From what age is ok to eat from the children's menu?

[pikapoo]

Just curious as to what ages people started letting their DCs eat from the kids menu - my DS is almost 1 and I have been wondering whether we should still be bringing pouches/home-made food for several months yet.
Also, is it generally understood by restaurants that the kids menu options should be made of healthy ingredients with low/no salt/sugar/preservatives, or is that something we would need to check with the restaurant?

[Heratnumber7]

From whatever age you feel appropriate, according to what child is eating at home.

However "is it generally understood by restaurants that the kids menu options should be made of healthy ingredients with low/no salt/sugar/preservatives"

No.

[honeycheeerios]

I didn't start ordering my DD a kids meal until she turned three.

On the odd occasion she got one it would get wasted, picked at, she was always too distracted to eat in a restaurant, portion too big for such a small child etc.

I would ensure she ate at home beforehand, or ask for an extra plate and give her bits of mine and DH meals. I would also bring her some fruit and treat her to an ice cream while she coloured, played with a little toy or whatever.

My friend started ordering kids meals when her son was 7 months old, it used to baffle me. He literally barely ever touched it. It was like she thought he has to eat because he was at weaning age.

[Pinkheart5915]

My Ds is now 19 months, his had his own meal since about 15 months at that age he starting wanting more and more of my food so I just brought him his own.

[ILookedintheWater]

Depends where you are and what's on offer.
A menu of sausage or burger and chips, maybe not. Tomato pasta served with some veg sticks, perhaps give it a go?
The thought that goes into kids meals varies a lot from place to place, but realistically, a little salt for one meal occasionally isn't going to be a problem..

[LBOCS2]

I order my just-1yo a meal from the kids' menu as she has a fantastic appetite - have done so since she was about 11mo and I got fed up with losing half my meal and all my veg to her. We did BLW and have never fussed too much about salt - I cook pretty much everything from scratch; never use processed foods at home - so I figure that once in a blue moon it's probably ok. It very much depends on your child though.

[Daffydil]

DD is 14 months and we can easily accommodate her from our plates. We don't need to order her own meal yet, she doesn't eat enough.

[FreeButtonBee]

depends where I am. My DS2 has had his own three course meal at Pizza Express since about 15 months. But we often go for brunch and I will have eg scrambled eggs and then order an extra side and share with him. He has a very healthy appetite though!

I don't tend to worry too much about the salt etc as we eat out once a week at most so over the rest of the week it all balances out.

[ASqueakingInTheShrubbery]

I started to order DD her own when she was likely to eat more of mine than I was willing to share. Probably about 18 months.

[Galla]

My 6 year old has only recently started ordering from children's menu. Up to now, I used to just ask for a plate and share mine.
Until my portion started getting smaller and his much larger. Good for losing weight!

My almost 4 year old still picks like a bird so will be picking from my plate or sharing his brothers for a while longer.

[Highmaintenancefemalestuff]

Dd is almost 9 months. She loves her food and the last 2 times we have eaten out we have ordered her a kids meal. Chicken breast, peas and mash. She eats majority of the chicken and peas and a couple of spoons of mash. If she wasn't a big eater I would feed her from my plate but at the rate she eats I wouldn't have any left over for myself.

[NannyR]

Most restaurants are happy to do a smaller size portion of something on the main menu or you could order a starter if you didn't want to order off the kids menu.

[pikapoo]

Thanks everyone - helpful to know what others have experienced in restaurants. Yes I think the kids' portions look too big for my DS (not that he wouldn't try and finish the lot, he is a big eater). May stick to offering him food off our plates for awhile!

[teaandbiscuitsforme]

I tend to give off mine and DH's plate too. We sometimes order a suitable side or two if we think we need a bit more.

[2014newme]

I wouldn't want a child to "pick at my plate" but I'd get an extra plate. What I normally did was order one child meal between the two children.

[TiggeryBear]

DD has been having kids meals since 8months! (Now 14months) She eats like a horse! I do worry a little about the salt content but she drinks well (water & milk, very occasionally juice).
On the whole her diet is reasonably low in salt, so every so often it isn't such a big concern for me.

[Instasista]

My daughter always did although I deliberately chose baby friendly foods like pasta. I didn't want her to have bits of my food, seems quite sad. They're not massively expensive and I obviously don't expect her to eat it all

[ShyOyster]

I tend to order a starter more often than a kids menu option. Kids menu is quite often full of crap like nuggets or fish fingers and DS much prefers "normal" food. We only started ordering a separate plate of food for him when he was 2ish, before then he much preferred picking things off our plates. This usually meant we would order one or two more side dishes.
Tbh, even now when he's 4 and picks what he wants, whatever is on MY plate is still very attractive to him...

[randomsabreuse]

When I got bored of eating "suitable" things she could share rather than what I wanted... so when I was no longer BFing - occasionally DH will choose to share with her but realistically if we're eating out the cost of the kid's meal is less important than actually choosing what we want to eat!

[ShyOyster]

I never really worried about ordering "suitable" stuff when we shared plates. I figured if DS's diet is mostly balanced, the odd unhealthy bit of crap when we're out should be fine.
I like to brag that it's mostly due to my enlighened approach he eats EVERYTHING: seafood, kale, spinach, celery sticks, olives, whatever (but also pizza and chocolate, of course)
I know that really we have just been lucky and he's just a good eater

[Sirzy]

I used to order jacket potatoes for ds from about 8 months.

[lorelairoryemily]

We've ordered for ds since he was 10 months, he's 13 months now, started off with potato veg and soup

[HeadDreamer]

DC1 maybe 18-24 mo. But we never took food to the restaurant. She was given food from DH and my plate. DC2 6-7mos sharing a meal with DC1. They still share one now at 6 and 2 but get 2 drinks.

[randomsabreuse]

Suitable meant avoiding seafood, hot curries and things she doesn't like but I do. Plus she had dairy and egg intolerances so when I was BFing I had to avoid too - so freedom to eat cheese was important!

[2014newme]

My dds like seafood, dd ate a pint of prawns age 2 😂

[ShyOyster]

Food intolerances are something I didn't think about, that's a good point. I suppose if I had to limit my choices due to DS's allergies, he'd be getting his own meals a lot lot earlier