For those who fly cross country with multiple children-How?

[mom2aidanNpiper]

A general note about flying with kids- I've had good and bad experiences Snacks, a backpack of things to, a blanket if possible (we will even bring ones we are ready to donate or toss and then get rid of it at our destination if flying red eye/naptime- like on our upcoming trip).

One thing about the video/i pod subject.. my kids will often sit next to me and watch a video on my laptop (with a headphone splitter). Or we rent the little video players from the airline (dig e players) if we fly Alaska.

 

[Mkrop]

To those of you PPs who have mentioned iPods for videos - isn't the screen kind of small for the kids? I know I wouldn't want to watch a video that small.

My kids did great with the small Ipod screen back in June when we flew Philly to LAX. DS12 downloaded a whole season of iCarly episodes, and a one hour episode. They sat next to each other, put it on the tray, and they each had the headphones with the splitter. I did not hear a peep from them for practically the whole 6 hours.

OP and others just remember in your bag of tricks or DVDs etc to keep some new stuff for the plane ride home, made that mistake once and had used all my things on the ride down and barely had anything to keep my younger one entertained on the way back.

Also OP just keep reminding yourself WHY you are doing this. You are visiting your MIL, DH's mom and the kids' grandmother because she is sick. Any problems with travel are worth it if she gets to spend time with her family while she is sick!!!!!!

 

[melifeld]

You can totally do this.

We traveled from Australia to the East Coast with our then 1.5 year old DS. The flights and layover in LA totaled 24 hours of travel time. And he only slept on the flight from Melbourne to LA for about 2 hours! We managed to keep him busy with our little bag of tricks (see great ideas from the PPs) and allowing him a few laps around the plane (walking up and down the aisles) at reasonable intervals throughout the flight.

Did he get cranky a couple of times? YES. But we would just try to keep him occupied and he got through it. And so did we.

 

[princessmorgan]

Thank you for all the words of encouragement! I am trying to be positive about this and remembering what the trip is for. Now if if I could only kick this morning sickness. I'm also 15 weeks pregnant and thought for sure it would be gone by now I got an ipod for Christmas, so I'm going to start downloading some kids shows.

p.s. We have only flown Jetblue and Southwest lately. Now we are flying United. $25 for one bag? Yikes! I can't believe it!

 

[jessica52877]

Sounds like you'll need the carseats once you get there anyways, but the best thing for my son was to always take on his carseat. He climbs right up in it like we are getting in the car. He'll look out the window for a while and then eventually fall asleep and sleep for about 2 hours (flight is 5 hours for us). After he wakes up he is hungry and eats (I have learned to buy food at the airport, otherwise we starve). Then he'll entertain himself with a book or color or his leapster.

I have never had an issue with him kicking the seat in front of him. I know this always becomes a heated topic and I am not sure why.