Children with negative middle ear pressure or middle ear pathology on both sides may experience earaches during the rapid descent of an airplane.

As the plane descends, the air pressure inside your ears is lower than the pressure outside your ears. This creates a vacuum inside your ears, pushing your eardrums inward and making your ears feel full or stuffed up. Under normal circumstances, air moves from passages in the nose into the middle ear to maintain equal pressure on the eardrums. If the Eustachian tubes, tubes that link the back of the nose to the ears are not functioning properly, your child will have problems equalizing pressure and may complain of earaches.

1. Consult your doctor about using decongestant;
2. While taking off or landing, suck on candy or chew gum to cause frequent swallowing;
3. For younger children, give them a bottle of water or juice to make them swallow.