Ok 3u3 mommies, am I nuts?

alr5

My children are currently 2.5 years, 1.25 years, and 4 months today. We are planning a cross country flight this January so DH's family can finally meet me and our children. Am I crazy for attempting to put three that young on an airplane? Any tips or tricks I should know about from those who have done it before? Thanks ladies!

moonfaerie

You're brave! lol I don't even take all three to the grocery store if I can avoid it. lol I don't have any tips, but good luck.

Kaiterz

I heard on the radio a story where parents of infant twins made favor bags for all the other passengers.  A note included "We're 4 month old twins flying for the 1st time.  We're sorry if we cry bc we get scared or our ears hurt.  If you'd like we're sitting in row 24 and mommy and daddy (aka the milk machine and diaper changer) have ear plugs available to you"

Just a thought lol

Vitnicki83

Wow! You are brave.  DH and I just flew with our 2 boys (9 mo and 21mo, me 26wks pg) to TN.  They were both lap sitters since it was only a 2 hour flight, but we had some unexpected setbacks once we got on the plane with the boys. 

The flight attendant(s) told us we were one of their 'nightmare' families because we had 2 lap babies therefore were not allowed to sit together.  They said it was because of the number of O2 masks in the event of an emergency (there were only 3 masks between our 2 seats).  Because of this they needed to separate us.  Thankfully on the way to TN we were traveling with other family so we just shuffled seats, but on the way home it was just the 2 of us with the boys and they had to put us in different parts of the plane, not just one row behind the other.

Not to scare you but you will probably not be able to sit together (or keep this in mind when you order your tickets if you have not already) because we were not notified of this when we got our tickets and it was a shock to us after we had boarded the plane.

I would also make sure you have plenty of activities, snacks, drinks and bottles for the kids.  Target's dollar bin usually has great coloring books/activitiy kits that are very handy.  We used them for DS1 on the plane and he really liked them.

My main suggestion is just keep calm.  There may be some very stressful moments, and there really isn't much you can do (ie walking around), but I found keeping myself calm made the flight a little less stressful.

 Good Luck!

MammaBear81

If you can afford it, buy a seat for the 1 year old- you will probably need the space.  We took the latest flight possible so they kids could sleep (or at least be more likely to sleep) on the way there.  We brought the older ones car seats (something they were familiar with) two portable DVD players with headphones, tons of snacks (we usually eat pretty healthy, but I was willing to feed them almost anything to keep them quiet and me from being "that parent") and their blankets.

The flights went as well as they could have- the older ones slept, and the LO nursed and slept on and off.  We went from NY to CO once and NY to CA the second time. GL

[Deleted User]

Vitnicki83:

Not to scare you but you will probably not be able to sit together (or keep this in mind when you order your tickets if you have not already) because we were not notified of this when we got our tickets and it was a shock to us after we had boarded the plane.

She's totally right.  We just flew with our two boys (ages 1 and 2) and didn't find out until we got on the plane that there couldn't be another person in our 3-seat row with us.  On the way there, it worked out b/c the other passenger moved, but on the way home we had to sit one row behind each other.

As far as advice, the best time-wasters/occupiers were:

• A small notebook of blank paper and loads of stickers.  Even those free address labels you get in the mail will works.  The kids loved to stick the stickers on the paper or their clothing.  It wasted almost an hour of the flight.
• An iPad with Yo Gabba Gabba episodes and free apps.  Just do a search for kids apps and download as many free ones as you can find.  Occupied them for over an hour.
• Lots of snacks.  Something about flying just makes them want to sit and snack and they get cranky when you run out.
• If your kids have pacifiers, get those clips that clip them to your shirt.  It's really hard to locate a paci that's fallen under the seat in front of you when you have a baby on your lap.
  

Good luck.