Objective To explore the nursing effect of childlike care in children with appendicitis after operation, so as to provide reference for clinical optimization of nursing program. Methods This study was a randomized controlled trial. A total of 91 children with appendicitis admitted to Henan Children's Hospital from January 2020 to January 2023 were prospectively selected as the research objects and were divided into an observation group and a control group by the random number table method. In the control group, 15 boys and 30 girls, aged (8.56±2.06) years, received routine nursing. In the observation group, 18 boys and 28 girls, aged (9.15±2.22) years, were given childlike care based on the control group; both groups continued to be intervened until the children were discharged from hospital. The clinical indicators (exhaust time, bowel sound recovery time, defecation time, and hospitalization time), emergence agitation and postoperative behavior changes, medical compliance, pain degrees 2 h, 6 h, and 24 h after operation, and incidence of complications were compared between the two groups. χ2 test, rank sum test, t test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used. Results The exhaust time, bowel sound recovery time, defecation time, and hospitalization time in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group [(26.61±3.51) h vs. (28.51±4.21) h, (20.35±5.18) h vs. (22.40±4.25) h, (48.52±3.46) h vs. (51.24±5.10) h, 5.00 (4.00, 6.00) d vs. 6.00 (5.00, 7.00) d], with statistically significant differences (t=2.343, P=0.021; t=2.064, P=0.042; t=2.984, P=0.004; Z=5.121, P<0.001). The Pediatric Anesthesia Emergence Delirium Scale (PAED) score and the incidence of postoperative behavioral changes in the observation group were 13.00 (12.00, 14.00) points and 47.83% (22/46), which were lower than those in the control group [14.00 (13.00, 16.00) points and 73.33% (33/45)], with statistically significant differences (Z=5.341, P<0.001; χ2=6.122, P=0.013). The medical compliance of the observation group was significantly better than that of the control group, with a statistically significant difference (Z=2.038, P=0.042). The pain scores of the observation group 2 h, 6 h, and 24 h after operation were 3.50 (3.00, 5.00) points, 3.00 (2.00, 4.00) points, and 2.00 (1.00, 3.00) points, those of the control group were 5.00 (4.00, 5.00) points, 3.00 (3.00, 4.00) points, and 3.00 (2.00, 4.00) points, and the intergroup, time point, and intergroup and time point interaction tests showed statistically significant differences (χ2=204.912, P<0.001; χ2=6.801, P=0.033; χ2=46.483, P<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of complications between the observation group and the control group [4.35% (2/46) vs. 8.89% (4/45), χ2=0.775, P=0.379]. Conclusion The implementation of childlike care is helpful to improve the postoperative medical compliance in children with appendicitis, shorten the time of hospitalization and gastrointestinal function recovery, alleviate the restlessness in the recovery period, reduce the postoperative behavior changes, and reduce the pain in children.