PSA: Earplanes good! Crying child on airplane bad!

[blackdogdeek]

just an fyi for all of you parents out there who have children that are very susceptible to ear pain during flight, most notably ascent and descent.

my 7 year old daughter used to complain of ear pain during flight descents. it was so bad she would cry for the last 20 minutes of every flight. we tried everything to help alleviate the pain: eating candy, chewing gum, drinking liquids, holding nose and blowing, yawning; all to no avail. even people around us used to make suggestions and we always felt awful that she was in pain and that we were annoying all the other passengers.

for our last vacation we bought Earplanes ear plugs. they worked wonders. no more crying or even mild discomfort. on the flight back she didn't even notice we had already descended and were about to land.

cliffs:

daughter has ear pain during flight
earplanes relieves pain
parents are thrilled

 

[Fayd]

if holding nose/blowing doesnt help, then your child has a cold. or an ear infection. same with yawning.


maybe it's the scuba diver in me, but i always carry sudafed.

one thing i found that forced continued air equalization was forcing afrin type drops into the Eustachian tubes. (it's actually 4-way nasal spray). do it with a neti pot, some water, and drop a bit of the nasal spray in. tilt head to side, let flow in, wait for it to work.... then blow and force it into the eustachian tube. then do same to other side.

 

[rh71]

never heard of it, good to know.

 

[OutHouse]

im not sure how they are suppose to work, how do they differ than foam ear plugs?

 

[kami333]

im not sure how they are suppose to work, how do they differ than foam ear plugs?

They work by slowing down the pressure change. I've read on flyertalk about some people using foam ear plugs with success.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

wow that's very good to know. I never knew such a product existed. I wish every kid had this. No offense to any parent out there, but I fly A LOT, and whenever I'm near a kid wailing, it's supremely irritating; but I feel terrible for their parents who look hopelessly around as their kid is crying out of control .

 

[lxskllr]

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