Objective To investigate the effect of accelerated rehabilitation nursing intervention on postoperative recovery and aesthetics of children with cleft lip and palate plastic repair surgery. Methods A total of 150 children with cleft lip and palate plastic repair surgery in our hospital from January 2022 to December 2023 were selected as the research subjects, and they were divided into control group and experimental group by the random number table method, with 75 children in each group. The control group was given conventional nursing intervention, and the experimental group was given accelerated rehabilitation nursing intervention on the basis of the control group. The pain degree, recovery effect, negative emotions, family satisfaction and complications were compared between the two groups. Results The Wong-Baker score of the experimental group after nursing was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The scores of each dimension of recovery in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (P <0.05). The scores of SCARED and DSRSC in the experimental group after nursing were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). The scores of each dimension of family satisfaction in the experimental group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The incidence of complications in the experimental group was 10.67%, which was lower than 36.00% in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Accelerated rehabilitation nursing intervention can promote the postoperative recovery of children with cleft lip and palate plastic repair surgery, improve facial aesthetics, reduce postoperative pain degree, and improve the psychological state of the children, with lower incidence of complications and higher family satisfaction, which has good application value.