Painful Ears during Descent

[BaconAndAvocado]

My 8 yo DS isn't looking forward to,our flight as he gets terrible pains in his ears when we descend.

Short of sucking on a sweet what can we do?

I find holding my nose shut, and trying to blow through it makes my ears pop and equalises the pressure. Like blowing your nose, but without letting go of pinching your nose shut.

I use Ear Planes but just checked and they're for over 12yo. Maybe ask in Boots or somewhere if there is anything similar for children. Sorry not much help there was I! it's a horribly painful condition though so I do sympathise.

Tell him to pinch his nose while blowing out?

I was told to pull my ear lobes down and keep swallowing.

They do Ear Planes for children as well, slightly smaller ones.

I sympathise greatly with this, DD (now 11) gets terrible pain in descent and I have tried everything to ease it. (I am not a horrid mum - we lived in Australia for two years, planes were part of our lives!) here are the results of our attempts.

Calpol and nurofen given an hour before landing - helped a bit

Compulsively chewing (gum or chewy sweets like starburst) - helps a bit

Sucking a lolly or sweet - didn't help

Sipping water - helps a bit, a bit more if drunk through a straw

Normal squishy ear plugs inserted an hour before descent starts - helps in combination with other things

Blowing up a balloon - failed miserably! Although did make her laugh when it burst

Ear planes - DD didn't like them at all

Over ear headphones - sometimes helped a bit

Regularly blowing nose - helped

Hot towels - this was the most helpful and only discovered on our last flight! I took some of those hand warmers and a couple of damp flannels in a bag, snapped the hand warmers, wrapped the damp flannels around them and placed against her ears.

Having said all of this DD now won't countenance a holiday anywhere that involves flight. She tells me that the large liners A380s and 777s are worse than the tiny easyjet types - I am guessing it is to do with the height they travel.

We are now back in the UK - so continental Europe holidays for us!

Some great stuff here. I will be taking dd on a flight for the first time this summer. She's 8 and dh will be doing his best to conceal what a nervous flyer he is and how much take off and descent hurts his ears.

Thanks all, I've got lots of ideas to try now.

We're going to Florida so it'll definitely be a larger aircraft

Will try all of the above!

YY to Earplanes.

Earplanes have transformed our lives. I wish I'd had them when my DD was younger.
Both they and the Boots look alikes come in children's sizes.

I use Earplanes or Boots own version every time I fly, after a couple of days deafness in one ear after a return journey. When my ear popped it was painful immediately after. The Earplanes disperse the pressure gradually on ascent and descent, it feels like lots of teeny weeny pops frequently, but in no way uncomfortable. You can use one pair for the outbound flight and the return, but then you have to throw them away as they may breed bacteria in any wax deposits and they can't be cleaned.

I find planes tend to make me yawn as well which aids the popping (but that might just be my age!)

just been through this on two back to bcd flights - turns out dd has fluid in her ears has to go see consultant. So on our trip in May we did ear planes, (some keep them in the whole journey but she wouldn't) calprofen about 15 mins before descent, sucking furiously on a chuppa chup lolly, breathing in and out of nose (like in yoga). It is worst at the 10,000-5,000 ft. You could go see GP before going, some take a de-congesent but dd couldn't handle the taste. Hope all goes ok - it's really traumatic but if you can keep calm it's over quickly enough.

I've bought some Boots ear planes today.

Wish me luck!

Will probably use the Piriton as well.

I find yawning makes my ears pop, which releases the pressure, chewing gum and sipping a drink too.

Otrivine sinusitis spray works for me every time. I was given some for dd by a Thai doctor a couple of years ago (Thai brand, obvs) and it really works. 1 squirt an hour before take off and the same an hour before landing. Works a charm.

Just seen consultant for dd - he said otrivine an hour before flight (same s TheGon) and to pinch and blow nose during descent/suck lolly etc.

Not that it will help you now but for future he has also also said to train kids to pop their ears using an Octovent (which i just bought in the pharmacy) - start doing this as young as possible if your child exhibits ear pain on flights.

Apparently some people just have lazy eustacian tubes so flying and diving may always be an issue so to never fly when you have a cold

He also said to ALWAYS get antibiotics for ear infection (but don't go until day 3 as GP will generally turn you away) - he said whilst sensible to avoid antibiotics wherever possible, some people need them for ear infections and since GP's have reduced antibiotic scripts for ear infections they have seen a sharp increase in ear related complications.

Reporting back......

I used the Ear Planes from Boots for DS2 and they worked a treat, thoroughly recommend.

Do you think they would work for adults? I usually try and unblock by blowing hard whilst holding my nose but that is hard work and I cannot always unblock my ears. Never had a cold, it is just me!

It's worth a try. I'm sure Boots stock adult sized ones too.