Could I please have your tips for flying/travelling with a 5 month old baby and a 3yo?

[TheAugusta]

Hello! In a few months I’ll be flying for the first time since having children, we’d hoped to get a short haul when our eldest was young to ease in but with covid and other complications our first flight with children will be long haul and we’ll be away for two weeks. I have no idea what to expect! The baby is currently exclusively breast fed so touch wood that’s straightforward but if there are any tips you have to make travelling and the holiday as smooth and enjoyable as possible I’d be really grateful!

Mine were easy when breastfed. The 3 year old id say take snacks you know they like, my kids never eat the airplane food. Take travel sized childrens paracetamol- teething /generally being unwell on a plane is not fun. Take a spare top for you as well as a change each for them, i learned that from experience of arriving covered in toddler vomit.
Biggest advice though is dont worry. I fly long haul regularly with my two since they were babies (now 4 and 6) and everyone has always been super kind and helpful.
If your destination allows you to fly Emirates id recommend as most child friendly ive flown with. Then Air New Zealand, with a Skycouch so your 3 year old can sleep flat
It will be fine.

Those are good ages! Get the bassinet for the baby, feed during take off and landing. For the 3YO- ipad with lots of favourite shows pre downloaded onto Netflix, headphones (get volume limited toddler ones and practice lots with them before you) and all the snacks in case they reject the airline meal ranging from substantial savoury through to keep quiet mini packs of haribo, colouring, stickers and favoured sippy cup to avoid spills. Wear them out in the airport before, some like heathrow even have soft play, and ensure they eat a good proper meal in one of the restaurants. If they’re not that reliable with potty training or not dry at night yet then use pull ups. Full set of spare clothes for everyone in hand luggage in case of spills, vom, lost luggage etc. It’ll be fine!

I used to do similar often, both hols and since living abroad, from when dd1 was 6 weeks.

Don't wear anything ‘good’ - it’s bound to be weed/sicked on or have food/drink spilt on it. A spare top is good if you have space.
Take something simple you know the 3 yo likes to eat. (In our case it was Marmite sandwiches.)
Take spare clothes for both in case of spillages/poonamis, etc.
And wet wipes of course.
Take some small new toy or activity to amuse the 3yo. (Maybe not so necessary now what with child stuff on screens.)
If a late or night flight, just take the elder in pyjamas, with a warm jumper in case it’s cold in the cabin, though there should be blankets on long haul. And a nappy/pull up unless 100% reliable.
If either is bothered with ears, sucking is good for the baby. For the elder, getting them to blow hard while you hold their nose (if you can) is the way to clear them.
Accept that you’re probably going to arrive looking and feeling a wreck!

We took a flight with a 3year old and 6month old twins
Make sure you get the front of the plane with no one in front of you. Then the baby can sleep in the car seat/ bassinet in the extra leg room.
Ours was a 2hr ish flight
There was a tv for our 3yr old
I was breastfeeding so made sure I did so before I got on the plane, so definitely feed who ever needs feeding.
We worked the flight times around their sleep schedules

Everyone is very helpful when you have babies
I remember a boat trip to Guernsey when our eldest got sea sick all over one of the twins lying in his car seat.
Everyone helped, we even had our own stand by cleaner for all the constant sick
I have to say we never did that again though

We had our first holiday as parents in October last year with our almost 3 year old and 6 month old.

It was a 4hr flight and the baby was no bother, either fed, slept or cuddled me or DH for the whole flight.

For DD1, we gave her her own backpack to carry on which contained:
Snacks
A change of clothes (mid potty training)
iPad and head phones (downloaded her favourite cartoons and some Disney films)
Her water bottle (filled once airside)
A small pack of colour pencils & a colouring book
Her baby rabbit cuddly toy who goes everywhere with her

She spent the whole flight just flirting between watching her iPad, chatting to us and eating snacks.
On the way home it was a night flight so she watched her iPad for a little bit before cuddling in for a nap.

We also took calpol sachets in both mine and DH's hand luggage and had a nappy & sleepsuit, wipes, knickers, leggings and t shirt in each of our bags so whoever had the baby or toddler could just take them to the toilet without having to rummage around another bag. We found it worked really well doing it that way. Just popped them in a zip lock bag and wrote their names on the front.

We also had huge muslins which doubled up as blankets, pillows, swaddle, etc

Take a sling on the flight to help get the baby to sleep.

A sling. Or two! You may have a local sling library that you can get some advice on different types and hire.

Oh yes sling is a great suggestion too. That way you can use the pushchair for the older one if they’re half asleep when they get off the plane and don’t want to walk miles through the airport. Or if you have tighter than expected connections and and up having to run!

Definitely yes to full changes of clothes in hand luggage for everyone, in case of vomit, poo explosions, spills etc.
About twice as many nappies as you think you would normally need for the travel time, in case of delays, poo explosions etc.
A bunch of large ziplock bags to put any stinky wet clothes in to isolate them from the rest of your stuff.
Lots of small snacks, stickers, books and so on so there is always something to bring out to distract the 3-year-old.
Be nice and smiley to the flight crew and your neighbours - you may need their help, tolerance etc.
If there are two parents travelling it is much easier - I did a lot of long haul (12+ hour) flights solo with two, and it makes a huge difference if you can leave one behind in the seat for someone else to supervise during loo trips and nappy changes.

Also, you can order child meals for the 3yo, but don't expect them to turn up when the child is hungry or have anything in them that they will eat, so take your own packed child meals as well.

The baby is easy. Feed on takeoff/landing so it's ears don't pop travel sickness tablets make three year olds sleepy which is often helpful. Take an I pad with fukns and Games for the 3 ye old but please take headphones ...nothing wires than sitting next to a child while your trying to read or snooze and all you can hear is their children's program of gaming noise !

Also relax. They will be fine

How long haul? I did 14 hours with DTs at 3 and it's not an experience I'd like to repeat, it was horrific. We had just toilet trained, one of them was terrified of the toilet on the plane. They didn't sleep, I didn't sleep, jet lag was awful both ways.

Baby should be easy.

Take lots of snacks, toys to play with that won't roll on the floor eg no Lego, those water colouring books and stickler books are good.

Board last, less time on the plane the better.

Take a change of clothes for all of you in carry on.

Prepare yourself for the worst and hope for the best.

Board last, less time on the plane the better.
I wouldn’t if you’re going to be in an economy bulkhead seat. You’ll probably get on to find the overhead bins anywhere near your seat are already full and you won’t be allowed anything on the floor for take-off/landing so all your stuff will end up far away. In a premium cabin you’d probably be ok though.

This is all really helpful and reassuring, thank you so much! Definitely grateful I’m not flying solo with them, we’ll bring as many distractions as possible and it sounds like screen time will be a lifesaver! Great tips on extra clothes for us as well as them. Now to investigate what to do with our pram and work out whether we need to get some giant suitcases for all their bits and bobs!

Now to investigate what to do with our pram and work out whether we need to get some giant suitcases for all their bits and bobs!

We do it like this:
-Hold luggage in the smallest number of bags poss so 1 or 2 massive suitcases depending on how much stuff we need because it’s easier to move 1 massive bag than loads of small ones (I’m fine with paying extra for this if necessary but you may want to check your allowance)
-Big tote bag (I use one of the longchamp ones) for baby stuff- nappies, wipes, dummies, bottles etc. plus passports, travel docs, anything else that I need to have to hand through the airport
-Carry on suitcase suitcase containing spare clothes for everyone, chargers, power bricks, extra nappies, sling for baby in case the older needs the pram on arrival, basic toiletries; the tote bag sits on top of the case through the airport
-Kids backpack for the toddler containing their ipad, headphones, a few toys, colouring, snacks, sippy cup; they carry this themselves or it goes under the pram
-YoYo stroller so we can take it as a carry on and avoid gate checking