ears-kids-flying ??

[cruise cruise cruise]

Now that my kids are beyond pacifier age, they use a combination of gum, suckers and plug your nose and blow. So far success.

 

[Dorthyc]

I have had trouble with my ears all my life. I wear hearing aids, when I fly I use ear planes, afrin, and drink bottles of water with sport tops, if airport doesnt have sport tops I carry extras with me in my bag. and always go to ear dr before I fly in case of infection or clogged ears.
hope this helps

 

[mickeylovermomof3boy]

last time we flew i didn't know my son had an ear infection, the next day after we landed our son had blood coming out of his ear, dr said he had ruptered his ear drum. this next time we go we will get check up a wk before we fly to make sure everything is ok..

he never did complain though. we gave him a sippy cup when landing and taking off.

 

[Leafsgirl36]

When my son was little he had tubes in his ears and had ear pain when we flew, the ear doctor told me to give him a decongestant an hour before we took off and it worked like a charm. I have tried chewing gum, swallowing and every other method for clearing my ears, I now always take an advil cold and sinus before I fly and have never had a problem with my ears since.

 

[Whitewater]

As somebody pointed out earlier in the thread, it's not just kids that have this problem! I have narrow eustatian tubes (sp?) as well as chronically full sinuses, which does not make for a happy flying experience.

I don't know if they'll still do this on airlines, but my pediatrician recommended years ago that for the descent, to ask the cabin crew to get you two styrofoam (or whatever they use now!) cups, 2 towels that have been soaked with the boiling water they use for the coffee and wrung out well, and to then stuff the rags/towels into the bottom of the cups.

While still very hot, the cabin crew is supposed to give them to you, and you hold them tight against your ears so that your ears are surrounded as well as possible by the cups (you hold the side that you drink out of up to your skin) and that the rag-stuffed end is facing in towards your ears. My doctor said that the heat and humidity help everything open up.

I don't know if it was the placebo effect or what, but these really do help! Of course, you have to deal with the embarrassment of sitting there during the descent with styrofoam cups jammed up against your ears, but hey, whatever works! I also swallow a lot, and before I had fillings, I chewed gum. One memorable flight when I was a kid, our doctor had also recommended holding up horseradish under my nose -- it also clears sinuses.

So there I was, gripping my cups for dear life, chewing gum, and breathing in horseradish. My poor mom was holding the horseradish under my nose (it was in a jar, the strongest stuff she could find) and my father was giving the Look of Death to anybody who even thought of complaining. It was humiliating. But I survived pain free! The entire cabin reeked of horseradish by the time we landed and mom put the lid back on. She kept apologizing to everybody who passed us on the way out!

This was prior to the very strong decongestants and so on that we have now.

I will try the 'ear plane' things, the last time I flew by myself as an adult I literally passed out from the pain and when I came to, I couldn't use my left side for a good long while, which scared the attendants and they called the airport paramedics and everything -- an experience I don't want to repeat, primarily because the pressure inside my head was so bad I was sure I was going to die because my brain was going to explode. Or my eyeball.

I am willing to try anything that works, thanks for the tips!!! I'm going to subscribe to this thread


Whitewater

 

[tam626]

I took lollipops & airheads for my 3 yr old last year. It really did'nt seem to bother him much. I was surprised.

 

[WeLoveAriel0505]

Earplanes have worked well for my children

 

[debbiedana]

My MIL told me about earplanes, so I picked some up for our flight to California in January. NO PROBLEMS. First flight *ever* where I did not have a problem with my ears, and I tried everything. In fact, I almost always wind up with a sinus infection within days of a plane ride, but not since I started using Earplanes.