Has anyone used Earplanes for their kids?

[HeatherC]

Hi - I have never tried these before but two of my kids hate how their ears hurt when flying so I thought I would try to find them before we leave Tuesday.

Do any of you have any experience with them? Would you know if CVS or Walgreens, etc. carry them? If not where can I get them?

Thanks so much for your replies!
HeatherC

 

[Hunnybee]

I bought them once for my son (at a store called Meijer -- it's a Midwest store -- I'm not sure where you're from) for our trip. He didn't like having them in his ears and asked me to take them out. However, he didn't have any problems with his ears. My daughter did -- but she was an infant at the time so I didn't use them with her. This trip I will buy them for her (she'll be almost 3) just in case. I know that the Walgreens by my in-laws in Florida sold them the last trip we were on.

I, personally, love them! They help me tremendously! The only thing I don't like about them is that you really can't hear very well when they are in. But, I had one terrible experience flying -- where my ear pain literally left me in tears! -- and now I always use them. One thing to keep in mind is that it really is best to leave them in the whole flight. It says to put them in 30 minutes before landing, I think. But, I did that one time and then we started our descent and I was in a lot of pain. Airplanes start descending a long time before they actually land!

I would definitely try them for your kids! They aren't terribly expensive -- so if you don't use them or they don't like them, you aren't out a whole lot.

 

[PixiePop]

I used them on my 5 yr old DS on our first trip, it seemed to work well.

 

[GatorGal]

I put them in DD6's ear on our flight to FLA in November and she threw up. She's never done that before and didn't have a problem on the way home when I didn't use them. She didn't complain of being sick or look at all pale so I'm almost positive that it was the earplanes that did it. We were flying jetblue and she'd eaten their blue chips...who knew they'd come up pink.

Needless to say I don't recommend them.

 

[rhiannonwales]

My DS and DH both use them.. DH has chronic sinus problems so flying is always painful, but the earplanes work well for him.Like the other poster says you should leave them in the whole flight for best effectivness, unless your flight is long.We fly from NJ, and its about 2.5 hours so its more logical to leave them in.IF it ws a longer flight i imagine you could take them out but put them back about 60 min. before landing.
My son used them when he was 2 (hes now 7) and he had no problem with them - but hes not the type to be bothered by sensations.A sensitive child might ind them uncomfortable.
Sherrie

 

[rhiannonwales]

I put them in DD6's ear on our flight to FLA in November and she threw up. She's never done that before and didn't have a problem on the way home when I didn't use them. She didn't complain of being sick or look at all pale so I'm almost positive that it was the earplanes that did it. We were flying jetblue and she'd eaten their blue chips...who knew they'd come up pink.

Needless to say I don't recommend them.

Not to say i dont believe you gatorgal, but it might be that your DD has a sensitive inner ear (i.e. equilibrium) since earplanes are designed to adjust pressure inside your ear, its possible that it messed up her equilibrium and caused her to vomit.In that case id say that she is better of without the earplanes, but i dont know that it means they are bad for everyone.
Sherrie

 

[llp479]

We use them for 2 of our dds. Wouldn't fly without them after listening to dd scream for 30 minutes in pain on a flight. I've bought them at Walgreens, CVS, Target and the airport.

 

[snowwite]

we use them for whole family.I have had several ear surgeries and ENT doc recommended them.I buy an extra set and have given them to other family when a howling child is seated near us on plane.Too bad airlines dont give them out! Sometimes you can get multipack set on amazon cheap.Be careful to get child size for smaller kids.My DS is 13 and already needs adult ones.

 

[onlyoneforme]

We used them the past 3 trips for my DH, DD, and myself and LOVE them! We haven't had a problem since using them...make sure you put them in before the cabin door closes and they begin to pressurize the cabin though...we also keep them in the entire flight and take them out after they open the cabin door. They work GREAT...we can all sleep until the brakes hit the tarmak without any swallowing, yawning, or chewing gum like a feign!
Hope this Helps!

 

[lauritagoddess]

I'm surprised so many people love them, and that the kids like them too. I wore them for one flight only and they hurt my ears so badly. My ears were sore for at least a day after wearing them. I couldn't imagine a child wearing them. Maye I just have very sensitive ears?

As an aside, is there any difference with pressure in the ears for a child with tubes in his ears?

 

[RangerPooh]

What exactly are Earplanes? How well do they work on 12mo olds? And where can I find them? Thanks.

 

[GatorGal]

Not to say i dont believe you gatorgal, but it might be that your DD has a sensitive inner ear (i.e. equilibrium) since earplanes are designed to adjust pressure inside your ear, its possible that it messed up her equilibrium and caused her to vomit.In that case id say that she is better of without the earplanes, but i dont know that it means they are bad for everyone.
Sherrie

I was just sharing my experience, but thanks for mentioning that about her ears. I'll have to look into that. I mentioned it to her docter last week when she was at ther annual checkup, but dr did not comment.

I'd never heard of them before until I saw them on this board (which prompted me to try them) and someone had posted that they made their child nauseous, otherwise I might not have put the two together.

 

[momto2girls]

I think Earplanes are great. I use them myself. Unfortunately, they help my situation, but not enough. I still have bad ear pain (although less so) when I use them. So, I went to see an ENT. He put me on a whole pre-flight regimen of nasal sprays, Sudafed, etc. in addition to the Earplanes to open up my sinus cavities. It really seemed to help a lot on our last flights.

My girls (2 and 5) both have ear pain (although not as bad as mine). I bought them both Earplanes the last time we flew and they really seemed to help!! They both wanted to wear them. I also gave the 5 year old some Dimetapp, so that certainly helped as well.

 

[Mish]

I tried them on our last flight and they didn't work. My son usually screams during landing. One fell out when we were landing. Funny thing my son took a sip of water and it made his ear pop so he kept sipping and he didn't shed a tear landing and this is from a kid who cries like he is in so much pain when landing. So hopefully our next flight the water sips will work.

 

[PJMeadows]

We used them on our DS - 7 months old on a flight to Europe. I ran into a pharmacist who used them for her infant daughter (though the box says they are not for kids that young). I thought we would give them a try and I'm glad we did. They seemed to work well and he didn't seem to have the discomfort of all the other crying babies.

 

[Beetle]

I'm surprised so many people love them, and that the kids like them too. I wore them for one flight only and they hurt my ears so badly. My ears were sore for at least a day after wearing them. I couldn't imagine a child wearing them. Maye I just have very sensitive ears?

As an aside, is there any difference with pressure in the ears for a child with tubes in his ears?

DD5's ENT said we wouldn't have any problems with ears as long as tubes were in them and he was right. DD5 got tubes at 9 months and we fly about every 6 months. She never had a problem flying until tubes came out and stayed out at age 4 (she had to have tubes put back in twice).

Now we go to candy store day before trip for her to pick out gummies to eat while we're going up/down in air. The constant chewing along with an antihistimine gets her through the worst of it.

 

[makinorlando]

My DD won't fly without them... make sure you get the child's size if they are for kids!!

What exactly are Earplanes? How well do they work on 12mo olds? And where can I find them? Thanks.

Earplanes are an ear plug that is desgined to regulate the air pressure. You can find them at drugstores, Wal-Mart/Target and even at the airports.

 

[Baytoven]

As an aside, is there any difference with pressure in the ears for a child with tubes in his ears?

A child with functioning tubes should be fine, as their ears will have the same pressure on either side of the eardrum due to the tubes.

 

[abeyst]

Is it possible that I used them wrong? We tried them last week on or trip, but they didn't work for us at all.

FYI- for anyone wanting to try them, try buying them at Wal-Mart or Target. Target had them for $4.** but were sold out, so I stopped at CVS to pick them up and they were $6.79!!!!

 

[OhDirtRaker]

Thanks everyone for your varying opinions and tips on getting these. Flying with DD-3 and DS-1 in August and I will post back if they work for us!