We are taking a long flight soon, it will be about 11 hours. Do you have any advice regarding helping/preventing possible ear pain during ascent and descent? My daughter is 3. When she was a baby we gave her a bottle of milk to help adjust her ears to the pressure and she was fine, she is obviously not on bottles anymore.
Thank you.
You might not have any issues. My girls have been flying since they were 2 and haven't yet had ear problems. If you need it though, a water bottle with a straw is just about the best thing for little kids.
Get a glass of water and let her drink that and if she likes ice as much as much daughter then she can suck on that. If she will not swallow gum then tell her this is a special treat and just this time only. If not, mints would be good to suck on. My daughter does not like some mints because they are too hot like cinammon. A lollipop, perhaps as a treat? My daughter is 5 so things that would work for her may or may not work for your daughter.
pack an empty sippy cup. When you get thru security, get her a juice and let her suck on the way up and suck on the way down. Or maybe some fruit snacks? They're not that great for ya, but they're chewy and therefore probably good to help her ears.
btw - the best advice I ever got was to bring a balloon to the airport so you can blow it up and let her play with it (get her wiggles out) before she gets on the airplane. (I didn't pop mine for fear of Security jumping on me. I just left it for the next kid to play with).
We've flown a lot with our boys 2 1/2 and almost 5, since they were 6 months old. We did the bottle thing as well, and sippy cups when they are older. Neither have ever complained about ear pain. Bring sippy cups and ask for water or milk when you get on the plane or buy it after you get through the security line. Lollipops have also been used, but not sure if they helped since neither have ever complained.
Sippy cup and/or lollipop.
Lord you are in for fun. Please tell me you are not flying US Air... I digress
They make these ear plugs that depressure the kids ears. I can't remember what they are called anymore since it has been so long since my kids were little. You can get them from Walgreens for sure, I am sure other places have them as well.
Oh, they really do work. My kids didn't seem to have any discomfort.
our ped. gave us a prescription for ear numbing drops. We NEVER fly without them. It makes it so much easier on the kid. Use about 1/2 before take off / landing (ESP for a longer flight you will need to redose). we always arrive to the airport extra early an walk our kids up and down the terminal so they tire out and can sleep much of the flight. I used to always want to be last on the plane too so we had the least amount of time on the plane as possibel (one would go on at normal time). Now with everyone carrying everything on I ask if we can go in first with our small kids to get them settled and stuff. It usually works. Happy Flying!
We just went on a flight with my 3 and 1 year old boys and we just fed them the Gerber Puffs and gave them their sippy cups for them to drink during take-off/landing. You could make it any snack like grapes, raisins, cheerios, etc. Anything to keep them swallowing during that time. I had lollipops with me too, just in case, but didn't want them on a sugar rush during the flight if I didn't have to!
Ditto the balloon idea - we used a small beach ball or foam ball also.
My son always had horrible ear pain when flying, mostly on the descent. The only thing that worked for us were Tootsie Pops! I would carry several in my bag and they were only for the airplane. I would give him one just as we were starting our descent and the large lollipop lasts at least the entire descent and I never had to worry about my son turning it away. Of course, if he was sleeping, I always just left him alone, since the ear pain never seemed to bother him while sleeping. Of course, as they grow, so do their ears and the pain stops eventually but while my son was a toddler, Tootsie Pops were my (and everyone else on the plane) best friend!
The earplugs that Jo suggested are called "Ear Planes" and come in both adult and kid sizes. Make sure your daughter is not completely full when you fly. When my daughter was 4, we took an airplane ride. She was fine on the ascent but did not want to drink anything because she was so full on the descent. However, with an 11 hour plane ride, that probably won't be an issue.
All the best,
L.
We've used lollipops several times with great results. Dum-Dums are great - they're cheap, small and come in lots of different flavors. The last time we flew, we had lots of stop overs, which meant lots of take offs/landings, and the different flavors each time kept him interested so he'd keep eating the lollipops.
Chew, drink (suck), and yawn.
