Infants on airplanes.

[Lino Felarca, M.D.]

Unsolicited advice to parents: Ask you child's pediatrician (kevin c is one) if it's okay to drop oyymetazoline or other pediatric decongestant nasal drops into your child's nose 5 minutes before take-off and 5 min. before touchdown. It might help equalize pressure in his middle ear specially if he has an upper respiratory tract infection. I give this advice to my patients.

If he's older you might also try to ask him to chew gum before takeoff until you're up in the sky. do that again 5 minutes before landing. Hope this helps.

P.S. I think chewing gum is not allowed in Singapore flights?

[kevin c]

Unsolicited advice to parents: Ask you child's pediatrician (kevin c is one) if it's okay to drop oyymetazoline or other pediatric decongestant nasal drops into your child's nose 5 minutes before take-off and 5 min. before touchdown. It might help equalize pressure in his middle ear specially if he has an upper respiratory tract infection.  I give this advice to my patients.

If he's older you might also try to ask him to chew gum before takeoff until you're up in the sky. do that again 5 minutes before landing. Hope this helps.

P.S.  I think chewing gum is not allowed in Singapore flights?

Yeah, it'll work, though it's best if you position the kid in just the right position to get the drops over the opening of the Eustachian tube on each side - it's a two part manuever for each ear, and even then it doesn't always work (if you already have a full blown ear infection, for instance). Benzocaine drops work well, but are prescription only, and many docs aren't into killing the pain w/o addressing the pressure problem causing it.

Chewing or sucking on something and repeated swallowing is what works the best to make the ears "pop", on the way up and on the way down. That mom nursing her kid had the right idea, no doubt learned through bitter experience.

Singapore Airlines will literally offer your small kids a peppermint sweet on a silver tray, at take off and again at landing, for just this reason (or at least they did the time my wife and I took our three year old to China) Smart people running an airline w/ first class service for everybody on board.

Oh, almost forgot. The gas in your gut expands with altitude the same way the air pocket in the middle ear does. Gas pain can be just as bad as ear pain if you can't pass the excess.

And, of course, some kids just get stir crazy on a plane - it plain isn't natural to expect a small child to stay still and stare at the back of the seat in front of him for hours on end.

[Kimberkid]

I will gladly admit that I have very little experience flying, so feel free to totally disregard this. Having had a significant hearing loss since I was in grade school, my ears also do wierd things the couple times I have flown. My equilibrium goes way off and I have a tough time sitting up striaght. As far as the kid issue goes, the actual sitting straight ahead and not making noise on an airplane is very similiar to having a small child in church. My father will gladly take your kid to church 2 consecutive sundays after which they will be able to sit perfectly still anywhere in the world for incredibly long periods of time without making any noise. I got this service for free, and he is now offering it to others for the low price of $9.95.

[Flexmoney]

Did he "box" your ears?

[RKooi]

This thread was started about infants. Infants don't run up and down the aisle nor do they kick the back of your seat. Nor can they be taught to 'clear' their own ears. I agree with Eric, infants shouldn't fly if that is an option. Sometimes it's not. I would much rather deal with some noise in front of or behind me than some oversized (read fat) adult crowding what little space I have in coach.

[rhino]

Hah. As annoyed as you guys are about fat people crowding your space, I am far, far more annoyed by some skinny guy putting his body and belongings into MY space when I pay for two seats. If he wants to pay for part of it, fine, otherwise keep yourself and your stuff out of my space.

[SiG Lady]

...or we could just institute a regulation that all kids under twelve (with known blatant behavioral issues) ride in the cargo compartment just like the dogs and cats in personal portable "enclosures" (cages).

[RKooi]

If you paid for it, by all means spread out....Just don't complain about ma bebby

p.s. sorry to hijack the thread and violate the rules

p.s.s I get to see J-Go nearly every month!

[John Thompson]

I took my daugher to nevada with me last June when she was one year old. She did fine and was the object of attention for several passengers. Still stressed me out somewhat. A guy a couple rows away had a pain in the butt toddler and I thought he was stroke out from the stress.