Flying with infants.

[Alex Kirkpatrick]

I'm taking my 7 month old son on a cross-country next month. He's flown on
an airline before and he handled it quite well.

I'm worried about hearing protection. Should I even bother? Would regular
ear-muffs be enough for him or should I find some infant-sized hearing
protection? How about those headsets you wear when shooting rifles?

I plan to have mom sit in the back seat with the baby and big brother will
help fly the plane. Anybody got any other advice?

Thanks,
Alex

[Frederick Wilson]

Alex,

At least you are thoughtful enough to ask before you go. This type of
question has been asked here before. I think a google search will turn up a
lot.

From what I remember, most suggested putting cotton in the ears and then one
of those head caps that have ear covers and ties under the chin.

Good luck,

Fred


"Alex Kirkpatrick" > wrote in message
...
> I'm taking my 7 month old son on a cross-country next month. He's flown
on
> an airline before and he handled it quite well.
>
> I'm worried about hearing protection. Should I even bother? Would
regular
> ear-muffs be enough for him or should I find some infant-sized hearing
> protection? How about those headsets you wear when shooting rifles?
>
> I plan to have mom sit in the back seat with the baby and big brother will
> help fly the plane. Anybody got any other advice?
>
> Thanks,
> Alex
>
>
>

[EDR]

In article <uVOlb.2980$275.8970@attbi_s53>, Frederick Wilson
> wrote:
> From what I remember, most suggested putting cotton in the ears and then one
> of those head caps that have ear covers and ties under the chin.

Also, you can cut foam earplugs in half-, quarter-, etc lengthwise to
reduce the volume to fit in the ear canal.
Infants are suffiently small that you would be better off using a soft
foam pad under the earflaps of the hat mentioned above.
Do a google search of past newsgroup postings. Much has been written on
this subject.

[Ross Richardson]

I would get the little foam ear plugs and size them. I cannot see where
cotton would provide and sound attenuation. And with a small head,
headsets are just too big. I had to build an adapter for headsets for my
4 year old grand daughter. Oh, she likes to fly :)

Might ask you ENT doctor.

Ross

Frederick Wilson wrote:
>
> Alex,
>
> At least you are thoughtful enough to ask before you go. This type of
> question has been asked here before. I think a google search will turn up a
> lot.
>
> From what I remember, most suggested putting cotton in the ears and then one
> of those head caps that have ear covers and ties under the chin.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Fred
>
> "Alex Kirkpatrick" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I'm taking my 7 month old son on a cross-country next month. He's flown
> on
> > an airline before and he handled it quite well.
> >
> > I'm worried about hearing protection. Should I even bother? Would
> regular
> > ear-muffs be enough for him or should I find some infant-sized hearing
> > protection? How about those headsets you wear when shooting rifles?
> >
> > I plan to have mom sit in the back seat with the baby and big brother will
> > help fly the plane. Anybody got any other advice?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Alex
> >
> >
> >

[Paul Hamilton]

We went to a local gun shop and got ear protectors. They fit her just
fine, and she wore them until this year, when she got her own headset.
She is 5 now and has also outgrown the car seat we kept in the
airplane.

Paul

[Snowbird]

Ross Richardson > wrote in message >...
> I would get the little foam ear plugs and size them. I cannot see where
> cotton would provide and sound attenuation. And with a small head,
> headsets are just too big. I had to build an adapter for headsets for my
> 4 year old grand daughter. Oh, she likes to fly :)

Ross,

You are correct. Cotton is totally worthless as hearing
protection and in fact, I usually respond on these threads
and I've NEVER seen this as the "usual" or "consensus" response.

Headsets are too big, but several muff-style hearing protectors
will fit an infant width-wise, and can be filled in at the top
with a bit of extra foam covered by a sock. This is what we did
because IME the foam earplugs become painful if they're inserted
too far, and there's no way for a baby to tell you what "too far"
is.

Your grand daughter must be a cute little peanut. My daughter
has been wearing a set of adult Lightspeeds since she was 2 1/2 --
we don't even have to fill in the top -- but we have a baby giraffe.

Cheers,
Sydney