Flying the redeye with twins--have you done it?!

DH and I are planning our trip back east for the holidays from CA to MA. It's a five-hour flight. I don't like taking the redeye in general, but we're considering it to keep with the babies sleep schedule, though we know that probably means we'll be wiped out and exhausted upon landing in the a.m. Is this a good idea/bad idea?

 

We flew from Denver to London's Heathrow last September. Our flight left about 8:30 at night so we figured, no problem, they would get settled and go to sleep for the whole eight hour flight. What we did not account for, and may not be a problem on a domestic flight, was that after take-off instead of turning the plane lights out they turned them all on and began drink/dinner service which lasted till about 11 pm. By the time they turned all the lights back out the girls were so over-tired they (and I) melted down. We were trying to hard to get them to sleep and it was just making everything worse.

If we had to do it over I would still take the night flight but I would lower my expectations of how the flight was going to go. I would have allowed the girls to happily watch their movies until they fell asleep on their own instead of turning it off and trying to force them to sleep. One the way home we were a lot more relaxed with the girls and they did great, no crying, no tantrums. They were a real joy and several of the other passengers even told us that.

Night flights are great because eventually they will sleep and sometimes they are a lot less crowded then day flights, but they also add a bit more stress for you because everyone else on the plane is trying to sleep too so they may be a bit more annoyed by loud kids.

Good Luck - and I am sure your kids will do great no matter what time you decide to fly.

 

We just flew to and from Orlando. It was a 3 hours flight from DFW. On the way there we left at 8:15 am and it was great. On the way back we left at 6:20 pm and it was not fun. Mallory fell asleep but Samantha would not. She was so overtired. I would suggest flying after they are fully rested. Not all kids will sleep on a plane. I know I cannot so I don't know why I expected my babies to!

 

hey there,

not sure if you know who jo is, but she recently moved to the valley and she's in wlapom. anyways, she flew to dc a coupld months ago and write to me right when she got there to tell me that flying the red eye was the worst thing she'd ever done! they could NOT get their twins to sleep, no matter what they did--they even gave them benedryl in a desperate moment.... so, i'm just saying that it doesn't always work. hopefully her experience was unique, but i just thought i'd share it.

gl!
jl

 

Ditto!
The only time we flew the red eye with them (thinking it would be a great idea!) WAS THE LAST TIME we will do that again.
As this poster said- there were so many new and exciting things that although they were tired they outright refused to go to sleep. they were overtired, cranky and hard to contain on an otherwise quiet flight with other sleeping passengers. We were exhausted from being up all day, then with them all night. We spent the whole first day of our vacation sleeping and tyring to recover. It screwed up our whole sleep/wake schedule.
Since that trip we try to leave on EARLY morning flights like 6am. The babies are well rested, they hang out and our cheery/friendly in the am and then normally have a short nap and we are there! Best of luck in your flight planning and in your travels!

 

We had a terrible experience flying a red-eye with our boys at 13 months old. I was SURE they would sleep on the plane, but I was very, very wrong. They did not sleep at all and screamed hysterically the entire way. It was 4.5 hours of utter torture (and a couple more days of torture thereafter as a result). Our return flight was in the morning around 9:00 am and they stayed awake almost the entire time, but their behavior was much better. I really hope that your flight is nothing like ours, but instead smooth and filled with lots of sweet baby dreams! Good luck!!!!

 

Thanks everyone You've officially convinced me NOT to take the redeye!!! We booked a morning flight out! Appreciate all the great feedback

 

I didnt do a red eye but we did take an early evening return flight when my LOs were 14 months old. We´d travelled, in the car, in the morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the airport. The kids were great till we got on the plane. They had only slept a 1-hour nap in the car in the morning and wouldn´t nap anymore. Needlesstosay, DS lost the plot and screamed the whole 1.5 hours home. DD was calmer but we alsmost had a situation with her too. Once home, the night went horribly and it took a day or 2 for them to settle back into the swing of things. In your shoes, I´d take the flight when they are fresh, as you´ve said. The flight over for us went well as it was in the morning. Take new toys, books and snacks for them. DVDs too! GL!!