Table meals with an infant?

[nickandlarisa]

Hello! We are taking our first trip with our baby boy this September, he will be about 9 1/2 months old at the time. How many table meals can we realistically plan? Before baby, we would take full advantage of the Deluxe Dining Plan, sometimes 2 table meals a day. Obviously this will be a completely different kind of trip with baby, but we are excited for that!! We would still like to hit some of our favorites, like Chef Mickey's for breakfast. From experienced parents out there, should we do just a few sit down (table) meals throughout the week, is one a day asking too much of the little guy?? Our 180 day window is in a few weeks so just want to plan accordingly with all of our ADRs. TIA!!

 

[DopeyDame]

Unfortunately, we can't give you good advice - it's really going to depend on your kid!
At 9.5 months my son was still really good at sit down restaurants, and we would have been ok with 1 TS meal a day. By 10.5 or 11 months, he was just too busy and wiggly to really enjoy a sit down meal. I would make reservations for one a day, but make sure it's at a place where you can cancel without penalty, and just play it by ear as the trip goes along. (Obviously canceling as soon as you know you're not going to make a reservation.)

 

[robinsegg]

We have only been with a 17mo . . . but we had absolutely no problem with ts meals, and actually used them as downtime, with less stimulation and busyness. It worked wonderfully for her, and we didn't have to go back to the room for naps. That said, we used a baby carrier instead of a stroller, so she was up with me and close to me most of the time, anyway. (The carrier we used was a wrap-style that held her close to my chest and allowed her to see what I did, while being able to rest when seh wanted, as well.)

 

[arthuruscg]

It is going to depend on your DS. My nephew would not sit still for a restaurant after he was 6m, he is now 3 and still will not sit still for a restaurant. My son, at 9m would be good for about 30minutes.

During the trip when he was 9m, we played it by him and what was available that day. We also got lucky and most of the TS would allow us to bring in the stroller for him to nap in.

 

[maplevale]

We go in 3 weeks with our 9.5 month old (and 4.25 year old) and we have one table service meal a day planned. My older has always been great at eating at the table with the adults (expected of her at home and family events) so we have never had issues taking her to restaurants (including non 'family' ones). (We are doing 3 character meals and 2 non)

I have a few suggestions
1) start a 'family sitting at the table' routine with your little one now. If you have a high chair that reclines you can start putting the babe in it at dinner time to get used to being at the table.
2) By 9 months my kids eat a lot of variety of table foods - so I never hesitate to put something on the tray for them to eat (or play with!) Puffs and Mum-mums work good too
3) Be realistic.... one of you may end up walking around while the other eats, then switch!

I'll let you know how we did! For us it isn't the eating portion that concerns me - it's possible waits in lobbies!

 

[nickandlarisa]

Thanks for all of the advice! And maplevale, definitely let me know how you make out! I think for now we will plan 1 TS a day, and then let the little prince call the shots while we are there! As a first time mom its so hard to predict what he will be like 6 months from now!

 

[maplevale]

NP nickandlarisa

DD is my second and I still forgot - and every kid is different! We too booked when she was 3 months old. One other thing was I found in the last few weeks I decided to make a lot of changes to my ADR's...

Breakfast (I didn't change) is at 8:05 (CRT) which seemed SO early. But DD2 is up by 6 most days. DD1 (4) is easy to get up by 6:30.

We are doing a lunch (1:30) that I HOPE will correspond with a nap (DD2 doesn't nap well so who knows!)

Dinner we have 1 at 4:55 (time I generally end up feeding DD2 at home) and one at 6:30 (which is usually bedtime - but it is on a non-park afternoon so I am hoping for a big nap in the stroller!)

 

[DISNEYFOS]

It will really depend on your child. We've been with our kids at all ages and we've always done at least 1 table service a day.

For us it was a way to get to see the characters without long lines.. and it gives us some downtime..make sure we can get a relatively healthy meal in them (at a normal time for them) etc.

We also made sure that we were flexible..we were prepared to cancel if things were not going as we planned. I have to say though I can't remember having to do that. We also made sure we had entertainment.. (if the TS wasn't entertaining itself ;-) ) toy figurines, soveniers from the day etc..

I do have to say my older child was always a dream, my younger... there were a few times we had to take turns going for a walk at say "Le Cellier" for our comfort and the comfort of those around us ;-)

 

[cbcrockett]

We are taking our DD in June and she will be 9 months. We only have one character breakfast ADR and one dinner (Kona Cafe) ADR at this point, at least that she will be with us for. She does well at this point when we go out, but like others have said, it will probably depend on your little one. We figured, we will probably push her during e day, doing much more than she usually does, and didn't want to push our luck for dinner too . But, I'll let you know how ours go! And, if she does well, we may add a TS for lunch a day or two.

I say, make the ADR's you really want now though. You can always cancel them as you get closer if you don't feel comfortable with them!

 

[AZMermaid]

My son was great at restaurants until he was about a year old, so I would think you would be okay. After that, he wanted to grab at everything and needs to be constantly entertained. It is not relaxing at all! We do eat together as a family every night, so I am hoping this will eventually translate into calmer meals. Now, at 18 months, we battle nightly to keep him from tipping his plate over when he is done or doesn't like the food. One thing we do when we go out is we order his food when we order our drinks. This way, his comes quickly and he is less fussy and has something to do.