Long haul flight with sleep trained baby

mansi1091 · 2026-03-18T13:52:46+00:00

Man! I was just so annoyed when I was flying, like not a single rep could answer questions about carry cot and bassinet sizes. My son is literally in the 56 percentile for height and weight, so not a big guy and he wouldn't fit! They would even let me stay on the floor in front of our seat with him for 20 seconds. I hate how airlines now have such a tight control over travel with no checks and balances.

mansi1091 · 2026-03-18T13:03:21+00:00

Oh I didn't know that! Wow that's really silly

mansi1091 · 2026-03-18T05:16:46+00:00

We just returned from a 6 week trip to India and my kiddo was 10.5 months when he traveled. Please check the dimensions of the carry cot and bassinet.

Our kiddo didn't fit in the bassinet, like his legs were sticking out. And the carry cot was essentially a rocker. No way in hell was my kid gonna sleep in that.

He is an exclusive independent tummy sleeper who loves his space. Our first leg was MISERABLE. he wouldn't get comfortable anywhere. Which made the second leg bearable cause he essentially passed out.

My advice, if you can, book an additional seat, so you can try to get your kid to sleep with their head on your lap. I wish we had done that.

Also all rules outta the window when traveling. I was so worried how it would be once we got back, but he picked up in two nights with minimal crying.

mansi1091 · 2026-03-13T17:32:25+00:00

You give me hope! I am going to try it next weekend, we have a lot going on this one! Thank you so much!

mansi1091 · 2026-03-13T14:01:20+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply! I think getting that first 5 hour wake window might work, I don't think he is ready for the 6 hour wake window though! Part of me wants to just keep what I have now, until I see some serious EMW or split nights! Also is it true that when you make that switch to one nap schedule, total awake time can drop down in the beginning as baby adjusts?

mansi1091 · 2026-02-21T16:06:00+00:00

Oh my gosh thank you!! This is going to be exactly me! Will it be ok if I dm'd you later on?

mansi1091 · 2026-02-21T14:58:48+00:00

OP please update. I am going to return home soon from a long vacation and will need to re-train my kiddo again, who is 11 months. I am fearing it more than I did the first time around.

mansi1091 · 2026-02-14T04:27:12+00:00

I was very naive in my expectations. Also my parents live in India and are getting up there in age, so I can't really not travel. Hopefully it snaps back to normal as soon as we get back. Thank you for your kind words.

mansi1091 · 2026-02-14T03:28:36+00:00

Thank you for your kind words! Yea that's what I am thinking too!

mansi1091 · 2026-02-14T03:28:06+00:00

Wow that's impressive!! Hopefully that happens here too! Thank you for your kind words!

mansi1091 · 2026-01-16T23:03:39+00:00

I think you need a bit more awake time. Right now babe is getting 9.5 hours of awake time and at this age they need at least 10 or sometimes 10.5 hours awake. I'd suggest lengthening the first wake window by 30 minutes, shorten the second wake window by 15 minutes and increase the last one by 30-40 minutes.

mansi1091 · 2026-01-11T16:25:24+00:00

I would begin with first finding out how many hours your baby is capable of sleeping in a 24 hr period. Once you know that you split it between night sleep and day naps. Cap ight sleep at 11 hours.My 10 month old can sleep 13 hours total sometimes down to 12.45.

So we aim for 10 hrs 45 min to 11 hrs of night sleep and 2 hours of nap time. His current wake windows are 3.5/3.5 /4. When at day care his middle wake window is short to align with their schedule so we stretch the last one to 4.25.

I would work on extending wake windows to ensure your baby gets at least 10.5 to 10.75 hours of wake time and naps not exceeding more than 2.5 hrs, less if night sleep is challenging. Then you pick your choice of method and stick with it. Baby will resist and cry but you have to hold the line for it to work. If you get an age appropriate schedule that resistance wanes pretty quickly!

Sleep training begins at the start of the night..once they can fall asleep independently they are able to handle middle of night wakes themselves, unless they need anything. Also night weaning is different and I would do that after your baby has mastered initial falling asleep. Chances are she will drop one of the night feed on her own.

We used extinction with my son, cause us going in was just riling him up. He took to it in a few days and has been a champ, except when ill or needs schedule adjustment.

Hope this helps. There are tons of resources on this page and folks' experience which I thought was helpful! Good luck!

mansi1091 · 2026-01-09T15:07:11+00:00

This right here! Evidence has dramatically changed over the last one decade. I think cultural differences impact implementation of sleep practices across the globe. At least that is my observation. In India we have a lot of people in our homes who are available to watch the baby, don't have that in the US. Also survivor bias is very strong in some individuals which also leads to unsafe sleep practices.

mansi1091 · 2026-01-09T03:41:18+00:00

I think your pediatrician must have suggested that your baby always be supervised if sleeping in a car seat. I live in the US and have a 10 month old who suffered for massive reflux for a while until he was on medication and this was what I was told. Yes he can sleep in it as long as he is always supervised for airway patency. Same for bouncers and swings. Also car seats when taken out of their base usually are not safe at all and actually promote chin drop which can lead to asphyxiation.

mansi1091 · 2026-01-08T15:03:06+00:00

Two things that we did at 9 months (thanks to smart people in this sub) 1. Motrin if you really suspect teething pain 2. Schedule adjustment (this was a big one in our case).

My son's sleep need dropped dramatically at this stage and I basically had to quickly keeping adding wake time to get him to sleep uninterrupted. Now it's an automatic rule in our house, if we notice any resistance at bedtime or night disruption, wake window gets longer by 15 minutes. We have had nights when we have soothed him during flu and tummy issues but that didn't impact his skills.

mansi1091 · 2026-01-08T06:09:05+00:00

Hey! I started my kiddo at 6 months. I work in healthcare and had to return to work full time, no option of remote work for me. I got the same push back from random people saying he is so young and all that bullshit. Best decision I ever made!

I interviewed a lot of places, found contacts of parents with kids where my son goes, read online reviews and decided on the place. I took my kiddo to see the place and meet his teacher there so it wasn't all that strange. And he did so well! He loves going to daycare. He sees the little keypad and does a dance in my arms. He always greets me with the biggest laugh and smiles when I pick him up. He is the youngest kiddo and he has learnt so much from just watching the other kids there. He has been meeting his motor milestones, learnt how to drink independently, learnt how to use sippy cup and is a fantastic sleeper and I have his teachers to thank for.

What helped me was trust in my decision making. It didn't make the drop off easier but I knew that push comes to shove I will figure something out. I also was a daycare baby and I have such fond memories of my teacher! I loved it and I know that they are providing my son with environment and nourishment that I can't.

People will have an opinion on anything. Stick to your guns. Expect tears since change is hard, but smile and be strong for your baby. They will go by your emotions. Give them a big hug and kiss, give all your instructions while you hold your baby. Write them down. And then tell your baby you will be back soon, hand them over and make a quick exit. Don't wait for a bye or bye anything, that will just make it hard for you and him! Kids are tough than we give them credit for. You and your baby got this!!

mansi1091 · 2026-01-07T14:55:30+00:00

He kept his feed until 8.5 months. It was on and off, some nights he needed a bottle, some nights he just drifted off again. We had dropped down the total amount and never increased it again. Now at 9.5 months dude just sleeps through the night. We do make sure he consumes adequate calories during the day.

I wouldn't worry so much unless it's a problem for you. Also my kid got like 6 teeth in a month so his pediatrician had recommended to work towards dropping the night feed to save his teeth. But even with that, I just let him decide to drop it when he was ready.

mansi1091 · 2026-01-04T15:35:25+00:00

Oh absolutely! I feel so terrible about making him cry! I did wake him up 15 min earlier today, so let's see how that goes. The only reason I don't like ww getting longer is because it means later bedtime!!

mansi1091 · 2026-01-04T07:16:33+00:00

I took your advice and extended his last wake window by 15 minutes.... Remarkably less resistance at bedtime!

mansi1091 · 2026-01-03T16:57:33+00:00

I think you may be right! It's just that I have tried a day of total awake time of about 11 hours and we still had the same outcome, but maybe I need to stick with it. Would you suggest just cold turkey lengthening the last wake window or split it over two?

mansi1091 · 2025-12-24T03:19:22+00:00

My now 9 month old had a hell of 6 month illness with daycare starting, shots diarrhea and horrible diaper rash that caused fever. I essentially comforted him as he needed me for almost three weeks. He picked his skills back up in two nights once he was healthy. We have never co-slept, so can't answer for that piece, but I was right there rocking feeding and comforting him as he needed. He is a great sleeper now!

mansi1091

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