If you are bringing a car seat, be sure to have your baby safely strapped in for take-off and landing. I've been flying with my babies since each was 4 months old on transatlantics about twice a year, plus other flights. All were breastfed. None took a pacifier and two never had bottles. I have never, ever fed on take-off and landing and my babies have never, ever had any ear problems.

Technically, you don't have to make them feed during those times. The critical moment is not on either but at the TOP of descent. This is when the aircraft first comes out of "cruising altitude" and you'll feel it in your ears too. The AAP recommends that they only be awake. Moving their heads, laughing, babbling, coughing, etc. all helps with the ears. It doesn't have to be actual sucking. Giving the baby a little feed before being strapped in is a good idea, just to stave off hunger if nothing else!

Plenty of parents swear by this but they don't know if their child hadn't had problems, if they hadn't fed. Children who don't feed on take-off and landing also usually have no ear problems. Luckily, these problems are rare and I hardly saw any in my 13 years as a Flight Attendant.

Take-off is easier than landing. If you dive, you'll know this as reverse logic (going down is easier than coming to the surface). As a Flight Attendant, I saw a lot of children fall asleep on the tarmac and then they were unnecessarily woken up on take-off. If your child is sleeping, just leave them in peace. Once the aircraft is off the ground, the air conditioning kicks in and wakes them up anyway (they're crying from that, not their ears!)

Technically, you're not supposed to take them out of the car seat until the seat belt sign goes off but once you're well in the air, you can take the baby out. You just can't sue the airline if anything goes wrong.

Please don't take the baby out before take-off. Not only is this not safe for the baby but the car seat then has to be stowed as luggage (technical detail).

I like to recommend scheduling a "well baby" visit to the doctor soon before leaving, if possible. Ear infections that don't bother a baby on the ground become painful and are potentially damaging at altitude. Once my son was able to get going on antibiotics before a flight to the U.S. (thank goodness but he did have a history of these). Luckily, I rarely saw this but it was awful when it did occur (and it happens to adults too!)

Healthy ears can handle pressurization changes. So go ahead and strap your baby into his seat for the two most dangerous portions of your journey and feed whenever necessarily. He'll be fine!