Flying with a 2 year old who is afraid of noise?

tommyh1977

Hi, any advice appreciated. We are considering flying to Canaries with our two year old son, our problem is like a lot of kids e is very afraid of noise. Things like loud music at parties etc upset him. Our dilemma is, its a four and half hour flight and if he decides he does not like the engine noise etc on the plane it will be torture and very unfair to him, plus we will have to make the return flight home again. At least at a party you can take him out. Any hep from anyone who might have been in a similar situation appreiated. We really dont know what to do!!!!

mikedragon32

Best option might be to take him to the airport for a couple of visits before you travel. That way the airport itself won't be a strange environment and he will be able to see the aircraft moving about from some of the areas upstairs. Hopefully he'll get familiar with the noises too.

Have you considered if there is a physical reason for why your son doesn't like noise? Not questioning your parenting in any way shape or form, but it's unusual (in my limited experience) for kids not to like noise. You should hear the noise at my daughter's creche!

We've travelled several times with our daughter who is 23 months old now and she is a plane nut with toy planes, books and pictures! We've never done more than 2.5 hours and she's never been any trouble.

It might be no harm to have Calpol and baby Neurofen on standby too!

I'm happy to leave this thread here, but to be honest you may get a better range of responses in the parenting forum. Let me know which you'd prefer.

macman2010

Sit at the front of the plane, most of the engine noise propagates from the exhaust side of the engine, you feel less turbulence at the front of the cabin & the air quality is better.

P. Breathnach

Is it worth the risk? Why not consider a different type of holiday this year, and hope that your child will have become less fearful next year?

tommyh1977

Hi Mike, could you possibly move thread to Parenting? Thanks

mikedragon32

tommyh1977 wrote: »

Hi Mike, could you possibly move thread to Parenting? Thanks

Moved from Travel at OP's request.

Moonbeam

I would definitely bring him to your gp about it.
He could have hyperacusis and it is worth getting him checked out if noise bothers him that much.
My 2 year old has never reacted to noise like that.
I have excellent hearing and it causes me issues sometimes.

Justask

Maybe you could get a portable CD player with ear phones (do they sell them anymore God I feel old lol) And get him some disney cd's or CD's that have the stories on them. I know they saved my life on long car trips.

ppink

A dvd he really wants to see, something he has never seen before that will totally absorb him. build it up to be a huge deal that he is getting to watch this dvd on the plane. set it going before you take off, the engine noise will be in the background all the time and by the time the dvd is over he will have already be somewhat used to the engines.

get one for the way back too.

Mothman

My son (is now 5) puts on ear defenders...nice yellow ones ...has worn them in national concert hall and other such events :eek:

Of course people notice but he doesn't notice them and we don't make any issue out of it. As far as he's concerned its normal for him.

littlebug

Not that unusual for kids not to like loud noise (though maybe mine are both unusual:eek:). Hand dryers in public toilets were a particular challenge when they were smaller and they still don't like them.

They've never been on a plane so I can't comment on that but I would agree with MM on the ear protectors. My son took his (daddies) to playschool for a few days when they were having a problem with their fire alarm and it kept going off. My daughter used to wear them inside when the lawn was being mowed outside!

Might be an idea to get him some form of protectors now and let him get used to them when some of the loud noises that he doesn't like happen. It also gives him some control of the situation but maybe let him choose when he "needs" them rather than foisting them on him. Though a lot of it might depend on what end of 2 he is at, level of maturity etc.

Mothman

ah yes I sort of overlooked the fact of son being 2yo. I think my son started with ear muffs when 3...I can understand there being an issue with a 2 yo wearing them...

tommyh1977

Thanks for replies, all booked up now so s**t or bust. We have the portable DVD ready and a set of Ear defenders with the string between them so he cant loose them in his ears ;-). Might get him checked out by doctor before we go too.

mikedragon32

Just a heads-up on the DVD player. You probably won't be allowed use it until after take off, so don't make plans around that!