To be upset that a restaurant asked me to take my crying baby out ofthe restaurant

[40Weeks]

went for a meal yesterday eve at a local Zizzi's restaurant. Ds3 is 6 weeks and was a bit restless, crying on and off. The restaurant was quiet as it was 6pm and was there with dcs (mine and dsis) kids had eaten most of their meal and we had not long started ours (ordered it a bit later than the kids meals) and were taking it in turns to soothe him and dmum and dbil were there too. Apparently some customers complained about his crying so the manageress came and asked us to quieten him down or take him outside!

Aibu to think this is disgraceful?

I had breadtfed him but was facing away from other customers so don't think it was because of this. The complaining customers said that their daughter took their dgc to the ladies in such situations. Nice.

I am still reeling from this and not sure if I am bent oversensitive or if it's really weird to be offended by a baby, crying or not!

If the OP couldn't take the baby outside e.g. on a train, then of course I would be sympathetic. But that wasn't the case so YABU.

But she wasn't on a train or a GP surgery.

I hate how people on MN bring out off the wall "what ifs"

She was in a restaurant and distrubing other dinners.

She should just take the baby out

You should have taken your baby outsider. Stop being so self centred and think about the people around you.

She didn't want her dinner to get cold

She was thinking about her belly

YABU

Is the restaurant usually child friendly? Would there normally be parties with lots of kids and babies there? Or would a customer go there expecting an 'adult' environment? I would be fine with noisy kids and babies in a low or mid price place with a casual environment, but if we'd saved up for michelin starred meal in an expensive place I'd be disappointed if I couldn't have a normal conversation due to noise, but I still wouldn't have actually complained.

A toddler or older child tantrumming is definitely worse than a newborn though, and obv breastfeeding and well behaved kids are fine in any restaurant.

Got to say that I wouldnt have been pleased. When I do get to escape for a meal to relax the last thing I want to be hearing is a screaming newborn. it actually quite upsets me to hear a baby crying so it would have ruined my evening. We usually timed it quite well for the baby sleeping but on the odd occasions where he did really kick off we just left and had the food take away. DS is a pleasure to take to dinner now as we have never let him misbehave in restaurants and have eaten out regularly with him since newborn. Dont give up on eating out with baby just try and time it with naps or feeds once he is weaning and stick to a main meal, it will be a while before you can do starters, mains and deserts - but hey thats what babysitters are for!!

YABU. You shouldn't have had to have been asked to take your crying baby. You should have gone outside without being prompted. Loads of people are skint and going out for a meal may have been a real treat. How dare you think it acceptable to ruin their evening with your noisy baby.

Christ, there are some harsh responses.

If my baby wasn't settling it would have natural, at that young age, for either me or my husband to get up and walk around with them!

I probably wouldn't mind if a 6 week was grumping a little bit, 6 week old babies aren't that loud!

I would have been annoyed too.

That said, I have three young DC and we eat out when the rest of the rejects are there (i.e. other families) - between 2 and 5 pm.

You've gotta love british attitudes towards families and children.

Would they have complained if it was a drunk man/couple at the next table being loud and stupid after too much alcohol? Should they have complained?

I know what noise I'd rather hear!

have been natural

A crying baby would never bother me while I was out for dinner. You have just as much right to be out and enjoying your dinner as much as the next paying customer. I would have been pissed if anything was said to me at the restuarant esp about noise coming from a 6 week old baby.

Zizis shouldn't let customers with new born babies on their premises, as a baby's crying (they do that sometimes), might disturb other customers. They did let you order, you were there, tough shit. I think it is uber rude of the staff. Grrrrrr

YADNBU!

on your behalf

Idiots

Zizzi's

OP, the bad news is that I think you were the unreasonable one, to not take the baby outside yourself before the other diners got to the point of complaining. Why should a whole restaurant suffer, their nights out are precious too you know! And I say that as someone EBFing a newborn right now too, with a toddler around the place as well.

The good news, however, is that your unreasonableness pales in comparison to Gemma's , whose comment has honestly left me speechless.

Hope you get out again soon, and that you have a better evening.

YABU, definitely. Deeply depressing though that anyone can seriously think that it isn't acceptable to breastfeed in a restaurant. Until I came on mumsnet I'd never have believed anyone really thinks that. Gemma, 'consideration' only works both ways if the activity in question is actually genuinely inconvenient or offensive. If you are a prude, an idiot or just a bit particular about certain things, then it is you that has the problem, not the person performing the activity in question. Personally, I'm not that fond of creepy street mime artists and the people who stand with huge 'have you found jesus' placards in the market square, but I can still appreciate that they have as much right to be out in public as I do.

becyboo - whilst the OP has the right to have her dinner, she does NOT have the right to wreck everyone else's.

...and there we have it....the population nicely split down the middle...the Me Myself and I brigade who think they have a god given right to do what they want, where they want and fuck anyone who is disturbed by it....and the rest...daft buggers that we are, who like to think about other people occasionally.

I LOVE Gracie's typo! Maybe a bit of LSD for everyone involved would have improved the mood!

So am I the only one who's never heard of Zizzis? I'm pretty sure it's French for willy

Exactly Bucharest. Someone commented on whether they would complain about a noisy drunk person. Yes, I would. No-one's evening should be ruined by other people's excessive noise. Regardless of whether it is 6 months old or 60 years old.

I'm pretty sure it's French for willy - really?

Well said Bucharest

Gemma, Gemma, Gemma . . . . . . my my, where do I begin?!

For starters, you do realise that firstly not all babies EBF babies will take a bottle don't you?

So should the baby starve? Should the mother never go out? You do realise that newborns fed on demand, are, err, fed on demand and don't always have a set pattern!

Have you heard of a receiving blank for breastfeeding - if done properly, someobody looking right at you wouldn't even know what you were doing!

I'm not one for seeing a big veiny boob out on display, that is not pleasant to look at, and it is also not necessary, but I have never ever seen this.

Does your dad feel uncomfortable looking at page 3? Thought not!

Toonice not
When I was an au pair amongst other children's words I picked up
Kaka= poo
Pipi=pee
Zizi=willy
Dodo=nap