Flying with infants.

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

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

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.

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

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

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