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Traveling with Babies
So my DH and I are very brave and booked a week long trip to Seattle leaving Halloween. The girls will be 8 months old (which makes me want to cry!). We did not book them their own seats and we are just hoping no one sits next to us. We have to sit in different rows from each other, they will only allow one lap child per row, so we can't sit next to each other :-( One of the down falls to twins. I got our seats for the very last rows of the plane. Its a 2 1/2 hour direct flight.
I need your baby flying tips please! The airline said we can gate check a stroller (strollers) and car seats. If there are open seats on the plane they will let us bring their car seats on board.
I am worried about pack-n-plays to sleep in, did you guys bring them with you? They are so used to playing in their exersaucer and jumperoo, I feel like it will be hard for them not to have these things while we are up there. What do you girls think?
Re: Traveling with Babies
I know nothing about flying with babies, but I'll throw my 2 cents in anyway. Since they'll be 8 months old I think they will be just fine without the exersaucer. By then they'll probably be sitting up really well on their own, maybe even crawling, so they can entertain themselves more.
I think they'll do well on the flight too since it's pretty short. My BIL and SIL visited in January with a 14 month old and a 2 month old - the older one is a handful too! - and did fine. They were flying out from NY.
I'm wondering about these things too. Hopefully we'll be taking a trip next year.
After 2 rounds of IVF & 2 rounds of FET, we were blessed with identical twin girls!
Here's what we did (both for Ireland and for all of our other trips to Reno and the Bay Area). We had to bring Sarah's carseat (the Britax) to Ireland since we rented a car, so we checked her stroller with our luggage (the stroller does NOT count as luggage) and put her carseat in a GoGoKidz and carted her around that way to the gate. We had her own seat so we put the carseat in the airplane seat. Since you don't know if you'll have one, you can check it at the gate if you have to. The GoGo Kidz folds up flat once you take the carseat off so that can go overhead (you can borrow ours if you want!). We brought our PNP with us to Ireland as well (none of the B&B's had cribs!) so we checked that as one of our bags at no charge (we had crammed all of our stuff into 2 bags). We're pretty lucky with our short trips to the BA or Reno - we don't have to bring the carseat or the PNP and we just hold her...which she doesn't like (she'd rather be running around) but for these little trips, we're not going to pay for her (yet...). She usually falls asleep for most of the flight anyway (thank you white noise!). As far as the other things like the exersaucers or jumperoo...they'll be so busy exploring their new environment they won't even think about them! Bring lots of snacks and we have the Fogo thermos sippy cups for Sarah's milk (most domestic airlines to always stock it) - it keeps liquids cold for up to 10 hours. We brought toys on the plane and she wasn't interested in them at all
I think that's it...if I think of something else, I'll let you know! Or, you can always email me with questions! :-)
Aaak, 8 months! Crazy, crazy.
First off - Yay for you & your H for not letting the girls hinder your traveling! ?It bugs me when parents gripe about how they can't travel with kids - bleh!
Yes, you can't have 2 lap child in the same row. However, you can still sit in the same row by having the aisle in between you and your H. ?Does that make sense? ?So you'd both get an aisle seat, but next to each other. ?Not quite sitting together, but still right by each other. ?That way you can pass the girls between you two.
Initially we had planned to check in the car seats along with out baggages (no extra fee for the car seats), but since we were so late, we had to gate check them (on our recent trip to Hawaii). ?There's a bag that you can buy at Babies R Us for the car seats (when we went to Guam, we were able to stuff other things in the car seat bag along with the car seat) ?As for the strollers, those were gate checked.
You can try checking with the hotel that you will be staying at if they have any PNP or cribs that the girls can use. ?The hotel we stayed at in HI had a sucky crib, so the baby & I ended up co-sleeping (we had 2 beds in our room)
I say leave the jumperoo & the exersaucer - they'll be fine with out them
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HTH!?
Not sure how it is with twins, but this is what I did: Mary was 5 1/2 months old when we went to Texas. We flew American (not sure if other airlines are different) We carried on her carseat and they took it before we sat down. Did the same thing with the umbrella stroller. We stayed at a hotel that provided a crib. I brought just about every toy Mary owned but nothing big. It was a little hard to be without the pnp and Mary's bathtub etc but it's like camping...you're just roughing it.
Also...at 8 months, you'd be amazed what the girls won't want to play with anymore. Mary is no longer interested in her exersaucer. She just wants to crawl everywhere.
And...the flight to Texas was 2 hours. It actually went by really quick. Mary ate played a little slept a little and we were there. Not bad at all.
You are not crazy. ?Traveling with kids is a piece of cake. ?Seriously. ?I've done it more than several times with Campbell - so many times, I've lost count. ?With DH, without DH - doesn't matter.
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Do not bring the stroller to gate check. ?Instead - use a soft carrier, like an Ergo or Beco, to transport the kids through the airport. ?You wear one, DH wears the other. ?Your hands will be free for a diaper bag or wear a girl on your tummy and have a diaper bag on your back - and your hands are still free. ?You don't have to take these off or the girls out when going through TSA (just be sure to take off the girls' shoes!).
If you gate check the car seats, the GoGo Kidz is a good bet. ?Or, there is also a car seat backpack that straps the seat to your back. ?Instead, I'd check the car seats.?
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If you're flying Southwest, be sure to check in 24 hours prior so you get an "A" boarding card. ?AND make sure the girls ARE NOT on your reservation. ?You can add them at the airport. ?If the girls are on your reservation, call and take them off. ?You CANNOT check in online if you have an infant on your reservation. ?When choosing seats, go directly to the back, do not stop in the front. ?These fill up quicker - you have a better chance of getting an entire row in the back.
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If you aren't flying Southwest, try to get rows ahead and behind each other, near the back of the plane. ?You have a better chance of a seat free.
As for the PNP - Campbell just slept with us, so we never really used it at the hotel. ?If they're crawling around that time - be sure to bring outlet covers. ?They'll find the hotel room so interesting, they won't need toys.?
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Hope that helps - call me if you have more questions! ?I am the travel queen!
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Cheers,
Jen?
We are staying with family, so no hotel. I cant have all 4 of us sleep in the same bed. The girls will wake each other up by hitting and kicking each other. I will ask our family if they have 2 bed we can sleep in, then we can just co-sleep.
jen--we are flying Jetblue and have seats right in front and back of each other the last 2 rows of the plane. Any other advise for them?
Thanks girls.