bring to the appointment.
A clean printable: your child’s episode count, where it sits against the surgical threshold, the sleep question, and the questions to ask — sized for the ENT’s desk.
That doesn’t look like an email — want to try again, or just screenshot it?
I’ll also send the occasional drhblo email. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sent — check your inbox. Here’s your card again so you can screenshot it now.
This counts the throat infections. The full tonsils decision kit walks the sleep-study question, the BRAN questions for surgery, and what recovery actually looks like — and the children’s health decisions hub gathers the rest.
General information — not a decision about your child, and not a substitute for seeing someone.