Those screaming infants and babies on planes

flapsdown40 · Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:28 pm

Hello all. I did a search of this forum and, while there were a number of messages, I didn't seem to see one that addressed what I had in mind. Sorry if I missed a thread that had been posted already about my theory of those screaming infants and small children on airline flights.

I wonder if those really small infants (some just a few months old), along with the slightly older babies, are simply reacting to the change in the cabin pressure during takeoff, climb, and descent acting on their little ears. Being so young, they don't know anything else to do but to cry and scream to get the attention of their parent(s) and then some.

As a child grows older, they learn that perhaps taking a sip of a drink, chewing gum, or even just yawning can equalize the pressure in their ears and eliminates the discomfort of the changing pressure around them. Tiny infants and small babies don't know that yet, so they just scream and cry for 2 main reasons: 1) Get the attention of their parent that there is something wrong, or 2) They are just plain uncomfortable due to the pressure change on their ears.

Any opinions out there about this?

TIA

Flapsdown40

readytotaxi · Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:53 am

In over 20 years of flying as a passenger long and short haul I have experienced quite a few baby episodes. The aircraft is a new enviroment to the baby with different noises and yes pressure, I think these all play a part in overwhelming the babies senses. From experience the key for me seems to be an experienced mother. She can tell what the child is trying "to say" and react accordingly. One memorable trip was an overnight EWR-LON with Continental Airlines. A young first time mother and baby joined us in business class and all was going well until 10 minutes after takeoff, the child started to cry on and off. This continued throughout the evening meal service and after that was cleared away the crying got worse, you could feel the tension in the cabin from the other passengers and the looks, the mother was unable to cope. At this point a senior lady FA approached and they both when went to the galley and the curtains were drawn, about five minutes later there was silence. The mother returned to her seat later without baby and made it into a bed and then the senior FA returned with the sleeping baby and we all had a quiet 6 hours until we arrived in London.
I think that the more experienced mother was the key to understanding the problem. On a personal note I would preffer it if parents did not take children on long aircraft trips if they are unable to communicate by speach what their problems are.

EarlyLateORD · Sat Apr 21, 2018 5:32 pm

My wife, son and I have flown overseas twice together as a family. He is under 2. We always buy him a seat, i think its a huge help. Personally, its an added cost, but greatly improves the child's comfort

Adam

ubeema · Sat Apr 21, 2018 9:35 pm

I have a 4yo and 21mo. And we have travelled lots overseas (Europe and Africa) from the US. I believe kids are no different from adults in what they experience inflight, only difference is parents must be prepared to help them out. Unless they fall sick during the trip you can preempt all their needs. On that point our youngest was 5 days shy of her first birthday when we embark last summer on a long trip. She caught a cold on the very first flight and ended up with a runny nose for the remainder of the trip which included two 7h flights. And as you know it airways congestion and air travel do not mix well.
But like I always tell my wife it’s all about the preparation and it begins before getting to the airport:
- making sure they slept, ate, and drank well the last 24h before the trip. Tired, starved, or dirty kids will be trouble
- pack their preferred snack and juice and have them handy at all times to keep them happy and distracted. That solves the issue of ear popping and motion sickness most times. It’s best they are chewing or sipping on something during takeoff
- if they have a seat bring their car seat along for their comfort and added safety.
- mobile device: making sure you download their favorite videos for offline mode. It’s not the time to explain a kid that Wi-Fi is too expensive. That’s the only time our oldest is allowed unlimited viewing on a tablet which is ok because she generally falls asleep at the hour mark if she last that long
- on the plane especially long haul when they are awake and bored walk them around. They hate staying still.
- in the end the plane is not the place where I would enforce discipline. I just become Yes Man unless they’re trying to unlatch an emergency exit

Fiend · Sat Apr 21, 2018 10:08 pm

Some people seem to forget we've all been babies..... and we've all screamed and cried at some point in our lives....

devron · Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:58 pm

ubeema wrote:
But like I always tell my wife it’s all about the preparation and it begins before getting to the airport:
- making sure they slept, ate, and drank well the last 24h before the trip. Tired, starved, or dirty kids will be trouble
- pack their preferred snack and juice and have them handy at all times to keep them happy and distracted. That solves the issue of ear popping and motion sickness most times. It’s best they are chewing or sipping on something during takeoff
- if they have a seat bring their car seat along for their comfort and added safety.
- mobile device: making sure you download their favorite videos for offline mode. It’s not the time to explain a kid that Wi-Fi is too expensive. That’s the only time our oldest is allowed unlimited viewing on a tablet which is ok because she generally falls asleep at the hour mark if she last that long
- on the plane especially long haul when they are awake and bored walk them around. They hate staying still.
- in the end the plane is not the place where I would enforce discipline. I just become Yes Man unless they’re trying to unlatch an emergency exit

Great post. I tend to be a strickt dad with my now 23 month old but indeed in the airplane the kid gets what he wants. He seems to behave well on airplanes too.

Breast feeding during take-off and landing helps with young babies.

Crying babies on airplanes is just something we all need to live with in every class.

masi1157 · Tue Jul 24, 2018 8:59 pm

Fiend wrote:
Some people seem to forget we've all been babies..... and we've all screamed and cried at some point in our lives....

Thanks!

Gruß, masi1157

Vasu · Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:21 pm

masi1157 wrote:
Fiend wrote:
Some people seem to forget we've all been babies..... and we've all screamed and cried at some point in our lives....

Thanks!

Gruß, masi1157

Absolutely! We’ve just done our first flight as a family, with our ten-month-old son.

Thankfully he seemed to love the whole experience from start to finish (taking the positive vibes from his dad?) and there wasn’t any screaming etc.

But the TCX plane was absolutely full of screaming babies and kids. Did we care? No. Because that was us once upon a time...

I hope I’m not speaking too soon... the return flight is in less than a week!

Insertnamehere · Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:35 am

As someone who just recently got off a flight with a toddler shrieking for multiple hours on a transatlantic overnight flight it really depends on the parents. I was on Delta and was sitting in the exit row and was getting to chat with one of the F/A's when we were about to land and she said the parents didn't do anything as they wanted the toddler to "get used to it". She later said she had to give out free alcohol to passengers seated around. I was a few rows ahead and had headphones in so didn't have as bad of a time but the toddler was screaming and crying and going under seats. I've had my fair share of children be loud on planes and I am generally okay with a crying child when you do nothing to either comfort the child or teach that screaming and throwing a tantrum on a plane is not good then I will get vaguely annoyed.

Gonzalo · Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:00 am

As a frequent flyer I have no problem with babies or toddlers doing some crying and screaming, I mean, there are several reasons to explain and justify the discomfort that is affecting them and we as adults must understand the situation.
On the other hand, I have a very short term patience with older boys, let’s say 6 y.o. or older, when they misbehave and disrespect all the others around them. I’m aware that the parents or adults in charge have the ultimate responsibility about the behavior of the childrens, sadly, sometimes this adults are even more disrespectful and just don’t care about the kicks on the front seat, the food flying across the aisle or the kid jumping over other passengers. At least two times in my life I had to play the Mr. Scrooge role and have a talk with the kid and parents to stop kicking my seat or my leg during a flight.
These adults not doing their job taking care of the childrens should be banned for flying, they are more annoying than any poor baby crying in discomfort.

Rgds.
Gonzalo

ricport · Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:56 pm

In regard to the OP question, yes, I've heard air pressure is the main cause of baby/infant crying.

Okay, am going to be the dissenter here... I know there are time when taking babies/small children on planes is unavoidable, but I wonder how often this really happens. Seems to me the better solution if you want grandma and grampa to see your little ones is to buy them tickets to come see you, unless they are physically unable to fly. I also think airlines should seat families in one part of the coach cabin, as at least that way, they could board the plane first in a more orderly manner, and if their kids act up (which often happens with far too many of today's dimwit/clueless/lazy "time-out chair" parents), they'd inconvenience the least amount of pax. And sorry, but I think all carriers should follow MH's lead... no kids in J or Y. It's like bringing kids into a white tablecloth French restaurant. Just because you can take your little darling somewhere doesn't mean you should.

ubeema · Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:48 pm

I’m personally more annoyed by adults who disrespect airlines crew for no reason, cannot find their seat and delay boarding unnecessarily, drink more alcohol than their body could tolerate, are unable to clean toilets after they are done with their business, would elbow or hit you with their carry on as soon as aircraft gets to the gate because they’re seating row 20 and cannot comprehend it will still take awhile for the aisle to clear out and so on. These things happen daily in and out caused by supposedly rational and thoughtful people, yet many adults think the few times children are around their travel experience is terrible. Traveling adults are the ones who caused almost every single flight diversions because they behave like children.

flapsdown40 · Fri Jul 27, 2018 3:14 pm

"Insertnamehere" wrote: I've had my fair share of children be loud on planes and I am generally okay with a crying child when you do nothing to either comfort the child or teach that screaming and throwing a tantrum on a plane is not good then I will get vaguely annoyed.[/quote]

You have much more self-restraint than I do, that's for sure. I would get more than "vaguely annoyed." I think I would try to get a free voucher for something at the destination airport- 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks along with a meal, or a big discount on the next ticket I buy on that airline, etc. But that's just me.

neutrino · Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:57 pm

I guess I'm a lucky one.My two sons, now in their mid and late twenties have thankfully never cried or screamed when they fly. The elder one first got on a plane at slightly past his first birthday, and the younger just a few months old. They've been flying every two years or so as kids and were always angels during flights. Maybe their systems were born/built to be flying-friendly? So, I sympathize with the helpless parents of "noisy" kids out there.

Super80Fan · Fri Jul 27, 2018 6:12 pm

What's funny is that I'm "fine" with screaming/crying babies/little kids (as long as it isn't the entire time during a 10 hour flight), instead I have more of an issue with power hungry airline employees and DYKWIA passengers.

DaveFly · Sat Jul 28, 2018 6:13 pm

My children are in their 20s now, but we flew with them often. As babies, my daughter was fine; my son had ear issues, and the change in pressure would cause a lot of screaming. We gave him children’s Sudafed and Tylenol, and that seemed to do the trick.

As toddlers, we brought lots of distractions — stickers, coloring books, crayons. And they were always well-behaved. That’s why I have no patience for the parents I now see who just don’t care, or encourage their kids to go screaming through the cabin to blow off steam.