Drugging Kids on Flights

[Kaleel Sakakeeny]

Would you sedate your child on a flight? 
Are parents who do so wrong?


Not long ago, a Wall Street Journal  article  reported that many parents "drug" or sedate their kids on planes so they'll be less bothersome for the parents, flight attendants and fellow passengers.


The drug of choice seems to be Benadryl, and while it does calm kids, often putting them out for hours, it has awakened others to what might be an abusive practice.


The testy responses to an About.com (and other) postings on the subject suggest the issue is a “hot button” one. It also revealed that many parents give some sort of sedation to their children whenever they fly.

But, it turns out, many others said they never would, and that doing so is a failure in parenting, an inability to creatively help a child adjust to air travel.

The medical profession seems to have no solid opinion on the matter. One past chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says his organization doesn’t have an actual position on the issue. “Good doctors can disagree about this,” he says, “just as good parents can.”


But one pediatrician who did not want to be quoted has a very strong opinion. He points out that the dangers of giving children Benadryl include actually making kids more irritable and hyper, throwing them off their schedules and inducing an unpleasant grogginess. He asks," What if Benadryl doesn't work? Would parents give their kids something stronger like Valium?

BabyCenter.com  agrees, saying that kids can do just fine on planes if parents take the time to bring along the right distractions like toys, games, or DVDs.


It's easy to argue that anyone who has ever flown with an inconsolable infant or child would understand why a parent would use medication, but the problem may be less about fussy kids, and more about our collective lack of patience as a society. 


Many flyers and docs agree,  saying the only reason to even consider giving a child a sedative, is if the experience is too stressful for the child, not because of the discomfort of other people on the plane.
Perhaps parents traveling with children should simply forget about what passengers think?



Would you sedate your child on a flight?