I am flying with my son (2 years old) for the first time the end of May. Since he is 2 I had to buy him his own seat, so he'll be buckled into his car seat the whole way.
I am a little concerned about the altitude changes making his ears pop. What can I do to help him not have pain when we change altitudes?

My two year old has never been bothered by the change in altitude, BUT you can offer them to nurse, take a pacifier, or suck a lollipop during ascent and descent to alleviate the pressure.

I think this varies from child to child and maybe even, it seems, with the the rate of descent. When my daughter had her first flight, she started screaming and holding her ears when the plane was well in its descent. Nothing seemed to help until we were almost on the ground, she stopped crying. However, I seen many young children fly without any apparent problems.

I just wanted to add that just like you, the child does not have to be strapped in the whole time. It is important that they get to stretch their legs at some point during the flight-let them out to stand up in their seat, walk them down the aisle and so on. To keep them strapped in the whole time is likely to cause them more stress and so the other passengers too if they get upset ;)

I took my first Plane flight when I was around 2 myself, and I never had any problems.

Of course I can't remember back that far either, but my parents tell me that the flight went well enough for me.

Sometimes I just think people these days are making more problems for themselves by worrying about all these "what if?" situations, and it only makes you worry yourself sick.

You can have your child do the same things you would to alleviate the pressure:chew gum, hold your nose and blow softly, etc. I took my first flight at under a year with an ear infection. I hear I was less than happy even with everyone doing anything they could think of to keep me happy. I eventually cried so much I passed out from exhaustion. Most kids do ok, you just have to remember their ears are sensitive to different amounts of pressure than adult ears.

At two, gum would be a huge choking risk and so would many pieces of candy that adults can use to alleviate the pain. A lollipop would have a lesser risk since it has a stick you can hold onto, but you might be better giving them a bottle of water to drink, that has a sports cap for instance. The swallowing motion alone normally resets pressure, active sucking isn't needed.

I travelled with my son , just last week, he's almost two. I gave him some juice while we were ascending and then something to much on while we were descending. He doesn't seem to have a problem.

I just traveled on a plane with my 7 month old daughter and she has no problem at all. During take off and landings I gave her a pacifier or a bottle to suck on. She actually ended up falling asleep on every single take off and landing . She slept most of the flights but did wake sometimes and I made sure to pack toys for her to play with. I also brought our protable DVD player and her baby movies which helped her stay content (esp during layovers). I was extremely nervous about her getting upset on the plane and bothering people but she ended up being an angel. Also, most people were very helpful on the plane and at the airport. Also, If your child is in a stroller most airports will let you go to the front of the security scan line (which is great!) Just make sure to look for an airport employee to be able to do this (sometimes they are around and looking for people with children in strollers). You can take your stroller up to the gate and they gate check it so you will have it as soon as you get off the plane and you can board the plane first since you have a small child (which is great so that you can get settled with your child and not be in other peoples way). Hope this helps!