Benadryl for Travel?

My sister ALWAYS uses benadryl for her girls on flights. I also used it for my boys. I guess it helps with the ear popping thing because of the decongestant (I think). It also may make them sleep. The flight with my kids went great.

I used Children's Motrin. My daughter would be out like a light as soon as the engines started. It also helped with any pain she may have from her stuffy head (allergies). Good luck!

I am not passing judgment at all. But I am warning you. If you're going to do this test it before you travel. My daughter gets so wired on Benadryl that it's almost like I've given her a pot of coffee.
My friends with older kids take it on overseas flights to help them sleep.
When I traveled with my daughter at that age I tried to schedule flights during her naptime if possible. I also found that flights earlier in the day are better that later. This still is true today for my four year old.
I always held my daughter on my lap, but it was heaven when she turned two and I *had* to buy her a flight. If you can afford a seat for your baby it will be a lot easier on you.
More advice than you asked for but we travel a lot so I've definitely been there done that.
Good luck.
S.

We are flying 3 1/2 hours mid-day this weekend with our very active 14 month old son, so I can totally relate! I plan on giving him Benadryl for the flight. This will be his 10th flight and I have given him Benadryl on most, but not all, of our previous flights. For me it has worked great most of the time but there were a few times where it didn't seem to have any effect. I have found that it's best to give it right when you get to the airport, before you check your bags and go through security, unless you have a really small bottle that you can carry on. Definitely test it out before you go--I have also heard from many people that it makes their kids hyper. Good luck and have a great trip!

I've done it. I'm not proud to admit it, but it worked wonders on both my (at the time) one and two year olds. An added benefit is that it helped with their congestion...at least it seemed to. They were calm and even slept a little. I would do it again. Just make sure to use the right dosage.

P.S. Benadryl makes some kids hyper, so make sure it's something your child can tolerate before trying it on a long flight.

I've traveled across the country with both my kids numerous times, my oldest has flown every 2-4 months since he was 3 months old! I've never used any drugs to make him sleep during the flight.

Chances are, as soon as the plane takes off, he'll knock out anyway, both my boys do. Otherwise bring snacks, new fun toys, extra change of clothes, and relax. Bring your stroller to the gate and check it right on the jetway so you have it thorugh the airport. Board last, or close to last, so you have as little time in the plane as possible. Kids this age are so distracable, that a snack, looking at other airplanes, out th window, new books, etc will really make the trip go faster. and like I said he'll probably fall asleep as soon as the plane takes off.

Relax, there is no need to give your child anything to sleep through the flight.....

I have never used Benadryl for travel, but we use it frequently because my oldest son (3) has a severe dairy allergy...he's used it since he was 1. Firstly, regular Benadryl does not contain a decongestant...it only contains an antihistamine which relieves things like sneezing and itchy, watery eyes..no decongestant. Secondly, it tends to make my son very, very hyper like other moms have mentioned. I have never had him fall asleep after giving him a dose of Benadryl. So...make sure you test it before you get on the plane, just to make sure you know how your son will react. Good luck :)

Make sure you test it out on your son first, my son has needed benadryl for his nut allergies and up until several months after his second birthday did it make him tired. My Dr told me that for most children under 2years of age it makes them hyper. Travel with young children has it challenges ( I travel w/ 2 ages 4 and 2) by myslef from wisconsin to california, the dvd player is a good idea, make sure it has a long battery life, we made that mistake with one we borrowd and boy was that a mistake. I also have learned to purchase toys before the trip and keep them just for the plane ride. I have ones for going and hide others for the trip back. I suggest that you purchase a seat for your son, I had to hold my son the whole 3 some odd hours to california and it made him really frustrated. It was also no fun for me either. I wish you happy flying and a good trip.

I know you only want responses from people who have tried the Benadryl, but we just took our 15 month old on a 13 hour car trip (granted, there was no one else for him to bother but us) and we brought a portable DVD player. The Baby Einstien DVDs are really great for them. It holds their attention (not like kids movies). Also, you might find that the flight itself will put them to sleep. It's been a while since my son was on a plane (7 months old) but he slept through most of it. Now that he's older, I probably would buy him his own seat and buckle him in. He probably wouldn't sit on our lap either. We have used Benadryl for allergies and he isn't all that affected by it. Good luck.

We were going to try this with our daughter on a trip to France on the recommendation from a friend who is a nurse. I checked with our pediatrician first who gave us the proper dosage for our daughter based on her weight. Thank goodness we did a trial at home first. It is very rare, but our daughter is allergic to Benadryl. I'm glad we didn't make this discovery on an 11 hour flight. It also didn't make her drowsy, so it was an all around bust.

Dear E.,
I can totally understand why you would want to do this, I have three kids myself and travel is always a challenge. I also want to tell you that I have been a nurse for 17 years and will share with you that most parents don't know the implications of Benadryl on brain function up to 3 days after giving it totheir kids. Studies on Benadryl have shown that kids who were given the drug actaully had a more difficult time learning and taking in new information for up to three days after it was administered.

It is not my intent to judge you at all on this topic, I can symapthise with your motivation as a mother for sure. I just wanted you to have this information so that you can make a more informed decision.
So here are my ideas on a 4 hour plane ride with a 14 month old.
Go to the dollar store without your child, pick up some fun, small activity based things that you think could occupy him for a bit. If they work together, even better. Take them home and wrap them like birthday presents. Wrap them really well so he will have to work at getting them open ( buying you more time.) On the plane ride give him one new thing every 30 minutes to an hour depending on interest. This is a cheap way to keep him occupied.
The other thing you could try are books on tape for him, a DVD player or his favorite music on your MP3 player. Also, don't assume that everyone on that plane thinks your child should sit in a seat for four hours. Expecting a 14 month old to sit still for that long is just humanly impossible. Don't hesitate to get up and walk around a lot. Also ask the flight attendants for their ideas. They see a ton of kids traveling and have many trick up their sleeves.
I wish you all the best and know you're goingto enjoy this experience with your son. Look at this trip through your sons eyes and enjoy it as much as he is.

I have not had to do this since I haven't taken my son on any flights yet. I do however work with a doctor who recently took a trip with her one year old; she gave the child benadryl for during the flight. I guess if a doctor thought it was okay, I wouldn't feel too guilty doing it. It might be a rough experience for your son without it. You could always see how he does taking off without it and if he isn't doing so well, give him the benadryl at that point. If you do try to takeoff without it, I have heard that they need something to suck on like a pacifer or bottle or something to help with the altitude changes.

Try the Benadryl at home first to see how he reacts. I have two kids that Benadryl was a lifesaver for and one that it just spun up like a top. I have friends who also swear by the Benadryl snooze effect. But I would also try to exhaust him before hand. Let him run all over the place and have a ton of activity and even sugar a couple of hours prior. The resulting crash might make him sleepy without any additional need for medication. He also might surprise you with his behavior. Airports and airplanes are a really big deal for little ones and there is so much overstimulation that even my wildest son always seems to settle down in that venue. There are also a lot of calming herb solutions that do a good job without overmedicating. And make sure to have something very tactile for him to do that is quiet (nothing like a loud toy to torture all of the passengers, yourself included) like Play doh or clay. When my kids were younger, we had certain special toys that I bought just for traveling or social settings. The only time they were allowed to play with those toys was when we had to go somewhere. Since with three kids I'm not a huge fan of making travel a priority (ugh and migraine galore), the toys always seemed like new! But regardless, if you test out the Benadryl and it knocks him into peaceful slumber, then be sure to bring it along just in case!

I have used Benadryl for travel. Our pediatrician okayed it! I used the correct dose at the correct intervals and it worked like a charm for us. The dye in benadryl can cause children to be hyper---that is the most typical culprit. If you are worried about they do have dye-free benadryl. The other trick I have is to help with the painful ear "popping" on take-off and landing. There is a ear drop that you can put in the child's ear and it will numb the ear so that they won't feel that pain. I've also used that and it worked great. We took our 18-month old to Hawaii, the flight was 12 hours and on the trip there and back she did great. The only thing that I mention is that the ear drops are kind of thick and gooey. They drain out of the ear. My daughter had long hair so it wasn't a big deal for us, her hair looked a little greasy but we got in at dinner time so we had dinner and took a bath that first night. No big deal. And the bonus for us with the benadryl---she was still sleepy that night on Hawaii time so she slept and was ready for to start the day on time the next day so we never had to deal with issues with the time difference. Again, this was our experience---I'm sure many others have different experiences and different advice. It is very child dependent. (one more note--if your child takes regular tylenol--the liquid kind but not dye-free--and they are fine, they probably will not have a hyper reaction to benadryl at least because of the dye.)

E.,

My children don't really seem to get sleepy from Benedryl, but I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn't be concerned about people judging you. Using a safe medication to help your child relax in a situation that would be stressful for both of you without it isn't something to be ashamed of. I agree that it shouldn't be done all the time, but on rare occassions like air travel, I think it a fine idea. Good Luck.

When my son had a cold and we had to fly home from a trip, we tried Benedryl on the recommendation of the out-of-town doc (not our ped). My son was 9 months.

It seemed to help with cold stuff, but he didn't seem to sleep any longer than on the way there with no Benedryl (and no cold). It seemed that Benedryl or not, he was warm in our arms, had some milk, and slept like a log. I would recommend trying to fly around a nap time and holding off a nap until you get on the plane.

The out-of-town doc did recommend trying the Benedryl at home a few days before flying because some kids have the opposite reaction to Benedryl (it hypes them up), so we did that and I would strongly recommend that if you're going to do it. If you want to know how safe it is and what dose, you could put a call into your doc. and tell a white-lie that you want to give it on the plane to relieve cold symptoms. When we arrived home and saw our ped, he said they don't recommend Benedryl.

Hope this helps!
:) M.

I have used it for all 3 of my kids (8yr old, and 22mo old twins). It worked great. The only thing is to do a trial run of giving your child benedryl because some drs. say it affects kids differently so try it before you go so you can see his response to it.

M.

i have no problem with it-- i've tried it before and i'm a pediatric ICU nurse. just make sure you have the correct dosage (i forget what it is for small kids). also understand that it often has a paradoxical effect and can make your kid MORE wired.

best of luck!

I have used it for my kids on trips to Mexico and it worked like a dream. Do test a few days before to make sure you don't get the hyper effect that kids can sometimes get. Benedryl and Unisom gel tabs are the exact same thing so it makes sense. My 3 year old daughter actually used it quite often until we discovered calcium/magnesium liquid because she's special needs and sometimes needs it to sleep at all at night.
Also be sure to bring your carseat because even if you didn't pay for a seat they usually will seat you next to an empty spot if you request it. It's amazing how much better babies do in carseats because they are used to it and are comfortable.
Happy Vacationing,
J.

We did use it for international flights. I tried it twice before we used it on the flight as suggested by both mamasource readers and our periatrician. This was to make sure it did not make our son hyper rather than sleepy. Both trials went fine although he seemed like there was little impact on him either way. True to that nature, we used it once on the way out and once on the way back. He slept fine on the way out (evening flight anyhow) but slept a little for a regular nap time and was not hyper on the flight back.
Only advice - try it at least once before you take it with you on the flight. Do not make the flight the first time you try it. Many kids, my husband for one as a kid, get hyper and excitable instead of sleepy.
Hope that was helpful.
D.

My son's pediatrician actually told me to use it. He said to be sure to test it one day at home before going to make sure that it gives the desired result: sleepiness. For some if just makes them more active and hyper.

I ended up not doing it, but it was nice to know that I had options.

Good luck!

I flew to Australia from Minneapolis (3 hours from msp to
LA then 14 hours from LA to Sydney) alone with a very busy 14 month old. I was just as worried about lasting the flights so I asked my pediatrician about Benadryl. He told me it was perfectly fine to use to calm him down a little. I felt it helped him to settle and the flight wasn't nearly as stressful as I thought that it would be. A tip on using it if you haven't before is to try it out before you go. Sometimes it has the opposite effect and makes the kids hyper. You definately don't want this to happen on the plane.

I also packed a ton of snacks and brought a portable DVD player. He was really into Baby Einstein and I found the music calmed me too :)

Good luck

My aunt uses Benadryl to get my cousin to sleep (she is 10) and really hyper, she told me to try it with my daughter (she's a toddler) and it just makes her more hyper, not calm down. If I were you, I would try it on him at home to see what affect it has on him. I think it does state on the box that in some children it can cause them to be more active. You would not want that to happen on a plane. Enjoy your trip!

I have used Benadryl for travel, it was recommended by my sons doctor to make a 3 1/2 hour flight easier. The key is to try it out before you go to see if you child will get drowsy or sleepy before hand. My one son it makes sleepy and the other it makes him more excited so we ended up with a portable dvd player also so that we can keep them busy also lots of books and toys and snacks. Anything to keep them busy. Hope this helps.

The best thing we did when traveling was to get a seat for our daughter and have her in the car seat. It made things A LOT easier. She knew she had to stay in her seat, buckled in. If that's an option for you, definitely do it! If it's a domestic flight, you might be able to get a seat pretty cheap.

We did use Benadryl when flying from England to Minneapolis once. I wouldn't say that it was the miracle cure that we were looking for, but it did help a bit. I second what someone said about trying it out first. Some kids get hyper and shaky and it's definitely not helpful in that case.

I'm not going to pass judgment because I don't want to be the mom with the child or ther person sitting behind them! I also have a 16 mo DD who I"m sure I'd be doing the same thing. I haven't had any reason too but I know my SIL has done this on flights with her kids and its worked fine & saved her sanity. I have found on long car rides the portable DVD player has been a huge lifesaver! We travel about 5 hrs (one way) once a month & though that she sleeps a good part & the dvd player has saved us though the other part.

My son gets pretty jumpy too on flights so after he turned 6 mo we started buying him a seat and putting him in his car seat. Somehow the kids know that car seat = sit still. I agree with the other posts about trying to find a flight during nap time so he sleeps during most of the flight. Portable DVD's are also a lifesaver. Benadryl will probably make him drowsy but you should test on him ahead of time. However, if what you are worried about is his ears popping and painful takeoff and landing, I would suggest a decongestant such as infant dimetapp or infant tylenol cold (with decongestant. Again, test this medicine before your trip. My pediatrician warned me that some kids get hyper on certain meds. Goodluck!

We brought a carseat for our little guy to use while we were renting a car on vacation. We carried it on and were able to use it even though we hadn't purchased a seat for him. It was a lifesaver because he is used to riding it in and knows he has to stay there as opposed to our laps where he can kind of come and go. It has to be a airline approved carseat - you can check on your carseat's tag. Good luck and don't worry - it will go better than you expect. I was so incredibly nervous when we stepped on the plane but it went fine.

Hello,
We just got back from flying to and from chicago (granted only an hour flight), however my son is 16 months and cannot sit still as well. We debated about doing the benadryl as well but were told that benadryl can go either way, make them sleep or drowsy, or make them more excited. Its all about the timing, but honestly I am not positive when you should give it. I gave my son some motrin about an hour before hand (he's also getting his eye teeth), I don't know that it made any difference. We didnt do anything on the way home.
We went out and bought a portable DVD player. What a life saver, we brought his favorite video and kept it going as much as we could. He also sat on my lap and got to look out the window, he enjoyed that very much. We also brought his favorite toys and books to pass the time. You could also ask the pharmacist at like Target or Walmart and see what they say, they should be able to give an opinion.
Good luck and have fun.