When my son was two years old, I had to take him travel by air to visit my Mom for Christmas. At that time, we didn’t live in the same town.
Everything was all settled and I was so well prepared that I thought there would be no single problem with him.
But I was apparently totally wrong. He was screaming out loud when the plane was taking off. At first, I was kind of embarrassed. But a little bit later, I was terribly worried ’cause he kept crying and saying that his ears were in pain.
Thankfully the stewardess was so nice to us. She gave water to help my son swallow more which might help him get his ears popped to relieve the pain.
From that time, I got more prepared with things to help him stay away from ear pain during takeoffs instead of worrying about what to bring for the holiday.
My son had no ear infection. Yet it was painful enough. My friend’s son had it and the pain seemed to be a lot worse during the flight. That’s why, most of the time, doctors recommend delaying flying, if possible, until the infection is gone.
Yet, there are ways you can do to prevent your kids’ ears from getting hurt during the flight:
- Drink water a lot to encourage them to keep swallowing
- Chew gum or suck on hard candy (only if your child is older than 3 years)
- Stay awake for takeoff and landing so they can keep swallowing. When you sleep you don’t swallow that much.
- Breastfeed them if you still do.
- Take acetaminophen or ibuprofen about a half hour before takeoffs or landings
