BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Researchers from Children's Hospital of Orange County have found that while parents are aware of their child's pain after surgery, many do not administer enough medication to adequately treat this pain.

A recent study followed 261 children who underwent a routine tonsillectomy and found that 86 percent of parents rated their children as experiencing significant pain.

However, a quarter of these parents gave their child only one dose of pain medication or no dose at all throughout the day.

Some parents said they had avoided giving the medication because they feared their child would become dependent on it, while other parents said they thought that prescription pain medication should be used only as a last resort.

Doctors suggested that providing parents with better education about round-the-clock pain management could help them give their children better at-home pain relief.