Is it okay to bring food for 4 year old?

[Dis703]

My ODS has multiple food allergies and because of a delay in being able to tolerate any solids he had some major feeding issues and went through feeding therapy when he was younger. Now he is able to eat more foods, but he's still pretty limited and new textures and such take a long time for him to accept. And there are still a lot of foods we just haven't gotten around to trialing yet because of this.

I'm thinking of bringing some of his standard easy things along with us for occasions where there isn't really anything he would eat at a TS restaurant. I know buffets will be fine and he can do pasta with butter, maybe pizza but there are a couple places I'm thinking of booking ADRs at that I really don't see anything he would or could eat.

Has anyone brought food for their child (who was not an infant of course) and did they seem to have any problem with this.

TIA
Heather

 

[SueM in MN]

You can bring food into the parks; there are just not any picnic facilities, so people cant bring in meals and expect to find picnic tables for their whole family to eat. Some people do bring in their own foods for infants, severe allergies or medical issues.
They would not be able to heat any food at the restaurant for him - because of food safety rules, they are not allowed to bring food from 'outside' into the kitchen. Food can be heated in microwaves at Baby Care at any park.

This would be a situation where the Special Diet department could help you. There is contact information in post 3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread.
Even if the table service restaurant does not have anything he can eat on the menu, they may be able to prepare something for him. If they don't have those ingredients, they could probably get them with advance notice (for example, a restaurant that doesn't have any menu items with pasta would probably not stock pasta in their kitchen, but could get some).
Also, think of what the ingredients might be of some of the food served at that restaurant. They would have those available all the time, so if it would be a matter of leaving sauce off or preparing in some other different way, they could probably do that too. If textures are a problem, but he could eat different things, they can also blend foods into a puree in the kitchen.

Good luck - let us know how it goes.

 

[wendow]

Wow, sounds a lot like my son who is also 4...couldn't tolerate solids for a long time, food aversions, texture issues, feeding therapy...yup, I know that deal. We went to WDW last September and had no trouble feeding my ds. We never brought his food into a restaurant but we did have chefs and CS managers willing to go to other restaurants to find things he could/would eat. My son has a dairy allergy also.

 

[Mom2six]

I don't know what type of food you are considering. If you could get the restaurant to provide food he will it , that will be best.

My just turned 5 DS does not eat much, mostly just blueberries, Cheerios, and freeze- dried toddler yogurt drops. He is allergic to milk, so we also brought his almond milk. We take his Cheerios and drops and milk into the restaurant with us ( it never occurred to me to try to request the TS have blueberries - I wonder if they will do that since most charge him anyway). We have never had a problem with his sick food at WDW or elsewhere.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

one of hardest problems with bringing your own food for child is warming it up if needed. as Sue said nothing can go into kitchen that is not gotten there. it is not allowed. might be able to warmup food at baby centers but if not fed there will be cold by time you are seated at TS. if you feed child at bay center then how do plan to entertain child at the table?

 

[123LuckyMom]

We brought in a small soft sided cooler every day with snacks and food for the baby and our 4 year old. We did CS restaurants, and usually the only thing we bought for the 4 year old was a milk.