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| sleeping soundly once we got to Arizona |
My angel-face, sweeter than sugar daughter, delight of my soul, darling of my dreams was an absolute nightmare on our holiday flight out to Arizona.
So cried. For something like 9 solid hours. And when she wasn't crying...she was fussing. And when she wasn't fussing...she was screaming. And for a good 15 - 20 minutes in there somewhere, Tommy and I wanted to quit.
We tried everything...bottle feeding her to help ease the pressure off of her poor little ears...but we fed her so much that she wouldn't eat anymore. We tried walking with her in the aisle, bouncing her on our knee, giving her free range of the middle seat in our row (the poor girl who was assigned the seat next to us was actually moved to a different seat by the flight attendant!) we gave her every toy, every book, everything she wanted. We cringed when she went to lick the airplane seat cushion...but figured it she shut up for 5 minutes to eat it we would just let her do it. I made promises with God to even try to quiet her down. I secretly cursed my husband for not allowing me to drug her with Benadryl (despite the fact I knew peeps that did this...the fact that our pediatrician said "no" resonated with my hubs...so we didn't do it.) Instead we gave her baby Tylenol and Oragel and changed her diapers...and offered even more food.
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| i have no idea why this picture won't "flip" to be oriented correctly...but I love it...so I won't delete it. |
Nothing worked until we got off that plane.
The thought of getting on a return flight made me queasy during our entire vacation. I just didn't want to play that game. Except...on Christmas Day, there really wasn't anyone at the airport...our flight was basically empty...and she was back to her adorable lovable self. Full of smiles for anyone that walked by. Lots of coos and conversation for her daddy and me. It was the most pleasant journey. And we didn't use Benedryl...or Tylenol, or Oragel. We didn't have to feed her crazy amounts of food in an attempt to put her into a food coma. This is what we did:
1. Started feeding her a bottle as soon as the plane tilted up in the air...and then again during the descent.
2. Had a bag of finger snacks handy
3. Talked to her, sung to her and read to her per usual (there was nobody on the flight...otherwise I'm not sure I would have belted out JingleBells actually.)
4. Gave her alone time to play with her usual toys
5. Introduced her to the flight attendants who would frequently come by to say hello to her...smile at her and take her attention for a few moments.
6. Kept taking turns with Tommy for child-care and "resting" time.
7. Bought anti-bacterial (child safe!) wipes and wiped everything down...multiple times prior to take off
8. Didn't care if she got fussy because there wasn't anyone around to annoy anyway (Murphy's Law would dictate that since nobody was around to annoy, she would be our sweet Angel...right?)
Although, I have to admit, this was probably karma kicking my ass. I've been annoyed with screaming babies on plane rides before. I repent.
You know, if you store a baby in the overhead compartment...
ReplyDelete...no, maybe that isn't a good suggestion.
I'm going with the karma's a b**ch explanation.
eclair
Everyone is entitled to a bad day, and the ride out was Clara's. Love that it only happened on the way out and not BOTH! YIKES!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if her ears were bothering her.
ReplyDeleteI had one flight where that happened to me and it was torture. You can't believe the sharp pain until it happens to you - like a knife in your ears. I was literally rocking back and forth in my seat with my hands over my ears. I tried all the advice to get rid of the pain and nothing worked. And when I got off the plane, the pain kept up for hours.
I haven't flown for years and I'm scared to death of it happening again. A friend of mine flew when he had a cold or sinus infection or something, and his ears were permanently damaged. He now has constant ringing in his ears. Never fly if you are sick that way.