Nervous about 4 month old on plane

[iluvdisneyworld]

I'm nervous about DD 4months getting ear pain on the plane. I know they say give her a bottle or pacifier during take-off & landing, but if DD is not hungry she will not take the bottle, and she doesn't take a pacifier. Any other options? Thanx!

 

[Hannathy]

Just keep her a bit hungry. Don't give her a full bottle sitting in the airport. If she has to eat right before getting on the plane only give her a partial bottle,enough to satisfy her but not fill her up to the brim. Luckily for once babies that age eat often so she may be ready to eat again before landing if not and she cries that alone may "pop" her ears. I've flown with my kids since they were 6 wks and never had a problem with ears. My DD never used a pacifier either. If she is asleep when landing or taking off she may just sleep through it without problems.

 

[las3888]

I tried my darndest to time it perfectly but he was hungry and we were on the ground preparing for take-off. DS was 8 mos so he ate typically drank his bottle in about 5 minutes. Well, I blew it and caved and gave him the bottle before we even really got in the air. I got him to suck on it a little more while we took off but not that much. It didn't seem to affect him, and he had a very mild ear infection at the time. We are hoping for the same this coming flight...he is now 14 months and he doesn't drink a bottle. I will give him milk in sippy cup, but I'm nervous just like you.

 

[bartleby1]

Does she have any teethers that she likes to chew on? Maybe that would help if you can't get her to take a bottle? Or will she suck on one of those net things that you can put a piece of fresh fruit in?

 

[NotUrsula]

You could try putting a low-flow nipple on the bottle, so that it takes more effort to drink it. That should slow down most babies. (The truth is that landing is more likely to cause ear problems than takeoff, and the pressure change starts happening as soon as the descent begins, so it can take rather a while.)

If you are really worried that the usual solutions won't work, you could ask your Ped. for a prescription for Auralgan or the generic equivalent. Auralgan is an analgesic eardrop; it will stop any ear pain very quickly if it happens.

Getting a scrip for it is rather difficult, because if it is over-used, you could mask the symptoms of a condition that needs medical attention, such as an ear infection. You would need to assure the ped. that you ONLY intend to use it if it becomes necessary during the flight, one time in the flight, and that you will get medical attention for her ASAP if she shows signs of ear pain after you have landed. (It's not that the drug itself is dangerous, it's just that Dr's don't want a child to end up with hearing loss from an untreated infection. The drops contain antipyrine and benzocaine.)

I have a scrip for Auralgan myself, as I get chronic ear infections. I don't use it on the kids except in emergencies. To show you how rare it is for a ped. in the US to prescribe it, a couple of weeks ago DS got an earache at bedtime, and I used the Auralgan so that we could all sleep until I could get him to the ped in the morning. When I told the nurse what I had given him, she didn't know what it was. (Interestingly, Auralgan is available OTC in Canada, where they approach the treatment of ear infections a bit differently than US peds. do.)

 

[Vickie46]

I agree don't feed her until the plane is going up and save some for the landing... My 4 yr old still has problems with this.. and I let the ladies know when we board.. and they usually go get us apple juice if I already don't have it with me.. its never a problem... I realize you will be using formula so I would not feed the baby until then.. good luck! and have fun!

 

[pezpam]

I'd try to schedule the feedings, but sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and realize that if they're not sucking on something (and the sucking is not 100% to start with....) they way that babies equalize their ears is to cry. I know that people tend to freak about crying babies on planes, but I've noticed that if the baby isn't right next to me, the plane noise covers a lot of the crying noise. My DD didn't fuss much, but the times she did fuss on descent because her ears hurt, friends sitting a few rows away hadn't even heard her and I still chalk that up to the plane's white noise......

Sometimes you just have to say to yourself "Yes, this is what babies do. That guy who is giving me the evil eye did it to his mom when he was a kid - and he probably threw up on his Dad's friend's shoes, too. My child is fine and that's what counts."

 

[all4fun]

This site has a lot of good info about flying with children and here's what the author ( a former FA of 13yrs who flies frequently w/her children) says about ear pain:

Problems with ears are the most common complaint but are highly overrated. Most of the time the problems occur during landing, not take-off. Every article on flying says to make sure they have something to suck on during these times. Good advice but…if the child falls asleep, the parents have to debate waking them and that’s not actually when this advice should be applied. Pressurization doesn’t happen exclusively at these times. It’s a slower process. If you’ve brought a carseat, this is not a reason for removing the child from it during the most dangerous points of the flight. You can easily breastfeed or wait till the child stirs to give him something during ascent or descent. Do try to wake your little ones about an hour before landing. The worst time for ears starts around this time and people actually feel better when 10,000ft is reached. The is considered the ‘final descent’ and used to be when the no smoking sign was turned on. Now you’ll know as it’s when everything should be stowed and the F/A’s are closing up the galley. I’m tempted to say that your child will stir at this point if his or her ears are bothering them.

I have flown with my ds several times when since he was 10mos and the only time he had problems with his ears was when he had a head cold. I usually made sure he had his paci but I read recently that it's not the sucking that makes the ears pop, but the swallowing so if you can get her to take a bottle during ascent/descent that would be preferable anyway.

hth and try not to stress about it. As the pp said, babies cry and if someone has to listen to it for a few minutes it's not the end of the world. (lol)

 

[NotUrsula]

Sometimes you just have to say to yourself "Yes, this is what babies do. That guy who is giving me the evil eye did it to his mom when he was a kid - and he probably threw up on his Dad's friend's shoes, too. My child is fine and that's what counts."

Well, yes, if your concern is with what other people think. The bigger issue, IMO, is banishing the ear pain, which can be excruciating for anyone. I don't like going through it, and it always just breaks my heart whenever it happens to a baby and the parents have no idea about what to do to relieve the pain.

 

[pezpam]

Well, yes, if your concern is with what other people think. The bigger issue, IMO, is banishing the ear pain, which can be excruciating for anyone. I don't like going through it, and it always just breaks my heart whenever it happens to a baby and the parents have no idea about what to do to relieve the pain.

The problem is, sometimes there isn't anything you can do. The physical actions that occur when the baby cries can sometimes be enough to open up the necessary passage, allowing for equalization. Of course it's heartbreaking to have an infant in pain, but in this case, the reality is that sometimes the crying is what the baby needs to do to relieve the pain - in addition to expressing it, of course. You can prepare as much as you like for ear-pressure pain on airplanes, but nothing you can do is 100% effective, so even parents who have a dozen ear-pain tricks up their sleeve may find that none of them work.......

All we can do as parents is gather as many reasonable suggestions as we can, try them all if necessary, but fortify ourselves to cope if none of them work. It's not that the only thing I'm concerned about is other people's opinions, but having a way to cope with those can allow parents to do what's best for their child instead of being influenced by the person 2 rows up who is clueless or judgemental.

 

[PortieOwner]

Ours flew many times before he was one, and he breast fed and was always willing to suck on that (or sometimes a pacifier) so there were no ear problems.

 

[ukwildcat]

Thought I would throw my 2 cents into the ring.

My wife flew with my son when he was 3 weeks old, and then again at 4 months. The 3 weeks old flight was due to a hurricane.

A little sugar water should do the trick. It is safe, they give it to infants in hospitals on occassion. Our son also liked to suck on an ice cube. My wife would hold the cube in her hand with a napkin, and our son would lick and suck.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tam1067]

We've flown with all 3 kids when they were infants (not all infants at the same time, thank goodness). Sometimes I could hold them off with the drinking until we were taking off, but other times, it just didn't work. I did my best, and really, I never had the experience. You know what to do and do your best. If the baby isn't hungry during take off or landing, do not assume it will automatically mean a problem because in our cases, it never did.

Do bring extra clothes. Both of my sons got sick on flights and both times they got me in addition to themselves. You need to be ready to change your entire wardrobe and theirs if need be in the lavatory (yeah, it can be done!).

But really, remember that thousands of babies fly every year and most of them are just fine.