That they should have just got a fucking babysitter

[Happyeverafter73]

I am sitting in a nice restaurant trying to have a good evening with my friends. And the couple next to me have their baby, no more than 1 month old. Screaming his or her head off for half an hour.

AIBU that they should not bring a tiny baby into a restaurant?

d270r0
Anyone who doesn't want to leave their young baby with anyone takes the gamble of them sleeping through. Take baby with and they sleep through but be prepared that one of you should take the baby out if they get unsettled.

With the best will in the world, people pay good money to go out for a nice meal and anyone allowing their baby to scream and ruin it for everyone is selfish.

So you've got your phone out and posted this during the meal with your friends??

YANBU, OP.

Nothing more infuriating than spending good money to be sat near a caterwauling child. That said, we took ds1 to a pub restaurant at a similar age and were chucked into the cold and massive 'family area' completely alone even though he was tucked under our table fast asleep in his car seat and had been ever since we got there. We'd have taken him out if he'd been a nightmare but...he wasn't. Never have been able to work that one out

Has the baby really been screaming for half an hour? Are the parents wearing earplugs? I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a baby out, but agree with the pp who say don't let it disturb anyone else!

I love the word 'caterwauling'.

I can see both sides. Let's be honest no-one likes listening to babies screaming, especially. When you're out enjoying a meal or at least trying to.
However their money is just as good as yours. You can't expect the restaurant to turn down everyone who has a baby.
Also not everyone can get baby sitters. Not everyone wants to hire baby sitters. Some people want their children with them all the time.

I hate the way children are not tolerated in this country

At 7pm it is totally reasonable to take a tiny baby to a restaurant. Chances are they will sleep right through. This one didn''t. Yes, one parent should take outside and pacify but the vitriol for these "entitled" new parents is sad to see

On the continent, there would have been a dozen offers to help jiggle the baby and an acknowledgement that the way growing children learn to behave in company is to actually do it

Not some po faced keyboard nobs moaning about how their prosecco was curdled by the perfectly normal sound of a baby crying

I don't have a problem with children in restaurants, especially those designed for families and family oriented. But last evening, after a long journey, we were seated next to a family with three children. They seemed tired and the youngest screamed and screamed and refused to let her father do anything with her. The older two just ran around.

Everyone has the right to have a meal in a restaurant, but equally the right to enjoy the experience, whether they have children or not.

You might have a point there, AF.

I was waiting for tales of the Continent.

Honestly I would have gone over and told the parents the baby needs feeding. If being bottle fed more than happy to do the feed for them while they eat. Given the time of day it sounds like it might be colic.

I've been in their shoes and had to deal with people judging me at 5:30pm when I had my elder two at a sushi restaurant that took forever to serve us and wouldn't let me cancel our order.

At a mth old there are very few that will babysit - its not like you can get a teen in.

I don't think you shouldn't take them at that age - but I do think you need to deal with them if they are upset.

But they are prob just getting used to being parents and hadn't realised how difficult it could be if the baby went off on one.

I was waiting for tales of the Continent.

Me too.

It isn't always the case over their either despite what some on MN think

OMG I agree with AF.....

YABU. I took DS1 when he was a few days old, but if he cried I fed him. He generally just slept.

I don't think anyone has an issue with taking the baby to the restaurant in the first place? The fact that they sat there and let it scream is the issue
The notion that other diners / staff should have abandoned their own food/duties and stepped in to "jiggle" the baby has got to be tongue in cheek???
How perfectly nonsensical 😖

I went a wedding with my DH and DD1 when she was 7 weeks old. It was about 4 hours drive from our house and we had to travel the night before, after my DH had finished work. We had to stop and eat on the journey, we therefore had to take our baby into a restaurant /pub. We were given the most awful looks from other people eating and I hated it, talk about make us feel like terrible parents. As it happened after she was fed (breast fed - also disapproved of heartily judging by the looks I got) she slept through the whole meal but if she hadn't we would still have had to eat. For goodness sake, if you don't know the circumstances cut people some slack.

Our way of life and our cultural norms are different from the continent (climate has an effect). In the U.K. I don't think complaining about a baby crying in a restaurant on a Friday evening makes you a po faced keyboard nob; as I said if I had been the OP I'd have complained then and there in person.
I think it is entitled and selfish to sit in an adult space (which in this country Friday evening in a restaurant is) with your baby crying and disturbing everyone else. I don't have a problem with the baby being there but the parents are wrong to let it cry and disturb other customers.

Evil but that's not the point is it? This baby wasn't asleep or appeased by feeding. He/she was screaming at the top of its lungs while parents continued eating.
FWIW, friends and I were sympathetic which is why we didn't complain.