do you take an infant to a movie theater?

[U2_rocks!]

In the carrier covered with a thick blanket while they were sleeping seemed to be fine. Granted we didn't take them to action films or anything super super loud, mostly comedy movies here! None of my kids have hearing damage so I guess they are okay. It's probably louder than that when his sisters are fighting!


Andrea

It's just that our movie theater seems so LOUD! Not just during the actual movie - all the previews, commercials etc. too. I guess a heavy blanket could have drowned out some of the noise, but hard to tell just how much. I just figured if I found it a little too loud for me, and my hearing isn't perfect due to my age, it couldn't be that good for a baby's perfect, sensitive little ears.

I could just have been paranoid, and it's moot for me now as my youngest is 3 and has been to movies a few times.

 

[glass slipper girl]

In my pre-stay-at-home-mom days I was an audiologist. (Dictionary definition b/c it seems like half of the people I tell that to look at me with this completely blank look on their faces like they have no clue what I am talking about and the other half make a joke they think is completely original...what's that? I didn't hear you? anyway...(from dictionary.com) Audiology is the study of hearing, hearing disorders, and habilitation/rehabilitation for individuals who have hearing loss. It encompasses the study of how the hearing mechanism works; the assessment of hearing; hearing and listening disorders; and the rehabilitation of individuals who have hearing loss). I can assure you that in no way is a movie in a movie theater loud enough to cause permanent damage to anyone's hearing...infant, child, adult or senior citizen. Loud enough to be annoying, yes. Loud enough to be uncomfortable for some people, yes. Loud enough to cause temporary loss that completely recovers within a few hours, HIGHLY unlikely. Loud enough to cause permanent damage, no.

My kids would sleep through ANYTHING (and still will) but some babies need a fairly quiet environment to sleep. Those babies would have a hard time at a movie. Some may startle at loud noises which would upset them and is reason not to bring them to action movies but you need not be concerned that it will actually damage their hearing.

 

[MATTERHORN]

In my pre-stay-at-home-mom days I was an audiologist. (Dictionary definition b/c it seems like half of the people I tell that to look at me with this completely blank look on their faces like they have no clue what I am talking about and the other half make a joke they think is completely original...what's that? I didn't hear you? anyway...(from dictionary.com) Audiology is the study of hearing, hearing disorders, and habilitation/rehabilitation for individuals who have hearing loss. It encompasses the study of how the hearing mechanism works; the assessment of hearing; hearing and listening disorders; and the rehabilitation of individuals who have hearing loss). I can assure you that in no way is a movie in a movie theater loud enough to cause permanent damage to anyone's hearing...infant, child, adult or senior citizen. Loud enough to be annoying, yes. Loud enough to be uncomfortable for some people, yes. Loud enough to cause temporary loss that completely recovers within a few hours, HIGHLY unlikely. Loud enough to cause permanent damage, no.

My kids would sleep through ANYTHING (and still will) but some babies need a fairly quiet environment to sleep. Those babies would have a hard time at a movie. Some may startle at loud noises which would upset them and is reason not to bring them to action movies but you need not be concerned that it will actually damage their hearing.

Thanks for all the great info!! Yes I figured if he could sleep at home, the movies could be no worse!!

We never make it quiet when our kids sleep when they are little so they can pretty much sleep through anything. Actually DS sleeps with a sound machine and I notice he tends to wake up a lot easier or more often when it is completely quiet. I can't sleep without some white noise either!! Thanks again.

Andrea

 

[Disney4Drew]

I have only taken DS to movies that HE wanted to see (he's almost 4). We've seen Cars, Madagascar and Chicken Little in the theater. We also saw Cars again at the drive-in. I would've never taken him as in infant, nor would I take him to an adult movie now.

 

[Temair]

When DD was still an infant we took her to movies with all the time. We planned it around her bed time so she would be asleep anyway. Most of the time she would sleep right through. A few times she woke up and just cuddled. Only once did she wake up and fuss so DH took her in the hallway and just waited till it was over. When DD was 5 we took her to the 3rd Matrix movie and she got scared. DH took her out and when to the information desk. They were able to trade thier tickets for a kid appropriate movie so we all got to see a movie we wanted. DD was also 4 when LOTR came our and she watched the full 3 hours and loved every minute of it. It depends alot on the kids.

Temair

 

[jlieblaw]

I took my ds when he was 3 mos. or younger. It was great. He just ate or slept the whole time. The only time I had to get up was when he was awake and needed to be walked around a bit. Our theater had a partial wall between the seats and the walkway and I stood there with ds until he went to sleep. I couldn't be seen so I wasn't distracting to anyone. My dd, however, is now 5 yrs. old and I still don't like to take her to movies, even kid movies. I took her to see Cars and it stresses me out too much to worry about her sitting still or not talking too loudly. It's just easier to watch the movies at home and be able to stop them for bathroom breaks, snacks, etc.

 

[bopper]

I think we went to a movie when DD#1 was a tiny nursing baby. If she was to make any noise, we would have taken her out right away. I think she mostly slept and nursed.

 

[las3888]

There is absolutely no way we could have taken DS to the movies. We were afraid to take him to even McDonald's when he was under 4mos. He was on the colicky side and it just would have been no fun for ANYBODY!!!

 

[blanq]

We went to see Lord Of The RIngs, opening weekend about 9pm show so it was a full house. 2 parents walked in with 2 toddlers in PJs and a baby in an infant carrier. Alot of people sighed at first but about 30 minutes into the movie, the kids just started screaming and crying and the parents did nothing. I was so irritated (and felt bad for the children since it was the parent's fault)! DH and I spent the time and money to get a babysitter for our own small children so we could have a kid-free night and we had to listen to these poor kids screaming the whole time.

Oh, this is soooo annoying and I can relate. We had a similar situation happen to our family recently. DH, DS (age 13) and I saw an evening showing of Superman Returns, and a family brought their infant and toddler. The baby cried and the toddler talked loudly, and it was incredibly annoying to have plunked down all of that money for the movie and movie treats and to not be able to hear the movie. DH finally complained to an employee at the concessions stand, but nothing was done other than some pimply-faced 15 year old popped in for a few minutes but was useless in dealing with the situation. We complained again on the way out, and were given 3 free tickets to see another movie. If this had happened during LOR, like you experienced, I would have been twice as p.o.'d as that movie rocked. Superman turned out to be a loser of a movie, so I guess things could have been worse.