Magnetic resonance imaging can be used to diagnose more specific diseases such as hidden spina bifida or brain injuries, for example, and, therefore, it is widely used to replace other simpler diagnostic tests, such as ultrasound or X-ray.
However, magnetic resonance imaging, although it seems more complicated and needs more preparation, presents little risk to the child because it is a painless test that does not need to be done under general anesthesia, being used only a mild sedative in children under 4 years old for fall asleep and make the experience more enjoyable.
How to prepare the baby for MRI
The preparation of the baby or child should start the day before the exam to ensure the success of the MRI scan and to prevent it from having to be repeated.
The day before the exam
The day before the exam it is important to let the baby sleep less hours than he is used to, to stay sleepy during the exam. A good tip is to put your baby to bed an hour later than usual and wake him up an hour early.
In addition, it is important to respect fasting if sedation is necessary, avoiding the presence of food in the stomach that can be sucked into the lungs while the baby sleeps. Thus, the recommended fasting times are:
- 6 hours before the exam: do not offer any food, but you can give breast milk, water, tea with or without sugar or homemade whey.; 4 hours before the exam: offer only water, tea or homemade serum; 2 hours before the exam: do not offer any kind of food or liquid.
In this way, to prevent the baby or child from becoming dehydrated due to fasting, you can offer water or homemade serum up to 2 hours before the exam. See how the whey is made in: Recipe for homemade whey.
In some cases, the pediatrician may advise that the preparation for the exam is done in the hospital, so the baby may need to be admitted to the hospital for a few hours before the exam. However, at least one parent is also allowed to stay in the hospital.
On exam day
On the day of the examination, if hospitalization was not necessary, it is advisable to arrive at the hospital 30 minutes before the resonance so that the medical team can prepare the baby properly and so that the child has time to adapt to the hospital environment and stay more calm.
On this day, the baby should not wear clothes with clasps, pins or other metals because the MRI machine uses magnets that can pull this type of material, which can hurt the child. However, all children and babies are seen by a nurse to ensure that there are no metals in clothing or metal implants in the child, such as a pacemaker or bone prosthesis, for example.
After preparation, the nurse will give the sedative, in the form of syrup, which should be ingested by the baby a few minutes before starting the exam to prevent it from getting agitated inside the machine and altering the results, forcing you to repeat the resonance.
During MRI, parents can stay close to the baby to ensure their safety and avoid anxiety, however, they must also remove all metal objects, such as watches, glasses or rings.
After the exam
After doing the MRI, it is normal for the child to take about 2 hours to wake up and, for this reason, he may be hospitalized during this time until he wakes up and is able to breastfeed or eat without vomiting.
Thus, normally, the baby returns home on the same day, but may experience more sleepiness during the first 24 hours due to the effect of sedation, and it is recommended to redouble attention during this period and avoid leaving the child playing alone.
However, the baby can go to the nursery, kindergarten or school 2 days after the exam as the effects of sedation have already disappeared and no special care is needed.
