Drugging babies to fly..

[aliss]

You can't win with a high needs baby in this situation.

Drugging your child = judegement on your parenting

A screaming, vomitting baby = judgement on your parenting

Alex vomited on the plane at 11 months and we had to strip him naked, I forgot spares. The flight attendent announced that there was no nudity permitted on board But if anyone didn't like it, there were several emergency exists available

 

[Noelle610]

Nope, you need to stay home and you better keep that kid quiet so that the neighbors can't hear you! WHY CAN'T YOU CONTROL YOUR CHILD?

Seriously, though, it's unfortunate that some people don't seem to understand that babies are people too... Even "high needs" ones. I'm not saying you should bring a baby to a fine dining restaurant or to the cinema, but I hate getting dirty looks at Starbucks or the grocery store. Most people are so, so nice, but the ones that stick out are the ladies and gents who give you an evil eye even if your child is quiet as if to say "Don't you dare make a noise kid... I am just waiting to tell your parents what an awful job they are doing".

 

[Noelle610]

You can't win with a high needs baby in this situation.

Drugging your child = judegement on your parenting

A screaming, vomitting baby = judgement on your parenting

Alex vomited on the plane at 11 months and we had to strip him naked, I forgot spares. The flight attendent announced that there was no nudity permitted on board But if anyone didn't like it, there were several emergency exists available

She sounds awesome!

 

[aliss]

Oh Noelle remember, we're not allowed to leave the house in the first year right???

 

[aliss]

You can't win with a high needs baby in this situation.

Drugging your child = judegement on your parenting

A screaming, vomitting baby = judgement on your parenting

Alex vomited on the plane at 11 months and we had to strip him naked, I forgot spares. The flight attendent announced that there was no nudity permitted on board But if anyone didn't like it, there were several emergency exists available

She sounds awesome!

It was a guy! rofl: Of course).

 

[Noelle610]

Oh Noelle remember, we're not allowed to leave the house in the first year right???

Sorry, the lack of sleep made me forget my manners

 

[Noelle610]

One great thing about having a "high needs" baby... You learn real fast not to care what anyone thinks! It's great for the self esteem.

 

[Raven24]

no i didnt read the whole thread just the first post, if the stress and anxiety to the child is that severe then i guess there is no option but to medicate in some sense but i personally wouldnt. and my kids are by no means easy my youngest constantly wants attention but that doesnt mean id drug him to keep him quiet and id try and find any alternative i could to medication but tahts my personal opinion.

 

[overcomer79]

well maybe you would change your opinion if I shared your opinion and my child was so distressed that he/she threw up all over you...sorry I still think you are very judgmental. It has NOTHING to do with keeping them "quiet" in your words. I would never drug a child just because they wanted attention. SMH.

 

[SerenityNow]

Nope, you need to stay home and you better keep that kid quiet so that the neighbors can't hear you! WHY CAN'T YOU CONTROL YOUR CHILD?

Seriously, though, it's unfortunate that some people don't seem to understand that babies are people too... Even "high needs" ones. I'm not saying you should bring a baby to a fine dining restaurant or to the cinema, but I hate getting dirty looks at Starbucks or the grocery store. Most people are so, so nice, but the ones that stick out are the ladies and gents who give you an evil eye even if your child is quiet as if to say "Don't you dare make a noise kid... I am just waiting to tell your parents what an awful job they are doing".

My guess is that the people who give mothers of crying babies dirty looks were probably really sensitive irritable babies themselves. If their own mothers were there we'd get looks of sympathy and encouragement from them.

 

[CMarie]

Personally, this isn't for our family. We flew with LO for 4 hours for the first time a month ago, and I was extremely anxious about the whole thing, but LO handled it like a champ thankfully. There were a lot of people on the flight (200+ I believe), but the flight attendants were amazing with him and we even found another family with a toddler that we talked with and our LOs played together.

We were also considering flying to China to visit my father, but decided to wait until LO was older since that is quite a bit longer of a flight. I don't think he would have been "traumatized" or anxious because of the flight, but I do think that I would have been asking for trouble by making him sit for that long

I personally feel like if you know your child well enough to know that they will get extremely anxious on a plane and you don't absolutely need to go on a plane, then why not just avoid it all together? We don't give our LO medicine at all so we never considered giving him something to put him to sleep for a flight, but I think depending on the plane company you go with, the flight attendants are great with the kids and actually pretty helpful.

 

[steph.]

Personally, this isn't for our family. We flew with LO for 4 hours for the first time a month ago, and I was extremely anxious about the whole thing, but LO handled it like a champ thankfully. There were a lot of people on the flight (200+ I believe), but the flight attendants were amazing with him and we even found another family with a toddler that we talked with and our LOs played together.

We were also considering flying to China to visit my father, but decided to wait until LO was older since that is quite a bit longer of a flight. I don't think he would have been "traumatized" or anxious because of the flight, but I do think that I would have been asking for trouble by making him sit for that long

I personally feel like if you know your child well enough to know that they will get extremely anxious on a plane and you don't absolutely need to go on a plane, then why not just avoid it all together? We don't give our LO medicine at all so we never considered giving him something to put him to sleep for a flight, but I think depending on the plane company you go with, the flight attendants are great with the kids and actually pretty helpful.

Its great if you can avoid flying, but like i said earlier my parents live in brazil and i live in australia. If we dont fly, my family wouldnt get to meet my daughter and vice versa. And its not a 4 hour flight, but at least 30 hours. If we miss connections it can take 40 hours (once even a record 64 hours!). Think about what you were doing 40 hours ago, its a really long time!!!!! We havent had to give my daughter anything yet, but in the future it may be kinder. That trip is really hard on an adult, let alone a little kid. When i was a kid my mum would give me something to sleep, and when i got a bit older i would ask for it. I hated flying and it was much better to sleep all the way through.

 

[Noelle610]

Some trips are a necessity. We're not talking vaca on the beach here!

 

[Randianne]

I personally feel like if you know your child well enough to know that they will get extremely anxious on a plane and you don't absolutely need to go on a plane, then why not just avoid it all together? We don't give our LO medicine at all so we never considered giving him something to put him to sleep for a flight, but I think depending on the plane company you go with, the flight attendants are great with the kids and actually pretty helpful.

We went to see her great grandmother who was terminally ill. We knew airplanes could be an anxiety trigger, but it was more important for my LO and her great grandmother to meet each other.

Anxiety is a treatable medical condition. It really demonstrates how ridiculous attitudes are toward mental health that giving a doctor recommended medication for anxiety is vilified, while giving doctor recommended medication for a fever or infection is the norm. Especially since Benadryl is far safer then Tylenol or antibiotics. Hell, it's safer then half of our LO's food.

I understand not giving medication if you just can't be bothered to entertain your baby (although I wouldn't judge a mother who needed to help her LO get sleep on a long flight as Benadryl is also used OTC as a sleep aid). But those of us whose babies have anxiety shouldn't be vilified because the general population is uneducated about mental health.

 

[lhancock90]

You're also a bad mom if your baby chokes on the crayon given

You can't win with a high needs baby in this situation.

Drugging your child = judegement on your parenting

A screaming, vomitting baby = judgement on your parenting

I do love you pair.

 

[overcomer79]

I just don't understand the mentality on here "we have to care what others do to their kids".

I see allowing my kids to scream massive fits as a danger to them.

Bottom line you will be judged for letting them scream massive fits (has been proven in this thread...poor parenting and you shouldn't fly comments) and you will be judged for providing them medicine (also proven in this thread).

When are we going to allow parents to make the best decisions for their families without all the time calling them poor and bad parents? Oh wait, that is never going to happen . I guess we all know each other's children better than their own parents.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions tho but I would go hostile if someone approached me and started making a scene about my parental choices.

 

[lhancock90]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...flights-But-mums-controversial-solution-.html

Thoughts?

xx

 

[Noelle610]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...flights-But-mums-controversial-solution-.html

Thoughts?

xx

Thank for posting! I think this was really interesting:

You can question my mothering skills if you want. You can call me selfish, irresponsible and foolhardy. But plenty of research has shown that what fellow travellers really despise more than crying children on planes are parents who do nothing about it. A poll by TripAdvisor found over a third of Britons would pay extra to travel in adults-only planes.

It brings up another side of this debate, which is how un family-friendly air travel has become. Unless you have a baby that's content to sit still and be quiet for several hours (and I'm willing to bet that 99% of us don't have these kids), you're kind of screwed for lack of a better term. For some reason, people feel that a) mothers with children should stay home until said children are 18 and that b) babies have not right to be out in public. I simply don't share these beliefs and babies in public - including screaming, crying babies - just doesn't bother me unless I'm in a library or a fine dining establishment. They're people too. And for the record, I felt this way before I had children.

I've made it clear that I think children who are easy overstimulated and suffer from anxiety should be medicated if their pediatricians and parents prefer during necessary flights. I also think it's fair to raise the point that the pressure of other passengers on parents to ensure their children are perfect angels on a plane is ridiculous. You can't underestimate the power of peer pressure. So I'd venture that in these cases it's less an issue of whether or not drugging a kid is the right thing to do and more of an issue on the way children are treated in our society.

 

[Natsku]

I definitely wouldn't judge parents that give their children something to ease their anxiety on a flight. Its the kinder thing to do if the child is really upset.
I have to fly alone with Maria next month and getting quite anxious about it but her allergy medicine doesn't relax her (its non-drowsy) and I haven't seen benadryl sold here. I'm just hoping she won't get too upset.

 

[bananaz]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...flights-But-mums-controversial-solution-.html

Thoughts?

xx

Definitely interesting. I can see the rationale behind trying to calm an infant who's been frantically screaming for three hours, but I don't think I can really support her choice to preemptively drug her 8-year-old and her 6-year-old and then give the 4-year-old a second dose when he resisted the first. Maybe that's just because I don't have kids that age so my expectations are unrealistic though. In any case, this kind of article is only going to give fuel to people who think that everyone who chooses to give their kid a drowsy antihistamine is doing it for their own convenience.

I agree with Noelle that it's unfortunate that air travel (and society in general) isn't more family-friendly. I'm super noise sensitive so crying babies have always bothered me, especially in already-stressful environments like airplanes, but I know that that's my problem to deal with and I come prepared with earplugs and sedatives of my own!