This is Part 2 of a two part series. To read Part 1, please click here.
You need not be under suspicion of possessing narcotics to be hassled by security and customs inspectors at airports. Families have been hassled for merely carrying everyday, over-the-counter medications, have had the medications confiscated, missed their flights and, very rarely, [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel, Travel Comments Off
Tags: Air Travel, airport, antibiotic, asia, breast pumps, children medication, codeine, doxycycline, families, hyperactivity, ill children, kids, Medications, nebulizers, overseas, pseudoephedrine

Children/Airport Security/ New Rules
Good news for parents traveling by air with their children. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that it is easing airport security screening procedures for children under the age of 12 years, and is also easing the rules for carrying liquid medications. But expect occasional exceptions to the new rules.
Here [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Safe & Healthy Travel Comments Off
Tags: Air Travel, airport screening children, airport screening kids, airport screening rules for kids, airport security checks for kids, does my child have to remove shoes at airport, effect of metal detectors on children, full body images, kid medication, metal detectors, pat-down, rules about children at airport screening, security checks kids, tsa children

Caution: travel is hazardous for children who are not fully immunized. And it doesn’t matter who is doing the traveling – your child or perfect strangers.
• Example: Last month, a woman with a communicable case of measles traveled by air from London to New Mexico, stopping at airports in Baltimore, Denver, and Albuquerque. Similar [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel, Vaccinations Comments Off
Tags: Air Travel, aircraft, chickenpox, contagious viral disease, immunized, Malaria, measles, measles autism wakefield, new vaccines, pertussis, polio, quarantine, rubella, Travel, travel-related diseases, traveling overseas, vaccinating children, vaccine-preventable diseases, Venice, whooping cough

For many people one of the biggest fear of flying is sitting next to a screaming child, says the New York Times,  “Please Refrain from Tantrums Aboard,” (November 14.)
According to the article, some travelers are doing some fussing of their own. They’re calling for airlines to implement child-free flights, designate “family-only” sections, or provide seat [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Safe & Healthy Travel Comments Off
Tags: Air Travel, airlines, antihistamines, child-free flights, children, children flying, crying, ear pain, family only flights, flying, flying with kids, infant sleeping patterns, Infants, kids, why infants cry in flight

Skip your hot tea and coffee when flying with young children – and hope that passengers in adjacent seats do the same.
Every year hundreds of passengers, many of them children, are burned by such beverages spilling on them. The combination of hot drinks, crowding, turbulence, and children is a formula for an accident waiting to [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Food & Water Precautions, Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel, Travel No Comments »
Tags: Air Travel, aisle seats, children, coffee burn, coffee spill, hazards, hot beverages, hot coffee, hot tea, injuries, overhead bins, turbulence

Recently a four-week old infant died on a flight from Washington to Kuwait. The probable cause was the mother accidentally smothered the baby when the mother fell asleep while nursing her infant.
This tragic event does not mean that nursing is unsafe during air travel. As far as is known this is the first time such [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel, Travel Comments Off
Tags: Air Travel, air travel with infants, breast-feed, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, Dr. Karl Neumann, Dr. Neumann, Forest Hills Pediatrics, health and safety, infant death, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, Kuwait flight, nursing, pediatric advice, pre-flight examination, smothered

Ask pediatricians whether infants and young children can travel by air with ear infections and the likely answer is, no, they cannot.
Ask pediatricians if they have ever seen a child with serious ear issues resulting from air travel and the likely answer is, no, they have not. 
There is virtually nothing in the medical literature to [...]

Posted in Air Travel, Outdoor Recreation, Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel No Comments »
Tags: Air Travel, Ear infections, ear problems, ear problems air travel, flight, Infants, pediatric travel advice, safe to travel, travel safety, young children

There is nothing novel about infants traveling by air. They have been doing so since time immemorial, long before adults. Legend has it that they were “delivered” by storks, and were never the worse for their trips. Of course, stork flights skimmed rooftops, eliminating concerns of high altitude and accompanying ear issues, dehydration, and excessive [...]

Posted in Destinations, Safe & Healthy Travel, Travel No Comments »
Tags: Air Travel, Altitude, cabin air, child restraint systems, Ear infections, feeding infants, inflight, nasal allergies, newborn, safe travel, sedation, upper respiratory infections, window seat

Facts about infants/air travel/in-flight comfort/feeding:
(This is an update of an earlier posting – but bears repeating).
Check the top twenty entries on Google regarding infants/air travel/feeding or air travel/infants/health. Nineteen say that you must give infants lots of fluids to prevent them from becoming dehydrated. One entry says that in flight dehydration is a myth – [...]

Posted in Destinations, Prevention, Travel No Comments »
Tags: Air Travel, air travel with infants, air travelers, Diarrhea, feeding infants, in flight dehydration, in-flight comfort, infant feeding, infant health, Infants, Kids Travel Doc, kids travel doctor, sweating, Vomiting

Before traveling with an infant, consider the following: How will he or she sleep (or not sleep) away from home? Should your infant sleep in your bed? Are car seats OK for overnight sleeping? Are hand-me-down cribs at grandmother’s house acceptable? What about cribs available in hotels?
Are portable travel cribs safe?
Here is what [...]

Posted in Prevention, Safe & Healthy Travel No Comments »
Tags: Air Travel, car seats, co-sleeping, cradles, crib safety, cribs, crying infants, heirloom cribs, hotel cribs, infant, infant sleep, jetlag, mosquito netting, overnight sleeping, portable travel cribs, safety netting, Sleep, traveling