Traveling on plane with 7 month old twins

anyalee

I know this has been asked before, but I never needed to pay attention.  Just booked tickets to travel to Florida the beginning of April.  The babies will be 7 1/2 months.  I'll have my SIL and 10 year old DD to help out.  Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!! TIA

jenn_darrin1515

we flew with the girls when they were 8 months and had them as lap babies with dh and I...we checked everything...gate checked the stroller...bring bottles/pacifiers for the up/down of the plane...a few toys...extra clothes for babies and at least an extra top for you on the plane...change them on the ground just before the flight...plenty of snacks (packed in clear ziplock baggies) and you should be good to go!  GL!

Haven1

Oh man.  Would I take my twins on a plane today?  Thankfully they don't crawl, so that's a huge plus.  Call me a bad mom, but I'd bring a portable DVD player and let them stare at that the whole time.

atc282

I flew with my mom and DDs at 5.5 months and then at 11 months. The 5.5 month trip was so much easier b/c DDs weren't into walking (and everything, for that matter!) as they were on the later flight.

Just be sure to pack lots of distractions--i.e. their favorite board books, toys, etc. I brought with me those little portioned containers that you pour in powdered formula and just bought waters once past security. Two of those containers allots 6 bottles. My girls slept a great deal of the flight!

I fed them their bottles and had pacis out and ready for take-off and landing so that their ears wouldn't bother them. Also, I was glad they allowed us to board first and get situated so people weren't rushing us.

Glad you have some people to help you! You'll do great! GL!!

shipoopiisforme

we just came home from a trip and our 8 month old twins did very well on the planes. we had their own seats on the plan and brought our infant seats with us on the plane. in the future we will only get 3 seats for the 4 of us and not bring the seats.

it was nice to have them in their own seats as they slept for a lot of the flights. we were also traveling with 4 other adults so there were a lot of extra hands and laps!

i got them a few new toys that i gave them on the plane which kept them very distracted. they were both also very interested in interacting with the passengers around them so that kept them very busy as well. my son got a little antsy on the way there because he just wanted to crawl around and obviously we couldn't let him. 

malex

We have flown with our girls at 7 weeks (California), 5 months (Caribbean), 8 months (Florida), 9 months (California), 15 months (Boston), and 16 months (Asia).  So far it keeps getting harder and harder to fly with them.  Boston was the exception, but that was such a short flight that I almost don't count it.

Here are my random travel tips and recommendations, which I saved from a previous post:

-- Fly as direct as you can.  On our flight to Asia, we flew from Philly to San Francisco and spent a few days in San Francisco in order to visit my sister, break up the trip a bit, and start adjusting to the time change.  In retrospect I wish we had just flown directly to Seoul - once you are in the air, the extra few hours seems much more manageable than the thought of landing, collecting your luggage, unpacking for a few days, repacking, going back to the airport, etc.

-- Buy seats for the babies if you can afford it.  Even though you can hold your kids on your laps while they are under 2 years old, you will want the extra space.  Assuming you do this...

-- Bring one carseat on board, and check the other carseat.  This way you have a place to strap in one baby if they fall asleep, but you also have the extra seat so you have a little extra room for the babies to play and stretch out.

-- On overnight flights, do not get seats in the bulkhead row.  Even though the extra legroom may be tempting, there are a few downsides:  (1) Oftentimes, the armrests do not go up since that is where they store the tray tables.  (2) You will have to put your carryons in the overhead compartments during takeoff and landing - and that is exactly when you will need access to them to soothe your babies with drinks or toys.  (3) Often there is a lot of extra traffic, light, and noise around the bulkhead because that's where the restrooms are.

-- Don't be afraid to bring extra carryon bags.  You get two bags per person, and if you buy seats for the babies, they get two bags too.  Carseats don't count.  Even if you can't carry everything yourself, you can get assistance from the flight attendants.  I flew Cathay Pacific and the flight attendants were incredibly helpful in this respect. So I had my diaper bag; my rolling suitcase which held my laptop, camera, and one Peapod travel tent (see below); a duffel bag of toys, books, etc. for the girls; and a bag just holding food and milk for the girls.

-- Will there be cribs or pack 'n plays already in place where you are going?  If not, buy Peapod Plus travel tents for the kids -- they are around $70 on Amazon -- they fold down very small and pop open -- so much lighter and easier than a pack 'n play.  Have your kids gradually get used to sleeping in them at home before your trip so that they are comfortable in them.  Make sure to get absorbent cotton waterproof pads to put inside the tents.  We had a 6-hour layover in Hong Kong and my brother arranged for us to get into the First Class lounge (sooo nice) where we got our own private cabana.  I popped open the tent and let one of the girls nap in there for a few hours.  I wish I had the other tent too for the other girl - I ended up pushing her around the airport in the stroller and she eventually fell asleep but only for an hour.

-- Buy a portable DVD player with a long battery life ($80 on Amazon) and some kids DVDs.  My kids do not watch TV at home so I had them watch a few episodes of Wonder Pets and Elmo's World before we left to get them used to the experience.  Then it was a real treat for them on the plane and it bought me hours of peace and quiet.

-- Depending on how long your flight is, consider bringing infant Benedryl.  This is a very controversial topic.  I talked to one pediatrician who was very judgmental about it, and to another pediatrician who said it was absolutely fine.  I tested it out on the girls at home first to make sure they wouldn't get hyperactive, then I brought it with me on the flights just in case.  I figured I should bring it with me anyway in case they had an allergic reaction to something during our trip.  I ended up giving it to one of my daughters on two of the flights - one of which was a redeye flight where she was screaming for 20 minutes while everyone else was trying to sleep.  It calmed her down and was a sanity saver and I have no regrets.  But to each her own. 

-- Bring at least 2 extra outfits for the kids on board the plane, and one change of clothes for the adults as well.

-- Bring lots of wipes on board -- including antibacterial wipes to wipe down all the plastic surfaces that your kids will touch during the flight.

-- Leave extra time for security.  You have to take off the kids' shoes and jackets, no matter how young they are (so ridiculous, I know).  If you are pushing a stroller to the gate, you have to dismantle the stroller and put it through the X-ray machine.  If your stroller does not dismantle, they will hand scan it.  The whole process is such a humongous pain and totally chaotic, but it is the worst part of any flight, so once you make it through that, you are in the homestretch in my opinion!

-- You probably know that you can bring on breastmilk and ready-to-drink formula through security, but you may not know that you can also bring bottled water with you if you say it is for making formula for the babies.  (You also have to have the powder formula, of course.)  You are allowed a "reasonable amount" which is open for interpretation, but I have brought on 6 bottles of water in the past and they were fine with it.  Just put it all in a separate bag along with baby food and snacks and point it out to the TSA folks before you put it through the X-ray.

-- If you are going to check any carseats or stroller (including gate-checking), I highly recommend buying gate check bags.  J.L. Childress makes them and you should see how filthy they get after just one trip.  It will make you glad that it's the bag and not your child's carseat that is getting that filthy!

HTH and good luck!