Thank you all! My 7 month old baby has been on easy for a month now. My grandma passed away 2 weeks ago and we had to travel internationally. I got so much support and ideas from your experiences and even though it was a trying time for me, traveling was not. The following is my experience. We flew at midnight from San Francisco to Costa Rica with a 45 minute layover in El Salvador. Total air time -6.5 hours. That day, we kept my son on EASY as usual and woke him up when it was time to go to the airport. He slept in the car. At the airport, he was totally awake and alert, but as soon as the plane took off and the lights were off, he slept until morning, which just happened to be close to his 6:00 a.m. wake up time. I tried to nurse him during take off, but that didn't happen. He was too distracted with the new experience. Fortunately, I gave him Tylenol a few minutes earlier and that seemed to work because he had no earache. This was the case in the 4 planes (total) we took to go there and come back. We switched planes in El Salvador and he fell asleep soon after take off. May I say that taking a sling is the best you could do! You are hands free and your arm won't fall asleep from the many hours you're holding your baby. In addition, it gives them a familiar and secure place close to you. Once we arrived, I tried to keep him awake till it was time for his scheduled 12:00 p.m. nap. I didn't bother changing to local time since there was only 1 hour difference. He slept for 2 hours. I had to wake him up. After that first nap, he was already on EASY schedule. He actually slept better there-might have been the tropical rain that makes naps so much more pleasant. I did do a few PU/PD on occasion, but nothing I wouldn't have done at home. On our return, we had an evening flight, which coincided with his night time sleep. Again, he slept in both flights. Once we arrived, it was midnight and by the time we got home and he was asleep again, it was close to 3:00 a.m. We let him sleep in until he woke up at around 9:00 a.m. It was a bit harder to get back on EASY this time- about a week. But I think that it had more to do with him learning to crawl and pull himself up in the crib, and dropping his catnap. It's been a week now, and things are pretty smooth.
I was so terrified of doing this trip alone, but thanks to this community not only did I succeed, but people couldn't believe I was traveling with a 6 month old and my family was so impressed with how alert, social, well-behaved, disciplined, and pleasant my son is. Thanks Tracy and thanks to you all. May God bless you.
A few tips: take your own playpen (I couldn't have done EASY without it), travel light when it comes to carry on (all I had was my son in the sling and the diaper bag attached to a small carry on suitcase). Pack plenty of diapers and clothes and a shirt for you and I put most of his clothes and diapers in the carry on in case the bags were lost. Relax and enjoy! You'll be surprised at how your little one will shine and you don't want them to feed from your anxiety.
