Traveling to Europe with 18-month-old twins - worried about flight, jetlag, etc...

[Anonymous]

Leave them behind if you can.

I traveled at 9 months (worst trip of my life)

And 3 years (best trip$

18 months definitely would have been worse than 9.

[Anonymous]

Mom of twin boys here. I have been flying with them since they were 7 months old. Yes, 18 months is when they are mobile and have no understanding of anything.

I suggest you take some entertainment. Things that light up, (try to mute the sound), different things for them to play with. When my boys traveled at 18 months, they were also lap babies and we did have them sleep on us. it was not a big deal. Although if they are pacifier babies make sure you have them handy for take off and landing. If not, give them something to drink while taking off and landing.

They will be fine, try to keep their feedings and sleep schedule the same. While traveling. Once you arrive at your destination, you may want them to take a nap, or if they are like mine were at 18 months sleeping 14 hours straight, then you may want to cut the nap and just put them down early to see where it gets you with a schedule.

Good luck & have fun at your brother's wedding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We relocated to the US from Europe with our then 20 mo old, and I was so happy we had a seat for him (didnt bring the carseat, fwiw). I didn't have to pay for it but I would. Money well spent.
As for the airline, I hate Air France. Crappy food, crappy service, crappy airport section for transatlantic flights.
Lufthansa is great, but expensive, as well as Air Swiss. I would choose a European airline if prices are comparable, since US carriers are so hung up on safety, they will make you put your child in his or her seat for takeoff and landing unless he is a lap child. I found European carriers more lax for things like that.

The European carriers force you to take a properly restrained child out if their car seat for takeoff and landing and hold them in your lap. Not safe at all.

Wow, I didn't know that. So they are not much better

This was not the case for Air France when I flew them two years ago - DC stayed in his car seat for takeoff and landing. If you have a lap baby, though, the European carriers may make you use a belly belt - which is less safe for the baby than just being unrestrained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I am wondering if it's possible to put them into a baby carrier while seated, so that they can sleep on our chests and we can sleep better because we don't have to hold them. Has anybody worn a toddler while seated in an airplane seat?

It's against FAA rules to wear a child in a carrier while in flight so if you fly an American based airlines that's out of the question. I've always been reminded of the rule when I board with DS in the ergo. But I like the ergo better than a stroller at the airport because I don't have to gate check it or wait for it if I have a tight connection.

[Anonymous]

I guess mine is the only toddler that had a hard time with jet lag. He was miserable. We were all miserable. Especially around 3 am.

I would suggest arriving as far in advance of the wedding as possible so they have time to adjust to the time change.

[Anonymous]

This probably varies by kid, but I agree with the PP who recommends a later flight. We had no choice but to take a 5:30PM flight to Europe when DS was 16 mos. His usual bedtime was closer to 7PM, so between that and the excitement of the flight, he didn't fall asleep until nearly four hours into the flight. He was the kind of kid who could fight sleep for ages if outside of his usual routine, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I am wondering if it's possible to put them into a baby carrier while seated, so that they can sleep on our chests and we can sleep better because we don't have to hold them. Has anybody worn a toddler while seated in an airplane seat?

It's against FAA rules to wear a child in a carrier while in flight so if you fly an American based airlines that's out of the question. I've always been reminded of the rule when I board with DS in the ergo. But I like the ergo better than a stroller at the airport because I don't have to gate check it or wait for it if I have a tight connection.

Always wear my kid when flying...nobody ever said anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We relocated to the US from Europe with our then 20 mo old, and I was so happy we had a seat for him (didnt bring the carseat, fwiw). I didn't have to pay for it but I would. Money well spent.
As for the airline, I hate Air France. Crappy food, crappy service, crappy airport section for transatlantic flights.
Lufthansa is great, but expensive, as well as Air Swiss. I would choose a European airline if prices are comparable, since US carriers are so hung up on safety, they will make you put your child in his or her seat for takeoff and landing unless he is a lap child. I found European carriers more lax for things like that.

The European carriers force you to take a properly restrained child out if their car seat for takeoff and landing and hold them in your lap. Not safe at all.

Not true, but I've seen USAirways do it on several occasions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I am wondering if it's possible to put them into a baby carrier while seated, so that they can sleep on our chests and we can sleep better because we don't have to hold them. Has anybody worn a toddler while seated in an airplane seat?

It's against FAA rules to wear a child in a carrier while in flight so if you fly an American based airlines that's out of the question. I've always been reminded of the rule when I board with DS in the ergo. But I like the ergo better than a stroller at the airport because I don't have to gate check it or wait for it if I have a tight connection.

The FAA will not allow you to wear your child during take off, landing and turbulence because the wearing thing (what ever you have) is not safe for you, the child and the people around you. If you should be thrown forward while wearing an Ergo, the baby becomes an airbag for. Graphic, I know, but true. The only suitable and safe carrier on a plane is an FAA approved carseat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We relocated to the US from Europe with our then 20 mo old, and I was so happy we had a seat for him (didnt bring the carseat, fwiw). I didn't have to pay for it but I would. Money well spent.
As for the airline, I hate Air France. Crappy food, crappy service, crappy airport section for transatlantic flights.
Lufthansa is great, but expensive, as well as Air Swiss. I would choose a European airline if prices are comparable, since US carriers are so hung up on safety, they will make you put your child in his or her seat for takeoff and landing unless he is a lap child. I found European carriers more lax for things like that.

The European carriers force you to take a properly restrained child out if their car seat for takeoff and landing and hold them in your lap. Not safe at all.

Not true, but I've seen USAirways do it on several occasions.

Actually it is true - Lufthansa, Austria Air, Aegean all make you do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. I am wondering if it's possible to put them into a baby carrier while seated, so that they can sleep on our chests and we can sleep better because we don't have to hold them. Has anybody worn a toddler while seated in an airplane seat?

It's against FAA rules to wear a child in a carrier while in flight so if you fly an American based airlines that's out of the question. I've always been reminded of the rule when I board with DS in the ergo. But I like the ergo better than a stroller at the airport because I don't have to gate check it or wait for it if I have a tight connection.

The FAA will not allow you to wear your child during take off, landing and turbulence because the wearing thing (what ever you have) is not safe for you, the child and the people around you. If you should be thrown forward while wearing an Ergo, the baby becomes an airbag for. Graphic, I know, but true. The only suitable and safe carrier on a plane is an FAA approved carseat.

Your kid is going to become an air bag for you of you are holding them in your arms. So you would think the ergo would be safer for those around you so your kid doesn't fly out of your arms and hit them.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why anyone would fly without buying your kid a seat. If you hit bad turbulence it could be very dangerous. If you can't afford to buy both kids a seat then don't fly. Also I feel sorry for anyone sharing a row with you all.

We swore off air travel when my son was 14 months old. We had flown to CA and yes, he was in a car seat. He only took a half hour nap and that was when we were preparing to take off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why anyone would fly without buying your kid a seat. If you hit bad turbulence it could be very dangerous. If you can't afford to buy both kids a seat then don't fly. Also I feel sorry for anyone sharing a row with you all.

We swore off air travel when my son was 14 months old. We had flown to CA and yes, he was in a car seat. He only took a half hour nap and that was when we were preparing to take off.

Not everybody can afford 2 extra seats for babies(tickets to Europe are $1,100+ right now) should they just miss family events? It's not like the OP can drive to Europe.

[Anonymous]

OP here. So we booked the tickets. We are flying Air France, with a 4:15pm departure from Dulles, arrival before 6am in Paris. I would have liked to have a flight more around 6 or 7pm, but that didn't work out with the connecting flights. We did not buy an extra seat - we just couldn't justify spending an extra $1,200 (it didn't look like there were discounts for infants on international flights). But we are flying on a Wednesday and off season (April), so hopefully the plane won't be full. Maybe we will get lucky and there will be an empty seat.

We have not reserved seats yet, and I am still wondering about the bulkhead. I wonder what the advantage of that would be if we can't use the bassinets anyway. The fact that you can't keep carry-on near you in those seats seems like quite a downside.

We are still debating which stroller to bring - the big heavy one with reclining seats, or the lighter umbrella stroller. I am leaning towards the umbrella stroller, if it's true that we can't gate check the other one, because we need at least some stroller in Paris during the layover. But one poster said that Air France didn't even let her gate check her single umbrella stroller, in which case we might as well take the big one.

I definitely bring lots of new little toys, iPad, snacks, and maybe some Benadryl. I also like the idea of dressing them alike (which we usually don't do) as one poster suggested. We'll bring the baby carriers so we can hopefully strap them to our chests for sleeping (outside of takeoff and landing). I am pretty confident that they will sleep, but don't have much hope that I will, especially since we are arriving in Paris before midnight our time (it's a 7.5 hour flight).

Now we just have to figure out how to get to the airport if we are not bringing our car seats... I think we'll either find a car service that has them, or try to find an offsite spot to park our car (any recs for that?). We are staying almost two weeks, so long-term parking at Dulles is too expensive.

Thanks again to everyone for your helpful advice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So we booked the tickets. We are flying Air France, with a 4:15pm departure from Dulles, arrival before 6am in Paris. I would have liked to have a flight more around 6 or 7pm, but that didn't work out with the connecting flights. We did not buy an extra seat - we just couldn't justify spending an extra $1,200 (it didn't look like there were discounts for infants on international flights). But we are flying on a Wednesday and off season (April), so hopefully the plane won't be full. Maybe we will get lucky and there will be an empty seat.

We have not reserved seats yet, and I am still wondering about the bulkhead. I wonder what the advantage of that would be if we can't use the bassinets anyway. The fact that you can't keep carry-on near you in those seats seems like quite a downside.

We are still debating which stroller to bring - the big heavy one with reclining seats, or the lighter umbrella stroller. I am leaning towards the umbrella stroller, if it's true that we can't gate check the other one, because we need at least some stroller in Paris during the layover. But one poster said that Air France didn't even let her gate check her single umbrella stroller, in which case we might as well take the big one.

I definitely bring lots of new little toys, iPad, snacks, and maybe some Benadryl. I also like the idea of dressing them alike (which we usually don't do) as one poster suggested. We'll bring the baby carriers so we can hopefully strap them to our chests for sleeping (outside of takeoff and landing). I am pretty confident that they will sleep, but don't have much hope that I will, especially since we are arriving in Paris before midnight our time (it's a 7.5 hour flight).


Sounds like a plan! Call air france and ask about the strollers. The other thing is that you can rent baby stuff in france very easily. Will you be in Paris
Now we just have to figure out how to get to the airport if we are not bringing our car seats... I think we'll either find a car service that has them, or try to find an offsite spot to park our car (any recs for that?). We are staying almost two weeks, so long-term parking at Dulles is too expensive.?

Thanks again to everyone for your helpful advice!

Will you be in Paris? We used this agency and rented a ton of baby gear. You could get this double stroller ?

http://babytems.com/out-about/detail/5-stroller-rental/flypage_location/25-graco-stadium-duo-stroller?sef=hcfp