Thanks for the additional suggestions. I was actually talking about this to a new friend the other day and he brought up the baby benedryl option and offered a bottle. We’ll probably do a test run on that sometime this week and if she doesn’t have any sort of adverse reaction we might do that. I had tried to angle for something like that with the pediatrician and he acted like I was asking about giving her medical marijuana (though I guess that would help to calm the nerves of surrounding passengers as well).
There wasn’t much choice with the flight. For various reasons the dates we could fly are limited and the trip has to be fairly short. And so far we haven’t been able to get seats in the bulkhead and my daughter’s too big for the bassinet (at least on the airline we’re taking)…My wife will be with me though. I would never try to take the baby on the plane alone. I’m filial, but not that filial.
One suggestion for those of you not minding small children. I recently discovered that pharmacists here can dispense some drugs without a prescription. They can’t give out sedatives, but if you go in and tell them you’re flying to North America, etc. and need some thing to “help you adjust to the time difference” (tiao shijian 調時間), they give you a lovely little cocktail of things that help you to sleep. You’re not so far out that you wouldn’t wake up in an emergency; it just ends up being like a long cat-nap.
Now THAT’S what I’m talking about! Forumosa. Give and take. That’s MIGHTY fine advice! It was something I was concerned about too – I usually get really stoned before a flight and then pop 10mg or so of diazepam in the boarding area, followed by another 10mg in the air and a couple drinks. I stay pretty well zonked out the whole way. Not possible any longer though. Your idea sounds like a godsend.
Personally I wouldn’t give my kids drugs. But that’s just me. I remember a story in the paper maybe last year where a flight attendant got in big trouble for trying to slip some kind of sedative to someone’s baby.
If someone else does it, unrequested, that’s assault. If the parents do it, for the sanity of the baby, themselves, and a whole can full of passengers, that’s useful.
babies hate travel, they are totally unable to deal with the pressure changes, and the resultant ear and head aches, as well as the stress of being surrounded with strangers in a noisy low-pressure box. of course they will scream, and if you have the means to make it easier for them, by using sedatives of the appropriate safety, duration and strength, then you’d be nuts (and selfish) not to.
appropriate dose for a 10 kg toddler is about 0.05 to 0.075 mg. this will make your baby sleep soundly for the first six hours and then be dozy for another four-six hours.
Xanax (common brand name of alprazolam) comes in 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg pills and in 2 mg bars scored for splitting into 0.5 mg doses. so crush up and divide the powder appropriately, mix with sugar in a little milk.
alprazolam is predominantly excreted via the kidneys, so ensure your baby is well hydrated and does not have kidney disease before administering. very low risk of overdose, but excitation side effects may be seen if mixed with alcohol.
Dehydration is also a key factor to infant distress. Poor blighters feel that faster and more furious that us with more of a well thickened skull. Keep them sugared up on fruit & juice!
As for EA's comments about rights on an airplane, and getting value for one's seat, or whatever. Babies are as much a part of the human endeavor as anything else. Especially in transit mode. There's no getting around it. Perhaps one should approach the airlines for a pay more hear less package. Designed especially for the rogue. Horizontal packaging, I can see it now........ :lick:
I’ll be asking the pedeitrician about this, Uro. Let you know what he says. I can’t imagine the wife agreeing to dope the kid though, somehow. I’m not at all comfortable with the idea myself. I think I’d prefer to just intimidate complaining passengers with my stink-eye of death.
Well, mebbe starting the dude on benzos so young doesn’t seem like a good thing to do, but if he gets some preventative painkillers, it might help the take-off if his ears hurt?
Ears hurt more on descent than ascent due to the increased pressure. The best way to alleviate the pain in an infant is to start breastfeeding. Bottlefeeding is also ok, but it’s not as much of a workout to the jaw, which is what “pops” the baby’s ears naturally and relieves the discomfort. This worked wonders with Trudi.
I wouldn’t really recommend this as a routine thing for infants, and especially those under 8 months, but if you know your baby is a terror to be near when she/he has started screaming, it’s an option. the OP was for a one year old, if the title is anything to go by. And as Maoman points out, sucking on something will equalise ear pressure very well. For adults, as well as kids.
On the other hand, if correctly used, drugs have their place in management of pain and stress (but I do think this has grown beyond the half tongue-in-cheek suggestion i originally made).
I, fortunetly, have never had much problem with the kids on flights. Most of our trips are around Asia so it’s pretty easy to keep the kids busy for such a short time. Even on the long distance flights though they have always been kept busy and I don’t think I heard any other little ones screaming either.
Is it really such a prevalent problem as everyone is making out? Every mother I know would do her damnest to make sure baby was happy and not bothering others. Very few would drug their kids. I could see a shot of Benadryl if you know your baby is a real screamer but it’s not something I’d reccommend for your average kid.
For the ones under two, EVERTHING is an exciting adventure. Buttons on the arm rest, cool! Walking down the aisles fantastic! Trip to the bathroom to hear the toilet flush, amazing! Not to mention the until of joys of new toys and usually monitored candies!!
Older than two and it’s the joys of unlimited new movies on your portable DVD player, new books to read and paper, pens and stickers.
I really don’t think this is so much of an issue and besides we HAD this conversation a year or two ago!
alprazolam is predominantly excreted via the kidneys, so ensure your baby is well hydrated and does not have kidney disease before administering. very low risk of overdose, but excitation side effects may be seen if mixed with alcohol.[/quote]
Keep the kids off alcohol when administering benziodiazepines.
But it wasn’t important then – I have a kid now. [/quote]
Yes. This is more common than you’d think. I got started a bit early so family and friends were a bit kid intolerant when we started out. Now of course they’ve all got their own devil spawn so that so much previously unacceptable behavior/activity/noise is now suddenly tolerable.
One plus to having kids is that going forward you will be able to tune out anything, anywhere.
I absolutely hate flying. and especially long flights. I cant imagine its any fun for infants after the first ten minutes. And im sure parents are not thrilled with the idea either. IM sure everyone takes a baby on a flight only because its the only way.
Maybe if they were breast fed more during the flight? Maybe that will help?
Trudi slept through most of her flights in her first year. In her second year, she was more active, but still manageable. She only cried once that I remember, and not very loudly, nor very long. Flying is harder on the parents than on the kids, believe me.
Breastfeeding helps without a doubt. You can’t feed a baby bottle after bottle but a breastfed baby will help nurse on the breast just for comfort for hours.
When my first two were 1 and 2 I took them to Canada twice in one year. I flew business class and shortly after take-off the whole cabin fell asleep. I stayed awake the full 12 hours playing, walking and nursing the baby. When it was time to leave one passenger reamrked to me that he couldn’t believe I even had kids, it was so quiet not one passenger woke.
Like Maoman says, it is much harder on parents than kids.
