Food for Babies and Restaurants

[PrincesCJM]

DS is 22 months and I bring food for him to places when we go out to eat. He will usually eat some of what he is offered until he sees french fries, then nothing else compares. He isn't eating real well right now so I feel the need to make sure that he will be able to eat something. No waiter/waitress have ever questioned it, other than asking "anything for him".

 

[goofyintoronto]

There's nothing wrong with bringing in food for a toddler, 1-2 yrs old. But any older than that, and its a bit odd. Ok, maybe not odd, but different?? A friend of mine still brings in food for her kids, not sure if its cause theyre trying to save money, or because theyre super picky.....but her kids are 5 & 7. She brings in stuff like hot dogs and just buys them a side to share.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

There's nothing wrong with bringing in food for a toddler, 1-2 yrs old. But any older than that, and its a bit odd. Ok, maybe not odd, but different?? A friend of mine still brings in food for her kids, not sure if its cause theyre trying to save money, or because theyre super picky.....but her kids are 5 & 7. She brings in stuff like hot dogs and just buys them a side to share.

With the exception of severe food allergies (I have a second cousin who can literally only eat like 4 food ingredients)...I agree. Most restaurants will have a kids hot dog on the menu...

 

[tcufrog]

I started serving restaurant food to my kids at a fairly young age from our plate or I would order soup or vegetable sides for them. Vegetable or tortilla soup were great choices for my babies once they had some teeth because they had very soft vegetables in them that they could easily chew. Those choices were usually inexpensive and much healthier than what's on the children's menu. I had the leftovers boxed up to take home to feed to my baby for later meals.

If I brought baby food I usually brought pouches with my second child because they were less messy and he could feed himself.

 

[LisaInNc]

Once my child was eating solid foods I stopped bringing food for her. She at first started trying foods from my plate and then morphed into that delightful chicken nugget phase.

Lisa

 

[LisaInNc]

Thanks for all the posts so far!

I guess the poll shows that there are a variety of opinions on this so I will do what I feel comfortable with depending on the restaurant.

He does need to have food in front of him right away for him to be well behaved and quiet so I think that is most important to everyone!

Tell your server you want his food as soon as they can make it and not to wait for the rest of the meal. That would usually save me.

I LOVED the Cheesecake Factory I am not sure if they still do this but they offered a baby plate which was a banana some bread and a few other baby type items. It was free.

Some other places would ask if she wanted oyster crackers or just crackers. One or two kept her busy until more food was on the table.

Lisa

 

[Disneychix]

We frequent a restuarant with a large group of people. It always takes forever since we wait for everyone. Most times I will order the kids food ahead of time if we are seated early but sometimes we are waiting in the lounge. I almost always bring fruit (banana, strawberries, grapes, oranges) and usually those peanut butter crackers. I also bring cheese sticks a lot.
My little guy just turned 3 and I don't feel this is wrong at all. I will buy him a drink and mostly he'll still share food with his brother or with me. His main meal has always been lunch and he is just not a big dinner eater.

 

[Skippy918]

Under 1, I would bring my own food for them. Between 1 and 3, they'd eat off my plate. After that age, it was a matter of how big the adult portion was and how hungry the child was which determined if I got them a kids meal. On kids eat free nights, we always get the kids meals.

 

[Aliceacc]

I had a few young kids at the same time. I don't think I ever traveled without some sort of snacks for them in those early years.

One piece of advice on dining out with very young kids:

Go to the dollar store and invest in a plastic table cloth-- if you get the lined type it will hold up better. Place it under the high chair. It will catch al the odds and ends that don't make it to your child's mouth, and will save the waitstaff the huge job of cleaning up after a messy toddler. After the meal, move the chair and scoop up all the mess. It takes no time or effort, and very little money, on your part.

Also, as young as you can, teach your kids to look the waitstaff in the eye as they speak. You would be surprised at the number of people who used to compliment our kids on it.

 

[scrapquitler]

until my kids were about 3, I used to just mostly feed them off my plate. Many of the places we went would bring the kids crackers, and I usually had something like crackers or goldfish in my bag anyway to distract them while we waited. Sometimes I'd order a side dish of something for them, like applesauce, macaroni, soup or fruit. I always had a sippy cup for them, and unless they were going to drink water, I'd order a drink from the restaurant and pour it into the sippy cup.

 

[aprilchem]

None of my kids ever ate baby food (we went from breastmilk to soft cut up foods at one year) so we never really brought anything special for them; they just ate off our plates. When DS8 was about 1 I remember we used to go to the Ethiopian restaurant all the time because he LOVED Ethiopian food (he still does) and it's all sort of soft and easy to eat (with your hands, because they don't use utensils). I do remember bringing milk occasionally because I couldn't get whole milk at certain restaurants.

 

[etoiles]

I started serving restaurant food to my kids at a fairly young age from our plate or I would order soup or vegetable sides for them. Vegetable or tortilla soup were great choices for my babies once they had some teeth because they had very soft vegetables in them that they could easily chew. Those choices were usually inexpensive and much healthier than what's on the children's menu. I had the leftovers boxed up to take home to feed to my baby for later meals.

God tip about the soup since I would not have thought about that. We are vegetarian though so it can be tricky to find vegetarian soups since most use chicken or other meat broths but I will keep that tip in mind!

Tell your server you want his food as soon as they can make it and not to wait for the rest of the meal. That would usually save me.

I LOVED the Cheesecake Factory I am not sure if they still do this but they offered a baby plate which was a banana some bread and a few other baby type items. It was free.

Some other places would ask if she wanted oyster crackers or just crackers. One or two kept her busy until more food was on the table.

Lisa

Thanks! DH and I were just saying how we have never been to Cheesecake Factory even though there are plenty of locations near us. I looked on their website and they still do this which gives us a great reason to finally visit!

Thanks for the other tips too.

None of my kids ever ate baby food (we went from breastmilk to soft cut up foods at one year) so we never really brought anything special for them; they just ate off our plates. When DS8 was about 1 I remember we used to go to the Ethiopian restaurant all the time because he LOVED Ethiopian food (he still does) and it's all sort of soft and easy to eat (with your hands, because they don't use utensils). I do remember bringing milk occasionally because I couldn't get whole milk at certain restaurants.

Our little guy never ate baby food either so he could eat Ethiopian food but I do worry that would be a little messy. He's pretty neat but that type of food can be mushy sometimes. Any tips on keeping them clean while eating?

I had a few young kids at the same time. I don't think I ever traveled without some sort of snacks for them in those early years.

One piece of advice on dining out with very young kids:

Go to the dollar store and invest in a plastic table cloth-- if you get the lined type it will hold up better. Place it under the high chair. It will catch al the odds and ends that don't make it to your child's mouth, and will save the waitstaff the huge job of cleaning up after a messy toddler. After the meal, move the chair and scoop up all the mess. It takes no time or effort, and very little money, on your part.

Also, as young as you can, teach your kids to look the waitstaff in the eye as they speak. You would be surprised at the number of people who used to compliment our kids on it.

Thanks for the tips! I think I will bring some little things for him and he can eat something from our plate or a side dish as well. He hasn't been so messy he would need the table cloth but we do put a cover on the high chair that catches most of the crumbs and we shake it off outside later.