Comments on: Baby Bargains

By: amykrisb

amykrisb — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:16:26 +0000

After only eating out in China, we had no problem eating out as soon as we came home! I found that one of those rubber placemats (by kidopotamus) worked well at restaurants. We put her food on there. When she was 18 mos, she finally stopped trying to toss restaurant plates out the window, so we could leave that rubber thing at home. She never really wanted baby food, so we were able to either share our food or order off the kids menu even as a baby. When she was very young (10 mos – 18 mos) she ate nonstop, so restaurant visits went well, as long as we brought snacks for her to eat while she waited for her food. I had to learn which restaurants didn’t serve milk (most of the Chinese ones) so that I could bring milk for her. As a baby I just brought bottles of powdered formula and added water. The hardest time in restaurants was when she was about 3 and was too tall for the high chair. It was so tough to keep her in her seat, and she wasn’t eating 24/7 like she was as a baby. At 4 1/2, she does fine if we’re not there terribly long, but still prefers McDonalds or Chik Fil-A.

And to Emily’s mom–If I were you, I’d buy milk-based formula because of the nutrients. Only use soy if you can’t use milk. We did take some lactose-free formula to China, but we learned that she was on milk-based and doing fine.

By: Emily's Mom

Emily's Mom — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:13:42 +0000

Thank you all for the great advice on soy vs. milk. I will look for lactose free formula.. and yes, will try to stay away from soy. Already bought some rice cereal and oatmeal to bring with us. Will get some cheerios and baby crackers as well. So nervous about being a first time mom, so I appreciate all of your feedback, everyone!

By: ldw4mlo

ldw4mlo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:10:08 +0000

Emilys mom,

As a mom to a Lactose Intolerant girl there are more options than Milk (cow) vs Soy.

My girl is LI, we do Lactaid at home and rice milk when traveling (can be stored at room temp).

There are more options than cow milk and soy. I am of the same school about soy and estrogens. Being “older” that I take soy stuff to replace or mimic the estrogen I am losing, I just don’t think it is good for my girl.

As far as your trip, and not knowing the age of your child, take milk based, if you can find lactose free, better still but don’t stress. It is 2 weeks it will be fine. Our girl was 11 months, doc said let her eat whatever she was willing to try as long as it was not a choking hazard. We did rice cereal and fruit in our room for bonding (she had nothing else to investigate but us) before we went to eat. Then she could graze and look around and we could eat in relative peace.

Enjoy

By: RumorQueen

RumorQueen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:09:29 +0000

Right, what luvbugsmom said. I’ll add that I don’t feel comfortable giving my kids a lot of soy. I don’t think they need to be infused with estrogen just yet, if ever. Being a vegetarian family some of our protein is soy, but we do not do soy milk, and I do try to keep the soy products to a minimum.

By: luvbugsmom

luvbugsmom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:09:15 +0000

Emily’s Mom:

Most of the time, doctors will recommend milk based formula instead of soy. It has to do with milk from a mammal (cow) being more similar to human breast milk and providing more complete proteins than soy milk. I say “most of the time” because, as always, there are exceptions to the rule. If your child is allergic to cow’s milk, has certain medical problems, or if you really need to do a vegan diet for religious or ethical reasons, then you may need to use soy formula. Check with a pediatrician for more advice.

By: jasonsmom

jasonsmom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:06:06 +0000

We’ve taken Jason out since he was born and Jess out since she came home at 17 months. I have the kids food brought out when ours is brought out so that they’re not done just as we’re starting. Jess doesn’t always get her own meal. She sometimes shares my steak, potatoes and veggies – then I have room for dessert! Some places we get her an appetizer (her favorite at the local Radisson’s restaurant is baked brie and poached pear which she pairs with my broccolni and some of my mashed potatoes) and sometimes she orders off of the kids’ menu. She orders for herself, talks to the waitstaff and loves going out to eat.

By: waitingforcelia

waitingforcelia — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:33:23 +0000

One thing we learned was that it was best not to go out with large groups of people when DD was a toddler. It usually takes a lot longer to order and to get your food with big groups, so by the time the food came, DD was pretty much done with sitting still and had filled up on snacks or bread. Now that she’s almost 3, we can do bigger groups again, as she has a pretty good attention span and we can bring activities to keep her busy. She loves to go out, and we are actually able to have much more of an adult conversation than at home, because she’s so busy looking around at everything.

We had absolutely no luck with the disposable bibs after 11 months or so– she’d just pull them off. We needed to bring a regular bib from home, and we generally brought toddler silverware and a sippy cup, too.

By: sammarshall

sammarshall — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:50:57 +0000

We try to decide what we will order ahead of time so we can place our full order as soon as we get there. Most restaurants have menus online so it is pretty easy to pull them up on a smart phone and decide. We have rarely had trouble eating out with our girls but you have to be prepared in case you do. There was one meal I distinctly remember that wasn’t going well so we got up and left, I sat outside with the oldest on a bench then dh did so we could both eat and she wouldn’t disturb everybody else.

By: ldw4mlo

ldw4mlo — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:34:09 +0000

Another big one is we make sure our girl is rested. As in not missing nap time, or out past bedtime.

She was only a beast once in a restaurant but she was eating 2 hours past dinner and it was her bedtime. Never again.

By: ladeeesquire

ladeeesquire — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:23:48 +0000

This is so timely. I was just having a conversation with a co-worker of mine who was telling me that they can’t take their 2 yr old bio son to restaraunt because he doesn’t behave well enough. I thought that was strange. We’ve always been able to take our now adult children out to eat.

With little kids, I don’t push it though. We try to order right away when we get there and I do get her food first. Dd is 18 mos and still requires help with many foods so I feed her the fork stuff and then when our food comes she self feeds on the rest of her meal shares with us. I always have snack foods available ie craisins, goldfish, cheerios, etc.

She’s great for about an hour or so and then she’s bored and its time to go. That works for us and her. One thing I’m a stickler on is that she MUST sit in the high chair. Occasionally she’s wanted to get out and dh has given in but it never works out well.