Flying with kids
What we've learned flying with three kids five and under
Hello! Welcome to my first Substack :) I’ve been putting together a reel on Instagram for about two weeks trying to answer all of the questions coming in regarding tips and tricks flying with babies, toddlers, and little kids and realized it just made sense to put it here.
I have now done a couple dozen flights with babies and toddlers over the years. I want to preface these tips with this is what has worked for *us*. We haven’t attempted going abroad yet but I think that could be in our future next year as our youngest comes out of the most difficult age to fly and we’ll be doing non-beach centered trips this year. I will also point out, flying with one baby is very different than flying with two babies, or flying with three kids vs. flying with three kids with your spouse vs. also along with the help of grandparents. Flying with just Rowan as a baby was pretty easy for us because we had two adults to one child (I also flew a couple of times solo with him to join John on a business trip). So for the sake of this post I’ll be talking more recently as a mom flying with multiple little kids, multiple car seats, and doing that as a family unit (with my husband). It’s not easy but I do feel like we have what works for us down. I feel like I can’t write this post without shouting out my friend Coley, my go-to whenever something comes up about traveling with little kids. So many ideas I borrowed from her over the years. Thanks, Coley!
Age
Babies 9 months and under are, in my experience, great travel companions. They sleep — a lot! Aside from nursing or giving a bottle at takeoff and landing to protect their ears, there wasn’t much more I did to prepare.
Age 10ish months-age 2.5….I think this is the hardest age to fly. I don’t have a lot of tips except if you ever need ALL of the things to bring with you, it’s this age. I would also recommend sitting near the back of the plane because then you have a little more space to stand up and move if the child in this age range needs to be rocked or needs to stand). BUT then you make it to…
Age 3+ It gets easier! By age 5 Rowan needed very little attention from us on the plane and is now fine with his in-flight movie and some snacks.
Getting through the airport
Lines
I keep an emergency stash of mini m&ms in my Lulu belt bag for extremely long lines. You’re going to hear a lot about rules being broken for travel. Screen time rules? Those go out the window. So, too, do any rules with snacks and candy :) When a toddler starts getting ready to flee when you’re waiting to check a bag or waiting to board a plane, that’s when you pull out the emergency snack stash. For us, it’s mini m &ms. Yes it looks a little ridiculous feeding them one by one but it has gotten us through a few sticky situations (especially deplaning when everyone is tired and just wants to be home but toddlers are not so patient).
Security
We have TSA Pre-Check which I think is pretty affordable and so worth it for flying with young kids—-but!—with our kids’ ages now I will just do Global Entry when our pre-check status expires. That means you can expedite your entry into the US from abroad and it also includes pre-check benefits with it. If you plan on going abroad with babies and toddlers at all I would just do Global Entry from the get-go. Hauling all your things through security is stressful enough. Having anything to potentially shorten the airport process is so helpful with little kids, especially if you are outnumbered by adults to kids and luggage.
Gear
We use a travel stroller (single, not double) which is one we don’t really care about and it’s smaller than our regular stroller at home. We gate check this as well in a protecting travel bag. We mostly use it to carry *things* and not kids at the airport. I wear the baby in my Ergo carrier and let the older two walk as much as they can/want to and we fill the stroller with the diaper bag, John’s/my backpack, and the kids’ backpacks. The older kids are fine wearing their backpacks when needed. If we need a bigger stroller on vacation, we’ve rented a double or a wagon a couple of times. Delta unfortunately does not allow you to gate check a stroller wagon — I can’t speak for other airlines.
Car seats
I always bring our car seats through the airport with us as opposed to checking them. Some people think this is crazy (we look like we’re hiking). This is every family’s own decision. I buy our kids under 2 their own seat (they can be on your lap for free as a lap infant) and bring their car seat on board, then I check the seats for the older two once they’re over three. Bringing a car seat on board with you is the safest option, then gate checking, then checking (where it is more likely to get tossed around or have a lot of weight on top of it or lost). With three kids it’s really nice to have a seat on board for me to have my hands free and I know I can buckle a kid in when turbulence hits. The other big reason is it also means if you ever have a major delay or a missed flight, you know you have your car seats with you to be able to get out of there easily. We recently had an 11 hour delay due to fog and while we had checked our big bag, we had all three seats on us which saved us. We could leave the airport and come back.
We use a Cosco Scenera for our rear facing travel seat which is affordable, lightweight, and approved for in-flight.
The older two use Cosco Finales for travel which are also super lightweight. These are forward facing travel seats that are only approved for in flight in harness mode (not booster). We are able to stack both of these into a travel protector backpack so we have two backpacks total with all 3 seats through the airport.
Breastfeeding/Formula feeding/Pumping
I have nursed on flights and in airports with all three kids, and also traveled with all of my pumping gear traveling without them. Your pumping bag does not count as one of your items on board—it is considered medical. That means it is free to bring with you in addition to your under-seat item. You should also be allowed to bring more liquids with you (milk, water for formula) through security than the 3.4 oz rule. Tell the agent it’s for a baby. They will pull it aside to test it. You can ask if they can use new gloves when they do this (I have).
Flight
Boarding
John boards first with our oldest during family boarding. The less time I spend with the younger ones in their seats the better. I let them run around while John gets on the plane and installs the rear facing seat and wipes down the entire row and trays with disinfecting wipes. The girls and I board as the very last passengers.
What to pack
Ipads (and headphones!) with *downloaded* content not streaming, sticker books, a ton of snacks and then pack some more, coloring books, crayons, fidget toys, new toys they’ve never seen from the dollar store, backup clothes for everyone including mom, vomit bags, water (I just keep our bottles empty and fill them once to the gate, though I do believe you can bring water more than the TSA limit through security for babies and toddlers)
How we sit
Whenever we have a kid in that 10 months-2.5 window, we sit in a 2-3 or 3-2 pattern. John always sits with at least one other kid in front of me and “the baby” who is the prone kicker at this age. That way he is getting a chair massage as opposed to a stranger when Winnie decides to kick the seat in front of her. Once everyone is over the age of 2.5, we’ll move to 5 across. Trust me, having someone you know in front of the kid at that difficult age will cause a lot less anxiety for you in flight.
Hope this helps! What tips would you add?