Long haul flights with 9 month old twins.. HELP!

[Zillcat]

Yes we are mad.

We are off to Australia in 10 weeks time to stay with family for 3 weeks. I'm currently listing what will need packing for the flights.

What do you all recommend as must haves for the epic journey either as survival for us or to keep DTs suitably entertained.

We have a grandparent and great auntie already booked with us so we have additional help.

Changes of clothes for everyone, plenty of nappies, lots of sterilized bottles. A sling for each baby. Book bassinets if you can.

I went long haul when my twins were 5 months and eldest had just turned 2 years. DH wasn’t with us but my parents were there.

It was fine. We were very delayed in an airport so I was glad I had brought more bottles and measured formula than I needed.

I doubt a 9 month old would fit in a bassinet, unless your twins are really tiny it’s probably not an option. And I’d personally avoid those seats if they’re bulkheads as being able to move the arm rests up so they can sleep across you/another adult is a must for me. Take toys. And be prepared to walk up and down the aisle carrying them a lot. Mine liked watching anything brightly coloured on the tv screen, even without sound it held her interest for a little while. Take snacks that time them a long time to eat, I found breadsticks and toddler crisps particularly good. Don’t forget Calpol, just in case. Double the amount of nappies and wipes you’ll need and yes to changes of clothes for everyone. Give them a bottle for their ears during take off/landing. And remember the holiday makes the flight worth it, you may have to repeat that one to yourself a few times!

Hi, I flew UK to NZ with a 4 month old. Everyone told me I was crazy and it would be terrible but it was honestly fine. It was me, my DH and my baby. You have extra pairs of hands so I think you'll cope fine with the two babies.

I can give you some tips and I think I have my packing list saved that I could send you over if want? If you can PM me your email address I will ping it over. It's in an excel spreadsheet, let me know if you need it cut and paste into the actual email instead. I made notes after the journey, commenting on if something was useful or not.

Also a couple of questions:

1 are your babies breast or bottle fed?
2 are they on solids (I assume yes)?
3 are they crawling?

Hi thanks for your replies...

@Inniu - did you have any issues taking powder through? I'm still undecided whether to do ready made cartons or powder...
Also did you manage to get boiled water on the flights to make fresh bottles?

@TroubledLichen
We have booked the bassinets. 😫 looking at the measurements though on the airline site I reckon they will have enough room.
They are very nearly crawling so we are hoping they may be able to tire themselves out by doing laps that way.
Also had completely forgot calpol!

@PleaseLetMummySleep I have sent the PM, thank you for the offer!

Also, question regarding baby wipes.... easier to pick up at the airport or is it easy enough to take them through security?

Thanks for the help! Any further advice is much welcome!

OP I've sent you an email.

Thought I'd post the bottle feeding info up here too as it may help others if they are searching forums for info on this in future.

We had a 33 hour trip our and then about a 55 hour trip back with an exclusively bottle fed baby who had to have powdered formula due to a milk allergy (the mini packs of liquid formula is not available for dairy free formula). On the journey back we were also weaning as well, but milk was still the main source of food.

You need to allow for delays so round up by about 10 hours and to work out how many bottles you'll need. It’s just not possible to take ALL the bottles that you’ll need for the whole trip (including delays), and sterilising a bottle on board is next to impossible. I replicated the perfect prep, our system was:

I took 2 bottles. One bottle was used for drinking, the other bottle was used for measuring.

I took a 500ml thermos flask which I filled up at a costa/starbucks at each airport (we had 3 flights in total).

I took a 750ml bottle of bottled water on board. Evian is safe for babies. Others can be too, just check the salt content.

I used a sandwich bag to line the ‘drinking’ bottle (Tesco small tie bag sandwich bag worked well).

I then emptied in the formula from our formula pots into the ‘drinking’ bottle.

We needed 6oz bottles, 3oz hot and 3oz cold got it to the right drinking temp for my baby. I poured my water from the hot water from a flask into the ‘measuring’ bottle (3 oz). I then added this to the ‘drinking’ bottle.

Repeat with the cold - I poured the cold water from a bottle of water into the ‘measuring’ bottle (3oz). I then added this to the ‘drinking’ bottle.

Shake the drinking bottle and give bottle as normal (the bag doesn’t affect it at all).

One baby was done I binned the bag (with any remaining milk in it), rinsed the teat in the sink using a little bottle of fairy and my fingers (making sure it didn’t touch anything!), and then I sterilised the teat in a little sippy cup with 140ml of cold water and 2 x mini milton sterilising tablets (the ones meant for the dummy steriliser, which takes 70ml of water).

The reason for the ‘measuring’ bottle is that once the bag is in place, the scale on the side of the bottle will be wonky.

This way the ‘drinking’ bottle always stays clean.

Baby wipes are fine to take through security.

We used formula. If using liquid you need to check how it would work if you have a stop over. I know you can order it for collection after security in the U.K., but if you have a stop over can you do that there also? And what about the way back? It may be easiest to use the liquid if that option is open to you.

I should have said for the cold water, I bought the bottle of cold water after security each time. We had 3 flights, so at each airport after landing I'd go to the loo to empty any remaining flask water away and I'd throw the bottle of cold water and purchase a new one once we'd cleared security again and were waiting on the next flight

It is 14 years ago now but I brought either 16 or 18 empty sterilized bottles with me! One regular bottle and the disposable bag bottles would have been easier. I had a special container with lots of powdered formula measured out but I think you can get sachets now.

I bought large bottles of water after security then each time I needed a bottle I did half and half cold water and hot water from the stewardess.

🤞🤞for the bassinets, mine was too big at 7 months but she is very long! Crawling down the aisle of the plane (hands washed afterwards obviously) tired mind out wonderfully.

Baby wipes are fine to take through but also easy to find in Boots airside if you’d prefer. If ready made formula is available in your brand I’d definitely take the cartons, it’s so much easier. You can take it through security or you can order it to Boots.

Thanks again for all the tips! They are invaluable.

Ive got a list ready to pre-order with boots.

I think we may be ok with the length of the bassinets, they say they are 29inches, and measuring DT2 whilst currently stretched on the floor he is 24 now at 7 months. The width is a lot smaller than I'd hoped however they do tend to sleep on their sides so hopefully will get away with that. Least we will have somewhere to sit them that isn't on the floor or our knees!!