I've never flown before! Flying with 3 kids

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

My DH flies all the time for business, but I have never flown before. We have 3 kids, and one will be under 6 months still when we go next year. It looks like flying could be a little cheaper for us than driving the 18 or so hours. I'm not sure what to expect, and DH doesn't know how the kids would do. Any advice/tips? Also, DH is leaning toward us just holding the youngest - opinions on that?

Thanks for anything you can offer!

 

[Mililani Mom]

Hi,

Some important questions... How old are your other kids and how long is the flight? If your flight is short, then holding your 6 mo. old will definitely be cheaper and doable. However, if your flight is long, it may be more comfortable to buy your child a seat and install the carseat so that you (and hubby) and child can sleep on the flight (I'm assuming your child is okay in the carseat). Watch out for the ear pressure thing, my daughter used to always cry (especially on the descent - she was always at her crankiest if she was sleeping and we began the descent and the pressure bothered her and woke her up - then she couldn't follow directions like "swallow" or "chew on this ____"). For your older kids, you may want to purchase Ear Planes or something similar for the ear pressure thing, for your baby, I think if you have their formula that they could drink that would help with the ear thing (maybe purchase water after you pass security and have those instant formula mixes ready). Lots of snacks helps immensly with the kids. I looooooove the portable DVD player (make sure your battery is charged up). Our trip to WDW (when my kids were 5 and 7) was great despite flying for over 10 hours (the first leg of the flight was red eye so they slept - the second leg of the flight they watched a DVD). My other friend sometimes wraps little gifts and gives them to the kids during the flight to make it more fun and to keep them occupied (e.g. books to read, coloring book, crayons, deck of cards etc.).

I guess that's all of my suggestions. Hope you have a great time!

 

[Mililani Mom]

Hi,

Some important questions... How old are your other kids and how long is the flight? If your flight is short, then holding your 6 mo. old will definitely be cheaper and doable. However, if your flight is long, it may be more comfortable to buy your child a seat and install the carseat so that you (and hubby) and child can sleep on the flight (I'm assuming your child is okay in the carseat).

Watch out for the ear pressure thing, my daughter used to always cry (especially on the descent - she was always at her crankiest if she was sleeping and we began the descent and the pressure bothered her and woke her up - then she couldn't follow directions like "swallow" or "chew on this ____"). For your older kids, you may want to purchase Ear Planes or something similar for the ear pressure thing, for your baby, I think if you have their formula that they could drink that would help with the ear thing (maybe purchase water after you pass security and have those instant formula mixes ready).

Lots of snacks helps immensly with the kids.

I looooooove the portable DVD player (make sure your battery is charged up). Our trip to WDW (when my kids were 5 and 7) was great despite flying for over 10 hours (the first leg of the flight was red eye so they slept - the second leg of the flight they watched a DVD). My other friend sometimes wraps little gifts and gives them to the kids during the flight to make it more fun and to keep them occupied (e.g. books to read, coloring book, crayons, deck of cards etc.).

I guess that's all of my suggestions. Hope you have a great time!

 

[thedizwizkid]

well bring something for your kids to do like a thing that one loves to play with and one for the other three. don't worry about flying at all


bye good luck

 

[LJRJR]

I have flown a few times with my three children. At this point I need to purchase seats for even my youngest, because he is three. When I flew when they were very small I would hold them, I realize that this is not the "safest" option, but I felt they were happier that way, and even flew and held my 20 month old, becuase there was no way I was going to get him to sit still in his own seat.

My daughter and son were easyiest to fly with when they were 5 or 6 and older, they were able to entertain themselves more. I found the most challenging age to be 3-4, just get little surprises for them and bring out a new one every 15 minutes. The flights we took were 3 1/2 hours and less. Good luck, it is definately manageable. Just dont sugar them up with alot of candy as treats on the flight or they could get really jumpy.

 

[Mom2JPL]

We flew to disney this past october with our 3 - our youngest had just turned 1, our son was 2 1/2, and our oldest daughter was almost 4. We held the baby for the flight (actually 2 flights each way, since we had a short layover going down and back) and the older two had their own seats. We didn't bring their carseats - they were buckled in and stayed that way for all of the flights. We took turns holding the baby. I have to say, I was worried about flying with all of them and packed quite a few things for them to play with - but they did great without it! My oldest daughter sat by me and looked out the window and talked all the flights. My son ate his way from Wilkes-Barre to Florida...he loved the in-flight snacks!! The baby was content to sit on our laps...so, not a problem at all with the flights!

Good luck and have a great trip!!

 

[thepeach80]

We just flew in Sept w/ our 4yo, 2yo, and 10 mos old. They all had their own seats on the plane and all rode in their carseats on the plane as well. Not only is that the safest for them, it's the most familiar for them so they weren't acting like crazies. The youngest 2 slept peacefully pretty much the whole flight to FL and most of the trip back and I know having them in seats helped that.