Tips for Dining Out with Your Baby

Last week, my wife and I had our first meal out with our baby. Needless to say, we were a little nervous about taking our baby out to dinner with us and a couple of our friends. Not only was this the first time we went out to a restaurant with our baby, but these particular friends do not yet have any children so we were especially nervous about what could potentially go wrong.

Luckily for us, it all went quite well. Our little girl did cry a little bit, but it wasn't much and more importantly, it was toward the end of the meal so we were able to pay the check and be on our way.

Being first time parents, my wife and I research everything. And the topic of taking our baby out to a restaurant was no exception. We researched tips on how to make things easier when dining out with our baby. Here are some of the more useful tips that we found.

Probably the most helpful tip is to choose the restaurant wisely. I mean, don't go to a place that is too formal or business like. Try to find a more family friendly type of restaurant where there are other kids and other parents who will understand your difficulty if your baby starts crying. Try to go to restaurants that don't have long wait times, or go during slightly off-peak hours. This will allow you to avoid any crowds and also get served faster.

If your baby is on a regular meal time schedule, try to coordinate the time. For instance, we fed our baby right before we left for dinner out at the restaurant. By doing this we were able to have at least a couple of hours before she started getting fussy because of hunger.

When you arrive at the restaurant, ask for a table that has plenty of space around it. You don't want to bang the baby's stroller around against other people's tables so you can get out of your chair to go to the bathroom. Plus, this can be a safety issue when the waiter or waitress is serving hot food around your baby.

Bring something for the baby to play with when she gets bored of looking around at the other tables. If the baby falls asleep, great! But don't count on it. You may need something to entertain her while you finish your meal. If your child likes to throw things, you may want to tie the toy onto the stroller or infant seat so it doesn't go flying into anyone's food.

I'm sure there are other ideas for enjoying your time out with baby. Just remember, you know your baby best, so go with your instincts. My wife and I will probably discover some more tips as we gain more experience as parents. And hopefully, we'll have some fun throughout the process.