OT: Protecting Infants Ears In Flight

[Jamie]

Hey All:

My wife and I are expecting our first child (due Nov. 19th). We were discussing how to protect a child's ears in flight. Obviously headsets won't work for infants or toddlers but what do you do? Earplugs? I know that there are children's headsets out there but from my understanding they're only for children ~3 and up.

I'm not planning on taking the kid up until he/she can hold his/her head up, but you get the point.

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Jamie-
Check the AOPA website. They have patterns for a do-it-yourself bonnet for babies that has built in ear protection. My girls used it when they were 6 mos.-2 years old and never complained. And they can still hear, so it seems to have at least marginally worked.
Good luck.

[rv8ch]

My Bose X headsets have worked fine on my 3 year old.

[fliier]

We took our infant daughter up in the C150 a number of times.

After trying a couple of things we finally flattened a couple of foam earplugs and used a regular paper hole punch to punch out a core that would fit here ears. The resulting foam cores needed to be cut almost in half.

Then we used button thread to tied them together with about 8 inches of thread. Finally we put a cloth bonnet over the ears, tied securely, so she couldn't get at them. Everything the baby sees goes in the mouth and foam earplugs are a definite choking hazard.

The C150 came with hardpoints for a bench seat, and we tied into those to attach a car seat. You should make similar provisions in the RV (unless it's a -10 of course). In a 2 seat RV I would cut down the seat backs to provide ready access to the baggage compartment. (Truth is, if I had it to do over again I'd cut down the seat backs anyway.)

No need to worry about the ears on climbout, but on descent we would always wake the baby and give her a bottle. Descent planning becomes more important because 1000fpm descents with a baby in an unpressurized airplane are a no-no.

Your wife will want to fly with the stick removed. Sometimes the baby has to come to the front.

My wife and I have fond memories of flying with my daughter. The engine sound would lull her to sleep.

She's now 17, and nothing embarrasses her more than when I recount the time we changed that very messy diaper with her splayed across both our laps at 10,000' on the way to Santa Barbara.

John Allen

[ScottSchmidt]

I have flown a few times with babies and amazingly the headsets work great. Here is a picture of my niece that I took yesterday while flying up to West Yellowstone. She is 6 months old and the headset works fine. I tried the kids headphones on a 1 year old but my old David Clarks actually work better. Paige (in the picture) is also a very small baby and it still fit her. If she is sitting up you have to hold the headset on. Not too sure how earplugs would work. I know from lots of personal use on motorcycles that unless they are placed just right they don't do much good. With a headset, as long as the ears are inside the cups you know she or he is protected.




This shot was taken on the ground. You can see the gap on the top of the headset. During the flight, she actually slept 95% of the time but had to hold them to her head when she sat up during our final approach.


Can you believe the "First Flight" gear! I swear that child has more clothes than anyone.

[Scott Will]

On the limited number of times I've taken my little girl, we used those foam roll-type earplugs. She hasn't taken too keenly on the headset - which is strange because she loves gadgets. On our short little local flights, I usually power waaaayyyy back after we get up to altitude.

I'll keep on her about the headsets - showing her that's it's cool because mommy and daddy are wearing them. But for now we use those industrial foam earplug thingies. When she sees any pair now she says "those are for airplane". Maybe I should get her a QT Halo or the like?

[DakotaKid]

Scott and RaNae have been kind enough to take our son Owen up a couple of times. We've used my noise canceling headset. Please note that Owen has a 97 percentile head circumference, which probably makes using adult headsets a little easier.



I'm going to order a set of these, thinking the smaller size and lack of cords may be helpful.

Earplug Superstore