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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Baby in the cinema???

129 replies

Lalapaluzza · 24/02/2019 11:31

Just that really. DP and I went to the cinema last week. It was The Lego Movie and I fully expected it to be full of children (we were on our own). When we got there I saw a group of three women, five children between I would guess five and ten, and a baby of about nine months. When we got tickets and went into the movie, I noted the whole lot of them, including the baby. I made an effort to sit a good bit away from them as I could see what was coming. For the next two hours the baby had to be entertained, handed over three rows, cried and fussed. At no point was the baby taken out of the very loud movie though there were two other adults who could have watched the other children.

Help me. Is this a thing?? I found it really distracting. Maybe I'm in the wrong, but it seemed really bizarre to me.

OP posts:
InsomniaTho · 24/02/2019 12:35

I started taking my elder DSs to the cinema again when DD was about 9 months old. To the cheap £2.50 Movies for Juniors. They’re popular with parents who have big kids and toddlers/babies as the sound is lower, lights are brighter and nobody gives a crap about baby or toddler noise.

I didn’t take them to recently released films till Toddler was about 18 months. Then she’d sit on my lap and gawp at the screen the whole time.

EwItsAHooman · 24/02/2019 12:35

Crying through the Lego Movie 2 is the most appropriate response to the unutterable pile of steaming horseshit that it is. The baby appears to have been wise beyond its years in its desperate attempts to be removed from audiovisual torture.

The first one was mildly tolerable but oh my god, this second one was torture. Usually when we go to the cinema and the DC need the loo during the film I feel slightly miffed that I'm going to miss some of the film. This time around I was asking them "do you need the toilet? I'll take you..."

CloudyTuesday · 24/02/2019 12:35

Bloody hell I feel old reading some of these replies.

Time was, people were considerate of other people in the cinema and didn't do anything to spoil the experience they'd paid for.

If you can't keep your baby, or kids, quiet enough for everyone around you to enjoy the movie, you leave.

If you think it's a possibility, you don't go in the first place.

It's a movie, not fucking air. Not essential, not an entitlement, not a right. Find something else to do, like most considerate folk already do.

blueskiesovertheforest · 24/02/2019 12:37

EwItsAHooman it really was utter rubbish wasn't it! I quite enjoyed the first one but this one was just nothingness wrapped in blandness. I very nearly dozed off (then people could have complained about the woman snoring in the cinema Blush ).

Bananasarenottheonlyfruit · 24/02/2019 12:38

I nodded off for a bit. Usually I would be sticking pins in myself to stay awake given the cost of going to the cinema. This time, it was a blessed relief to have reduced total pain time.

PrivacyPolicyYeahRight · 24/02/2019 12:39

Yabu. I took my 21 month old to the cinema and a lady a few rows behind before the film started asked me what my baby “was like in the cinema” I think she thought she would be stuck with a screaming baby the whole time, yet she didnt make a sound.

So? The baby in the OP scenario was not like yours!

CloudyTuesday · 24/02/2019 12:41

"Yabu. I took my 21 month old to the cinema and a lady a few rows behind before the film started asked me what my baby “was like in the cinema” I think she thought she would be stuck with a screaming baby the whole time, yet she didnt make a sound."

Perfectly reasonable question surely, as she assessed whether to ask for a refund and leave.

Original poster
Lalapaluzza · 24/02/2019 12:47

I would have had no objection to a quiet baby.

I also loved the movie.

OP posts:
AnneElliott · 24/02/2019 12:58

I agree op - babies shouldn't be in the cinema. We had one in a 12A film the other day - cinema said they "weren't allowed to refuse them as it's the law". Manager was quite put out that I asked exactly which section and Act he was referring to and asked him to prove it was indeed illegal to refuse babies into a 12A.

I'm now looking for cinemas that has sensible policies about excluding babies or a minimum age for a 12A film.

JustTwoMoreSecs · 24/02/2019 13:13

But I think a compromise has to happen for the other kids to have a life too the compromise could be to have one parent mind the baby at home and the other one take the older DC to the cinema. For example. Many other compromises available that don’t involve ruining the movie for other spectators...

VampirinaHauntley · 24/02/2019 13:28

Single parent here. My 2 eldest wanted to see the Lego movie yesterday.
I called the cinema in advance to ask if I could bring 6mo. Answered yes, but must take him out if he is noisy.

I took them at around his nap time. He had his bottle and slept through the rest of it.

So... tbh they should have taken the baby out, but yabu to think that no baby should be allowed in the cinema.

VampirinaHauntley · 24/02/2019 13:30

Just seen your update - no objectio to well behaved baby!

So my post is irrelevant 🤣

SnuggyBuggy · 24/02/2019 13:31

I'm sure I was never taken to normal cinema as a baby. I don't get why parents feel entitled to do so these days

BikeRunSki · 24/02/2019 13:39

I’m picturing the scenario:

6 year old, bit bored, on half term: Mum, can we go and see the Lego Movie 2? Mum; well, we can’t really take the baby, we’ll see if Dad/Grandma can look after her one day...

A few days later, it’s nearly the end of half term, Dad and Grandma havn’t been able to help, and poor frazzled Mum has buckled under pester power.

CloudyTuesday · 24/02/2019 13:42

"I called the cinema in advance to ask if I could bring 6mo. Answered yes, but must take him out if he is noisy."

On the Cineworld website they say 'babes in arms' are welcome at morning/afternoon performances of U, PG or 12A films only and will be asked to leave if disruptive to other customers. Presume other chains similar. Seems a sensible compromise.

I expect problems occur regarding definition of disruptive, how long is acceptable to attempt to resettle before leaving etc.

In OP's case, it was a 7pm showing so baby shouldn't have been there imo, particularly as became disruptive.

CloudyTuesday · 24/02/2019 13:44

"poor frazzled Mum has buckled under pester power."

Yes there are a lot of parents around who can't seem to say no effectively.

user764329056 · 24/02/2019 13:44

Poor little thing, babies are so sensitive to sound, the volume of a film in a cinema was probably really hurting the baby’s ears, bloody irresponsible

IceIceCoffee · 24/02/2019 13:45

I have no objections to quiet babies I couldn’t take my seven month old he’s forever babbling at the top of his lungs

Huntlybyelection · 24/02/2019 13:48

I took my 6 month old baby to the cinema with Me, DH and 4 year old. It was the day after my gran died. I didn't give a shit what anyone else thought tbh.

And in a less specific way, I don't really care if babies are in cinemas when the film is a family film. It's not like small children are quiet or motionless.

Cagliostro · 24/02/2019 13:49

I took DC2 a couple of times when she was tiny as she mostly slept in the sling and when she woke up she only wanted feeding anyway (she wasn’t a colicky or windy baby so didn’t cry much generally).

At 9 months? No way, she was already past the point that boob would reliably settle her, and she was wanting to explore everything so wouldn’t have been happy on my lap if awake.

CloudyTuesday · 24/02/2019 14:03

" I didn't give a shit what anyone else thought tbh."

Course you didn't. There's a lot of it about.

Huntlybyelection · 24/02/2019 14:16

cloudyTuesday the not giving a shit is more to do with the fact that my gran had just died so taking my baby to the cinema wasn't really about anyone else other than me attempting to forget for a few hours how she looked and smelt while she was dying in hospital.

So do smug away with your PA comment. Thanks a lot.

CloudyTuesday · 24/02/2019 14:23

Huntly Yes because** you were the only one in there with a problem, worry or concern yes? Nobody in the world suffering as much as you? I'm sympathetic to your gran passing, just bored of hearing thoughtless people spouting their own unique set of circumstances.

BartonHollow · 24/02/2019 14:31

And as sorry as I am for your loss and as understandable as your choice was that day Thanks that isn't what people are criticising

It's the general attitude of

If my kids make a noise, if they spoil the film for others, but I myself enjoy it and my kids are happy then I don't give a shit

That is literally starting to seep in to all areas of British life that is annoying people

If my kids have a nice time at the park and are off my case but they picked on another child and made them cry. I don't give a shit.

If my kid cheeked a teacher, well they probably deserved it and I don't give a shit

My child is annoying other patrons in a coffee shop, but I'm getting the chance to have a conversation so I don't give a shit

It's an epidemic at the moment

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 24/02/2019 14:35

I don’t think a baby should be in a standard movie showing - but for their sake, it’s far too noisy imo - however I wouldn’t be angry at a baby in a kids film during half term....kids getting up and down, talking, moaning for more popcorn can be far more annoying than a crying baby.