earplugs for 7 mo old? aka protecting young hearing

[megrod74]

We are bringing our DD to WDW in Sept and I'm worried about how loud many of the shows and rides are.

Are there child safe earplugs? I'm thinking these would be a choking hazard. What do others recommend?

[glass slipper girl]

In my pre-stay at home mom life, I was an audiologist. I guess technically I still am, just not practicing at the moment!

The shows and attractions are loud, but they are not loud enough to cause any damage. Getting a 7 month old to wear ear plugs of any sort is a challenge as well! If you are concerned about noising upsetting baby, you could use something like the Ear Band-It (http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/earbanearret.html) but it isn't going to reduce the sound by much.

[sara74]

Well, you already heard from the expert, but my 2 cents agrees with hers, for what it's worth. We didn't feel that any of the shows were overly loud and our kids were not bothered by the noise at all. They are both pretty sensitive to sound, always telling me to turn the stereo down!

Good for you for being so proactive! Hope you have a great trip!

[molly2004]

When we took our boys (they were 11 mos), we cupped their ears with our hands whenver we could. Sometimes you can kind of tell that something is going to happen that would generate loud noises. Sometimes you catch 'em, sometimes you don't.

Good luck and ahve fun!

[alloyd1170]

I usually cup my kids ears too, but I also got them child size ear protectors. Weve gone to a few Nascar races, and I sometimes do some range shooting so they needed something better. The protectors are the type with the adjustable headband and insulated plastic cup type things over the ears. Im sure you could find them on the web, or try a gun store or Walmart. The kid sizes might be hard to come by in a store though.

alison

[megrod74]

wow - thanks for all the advice!

[Addicted2TheMouse]

I've got these for my DS.

http://www.peltor.se/int/Product.asp?PageNumber=154&ProductCategory_Id=56&Product_Id=73

I got them on Ebay. We took him to WDW when he was almost 6 months and the loud noises really scared him. I hadn't noticed how loud everything was until I brought a baby there. I would definitely recommend these, especially for fireworks or Fantasmic.

[MagikMom]

Hi. Just some advise from a pediatric nurse here. MAJOR CHOKING HAZARD :crazy2: for that age. You can just cup your hand over the ears if it's too loud.