To think if you're taking a baby of under 18 months out for a meal

[Souredstones]

It's ok to take some small toys for them but under no circumstances is it ok to take the annoying noisy battery operated ones especially if you're going to set them off and the child proceeds to ignore them.

cansu- me too! My ds2 has asd and i take an Iphone with me so he can watch his films before he kicks off and gets bored. He watches this while we wolf down our meal and say a prayer we get to do so before chaos ensues and we don't get "the stare" from other diners.
It's either that or we never go out at all. Ever! we don't go out a lot and its normally to the local cafe.
So I hate to throw a spanner in the works but if anyone has a problem with my sons noisy toys then they are more than welcome to take a shot at calming him down.
;)

Thinking on it mrsjay it was probably a case of 6 of one half dozen of the other. The toy was being set off for no reason

I guess if it annoyed you it annoyed you but I still am not convinced little toddler would be content with crayons or a book

I rather think the OP was the one with the sour face.

I have issue with a noisy toy going off unnecessarily in a resteraunt.

I am a) not a miserable anti child baby eater
B) totally unrealistic to expect a small tot to sit eating a meal without making noise, I like seeing children eating out. I expect a child to make human type noises of many variations
C) sour faced

Yanbu.

What is "loud parenting"? I've seen it a few times now and am none the wiser. Shouting parents?

Urgh, I can barely tolerate noisy toys at home, let alone in a restaurant!! We once went out for a family meal and DS was sick en route (aged 2) and we had to go buy him a cheapo supermarket outfit and I grabbed a toy car off the shelf to placate him without really looking at it and the bloody thing was SO noisy! I was mortified and my dad, who is the sort to be very very concerned about what others think of him nearly had hysterics. Noisy toys should be bathed with or left out in the rain. My kids can make plenty of noise of their own accord..!

If I take a noisy 'toy'/device to a restaurant I take headphones designed for children with me. Electronic toy noise drives me mad in a restaurant.

YANBU. I have an 18mo, it's a nightmare age for eating out. I'd work through books, crayons, quiet toys, and then if she really wouldn't sit reasonably still and was making loads of noise then one of our party would just accept defeat and take her outside for a walk for five minutes.

You can do different things with different children at different ages. Certain ages are just not good for sitting still in a restaurant for an hour or so. Plan accordingly. Expecting everyone else in a restaurant to put up with running, screaming or a loud, inane electronic toy isn't fair, and quite frankly smacks a bit of "my child is more important than anyone else."

(Disclaimer - in most circumstances your child in more important, obviously)

ali loud parenting is basically over enthusiastic , loud interacting and talking to your child.

"Shall we order the lobster Alexander , you like lobster don't you ? We had it in holiday in the Caribbean do you remember Alexander. We stayed in that hotel with the huge beds....... Etc "

:)

Whilst simultaneously looking around to gain eye contact with anyone

YABU! I have a fifteen month old and things like her rattle and toy telephone are the only things that would keep her quiet while we're eating out. I don't see why we should have to avoid bringing her out to child-friendly places (the pub we go to has a small children's area). She would maybe scribble on paper for about five minutes but it's not something which would keep her occupied for a whole meal.

YABU

My little one is only 10 weeks old and loves his musical crab. It clips to the hood of the pram over his head and has music and flashing lights. He cries when it stops. We went out for a meal this afternoon and Crabby went too. What sort of meanie begrudges a little baby being entertained by their favourite toy :(

Would you prefer me and 18mo DS and his (silent) tractor book?

"DaaaaAAAAAH?"
"That's a RED tractor."
"DaaaaaAAAAAH?"
"That's a BLUE tractor."
"DaaaaaAAAAH?"
"That's ANOTHER blue tractor."
"DaaaaaAAAAA?"
Etc etc.

We are both so terribly, terribly tired of tractors. So is everyone else in our local café, I imagine.

westie people who are trying to eat a meal I expect

Babies in my experience can be fascinated and entertained by a whole host of things that are not noisy

Westie The baby wasn't interested in the toy though.

I can see your point op, but was the rest of the restaurant so quiet that all you could hear was the noisy toy? I would rather the noisy toy noise than other loud customers!

These toys usually have a quieter setting ime. I wouldn't have ever taken noisy toys out to a restaurant though. Even on hol when she needed to sleep a dvd with headphones sufficed.

If it's a family restaurant, sorry but suck it up.

I personally hate noisy toys full-stop, try to avoid them in my house and certainly don't take them out but don't get annoyed with anyone who does. They're babies. I'm sure other diners have been annoyed with me singing the 'wheels in the bus' but I take the kids to family-friendly restaurants so you have to expect this

Maybe the toy wouldn't have seemed so irritating had the baby actually been interested in it, but the baby ignored it and the parents ignored the baby. To me, THAT is the irritating aspect, not the toy.

Slightly O/T, this reminds me of the AIBU where the poster's neighbour had complained about her 3yo making a noise early on a morning whilst playing. Turns out said 3yo was playing with some sort of mental, singing, sit on donkey thing. I think sometimes parents can forget how irritating some toys can be, it's not always a deliberate ploy to annoy those around them.

I am relieved I had my daughter last sometimes. Had she been my pfb no doubt I too would have been smug in how wonderfully she behaved, and how it was all down to my superb interaction. She would be quite happy with some books and people watching.

However she wasn't born first, and her elder brother was horrendous at that age. Just a different personality. And we avoided taking him to gourmet restaurants! But sorry, we'd have taken him to a pub on a Sunday and as others have said, would have assumed playing with a noisy toy would have been preferable to screaming.

Why do people always suggest crayons to entertain toddlers? At that age my DD would scribble for 5 seconds on the paper, try and scribble on tablecloth, chair etc Try to eat said crayons & then finally settle for dropping them on the floor & wailing for them to be picked up. They still don't hold her attention if we are out somewhere noisy or busy, but at least she doesn't eat them so much!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHDaaaaAAAAAH?"
"That's a RED tractor."
"DaaaaaAAAAAH?"
"That's a BLUE tractor."
"DaaaaaAAAAH?"
"That's ANOTHER blue tractor."
"DaaaaaAAAAA?"
Etc etc.

^^ made me laugh

YANBU purely because I want to commit murder dispose of the talking toys in our house.

As for if they were wrong, I honestly don't know. All I know is a parent encouraging their child to do the 'Peppa Pig Snort' risks death by chucked pram. I hate my toddler group.