To think this was ridiculous?

[SnakeyCakey]

Went to a cafe yesterday with my friend and my 13 month old baby.

Myself and my friend ordered food and drinks however my son is pretty fussy so he'll only have certain things. Every time we go out I take a small lunch box of the easy things he'll eat, yesterday I took a small wrap, cheese, chicken, some cucumber sticks and a banana.

Anyway, long and short of it is an employee wouldn't allow me to feed my son his packed lunch as they didn't allow people's own food in the cafe.

If we'd all wacked out a picnic I could understand but my friend and I were having food and drink purchased from there. Tried to explain the situation but he was having none of it so we had to quickly eat what we could and leave as my son was getting upset that there was no food for him.

AIBU to think this is complete overkill and to complain?

YABU, I used to work in a pub and people would bring Fruit Shoots in for their kids. It’s the equivalent of me and DH going out and him buying a pint and me opening a can. It’s got to be a blanket rule as pp said, otherwise people take the piss.

There are very few places that can’t/won’t make a cheese sandwich. We always ask for a plate of chicken for our dog, which we pay for. Never been an issue.

YABU, I used to work in a pub and people would bring Fruit Shoots in for their kids. It’s the equivalent of me and DH going out and him buying a pint and me opening a can. It’s got to be a blanket rule as pp said, otherwise people take the piss.

I find this insane tbh. I always take my toddlers sippy cup with water in out with us and give it to him whilst we are waiting for food. Never ever had an issue and wouldn't bat an eyelid at anyone else doing it.

I think any food establishment would be crazy to disapprove of a young child drinking a drink whilst their parents are paying customers. Proper jobsworth material that imo.

YABU, I used to work in a pub and people would bring Fruit Shoots in for their kids. It’s the equivalent of me and DH going out and him buying a pint and me opening a can. It’s got to be a blanket rule as pp said, otherwise people take the piss

Maybe if pubs didn't charge such a greedy fucker taking the piss markup for soft drinks, that wouldn't happen. How much is it for a lime and soda that probably costs them 12p, even with overheads? I bet it's at least £2.

And blanket rules, what utter bollocks. Any business that has the same rules for babies as it does for older children deserves to go bankrupt, and likely will with the cost of living crisis anyway, as people will choose more family friendly places.

There’s a big difference between a sippy cup and a fruit shoot for good ness sake.

There’s a big difference between a sippy cup and a fruit shoot for good ness sake

So if I put my fruit shoot in his sippy cup that's fine? 🤣

Given the fact that you’d ordered food and drinks for you and your friend, I think it’s ok to bring food for your baby. I understand the cafe owner’s perspective, but I don’t think there was much point in him enforcing the rule in this case.

Everything has flavours or sauces or on a fancy bread that he just won't eat. So I just take out a small choice of a few things I know he's eaten before so at least he gets something!

Why couldn't you just ask for something without the sauce?

Perfectly standard in restaurants/cafes to order something off the menu but ask for it to be tweaked to your own requirements.

I'm pretty sure if you'd asked them for just some bits of chicken / cheese / cucumber or whatever they'd have also been happy to oblige.

My point wasn't really about the cup anyway. I always bring a drink from home for my young child in his cup. It could be water, it could be juice, it could be a fruit shoot I'd bought earlier in the day, the fact it's now in a Tommee Tippee instead doesn't change what it is. Why does it matter or more so, why would an establishment bother kicking up such a fuss about something so minor?

oFgS. you have a fussy 1 yr old . You don't take chances.

You pack the snacks ( cos really is it a meal ?) just like you pack the nappies.

You don't want to be finding out that no they don't have this or that. And you definitely DON'T want to be waiting for it.

well You do you but generally sippy cups are for babies age 6 months to a max of two years where fruit shoots aren’t recommended for a child under 3.

but crack on. Not for us to judge.

Okay, nothing to say about my actual point then?

YANBU and I'm surprised by some of the responses here, he's just a baby! In my town most of the cafes are chains and only sell prepackaged sandwiches, paninis etc that are full of salt and sugar etc and wouldn't be suitable for a child of his age. I'd love to take my 11 month old to a lovely friendly cafe that would knock him up a plate of finger food, but sadly that's not an option round here so I take his lunch with me if we're going out. It's never been a problem and I see plenty of other people doing the same thing.

Jesus...I'm embarrassed for your family that you would rather pick another cafe than choose to take a meal of your choosing for your infant child.

Pubs sell fruit shoots and similar. Thats what makes that cheeky. But are supposed to have tap water available. That's the difference.

Sippy cup, drinks bottle, whatever you want to call it. I don't see why an establishment would kick up such a fuss at a young child drinking something, yes even a fruit shoot! that they'd potentially put off paying customers. It's a drink. Many people bring their own kids drinks in bottles or sippy cups or whatever else.

My point was what if my son already had some juice in his bottle? Am I not allowed to give it to him because the pub sells juice. It's silly and not great customer service imo to police such trivial things.

@SnakeyCakey did you ask if they could make a plain sandwich or wrap or cut up some cheese or cucumber?

I've worked in cafes and restaurants where we'd do requests like this for small children or indeed anyone that needed to order something simple off menu.

I think a small snack would probably be overlooked but not a full lunch.

@TheOneWithTheEyeBags if he has juice in his bottle, no would know. If you regularly produce a new fruit shoot or can of drink from your bag during an afternoon in the pub, thats what I meant by cheeky. Which was originally applied in the initial post about pubs.

Anyway, back to food... if I ever open that dream coffee shop, what I once saw referred to as "Toddler Tapas" will definitely be on the menu... basically selected little bowls of cheese, cucumber, fruit, ham, bread etc that they can nibble at.

(Also OP, to give you hope... mine didn't eat any bread or potato products until she was four. But it did improve. Eventually. )

I doubt many Cafe's/Coffee shops would be OK with that where I live, SW London, except for formula milk maybe.

I don't know if that is part of health and safety regs where all food consumed on the premises has to conform to strict standards or it's a management thing, or both.

NBU at all, under 2s still have quite specific diets that I wouldn't expect cafes to cater to, they were being OTT I don't care that it's 'their business, their choice', he was hardly taking up space and deyning a paying customer a seat!

I care for a child on the autistic specrtum, eats a very limited amount of food so I always take him something to eat, and I purchase him a drink and something for myslef. I'd love for someone to tell me anything 😁

There is no such thing as a fussy eater. No one would refuse food if they were starving. This is a case of parents pandering to children’s tantrums.

They don't want chairs or pushchairs taking up space when the occupants are not eating paid-for food. Perfectly normal.

Possibly they might have made an exception if you'd asked, rather than assuming, this would be OK. Asking would at any rate have saved you having to wolf your own food.

Moral of the story - next time, ask first.

I can see this point, but what I can also see is how people have to maybe stretch their budget a wee bit further to be able to afford a sandwich and coffee in a nice coffee shop, so I do think this was a case of the coffee shop owner picking a hill to die on.
If the child was say above the age of 2 then I would totally agree with the owners' PoV.

Lol.

There is no such thing as a fussy eater. No one would refuse food if they were starving. This is a case of parents pandering to children’s tantrums

This is a case of a baby learning to eat food. This process goes on throughout childhood and into adulthood, developing our own likes and dislikes.