Oh I see it totally the opposite. The baby isn't asleep when you get on the plane, they fall asleep while you're flying. The time this is most likely to arise is at landing not takeoff.

The point of that paragraph is that it's just not true, in my experience, that all these rules are strictly enforced because they are of Utmost Importance, as a number of you have told me is the case.

I think this is indeed a genuine personality difference. I'm always making decisions about risk tradeoffs and about what battles are worth picking. That doesn't turn off and switch into blind obedience mode the moment I step on an airplane. The tradeoffs do change quite a bit, but they don't go away.

I do think it's notable in this whole discussion that I've never had anything but pleasant interactions with flight attendants. I just don't have this same experience of them as robotic appliers of All Rules, the way you and others seem to be describing them.