Would you take a 9 month old baby to the Royal Academy in London?

[TheBightyMoosh]

ie how baby friendly is it and is it full of stuffed shirts who will look down their noses at me if my baby starts to cry?

What are the best baby friendly galleries / museums in London?

Thanks

Easier question would be which ones aren't baby friendly actually - they're all easy to negotiate with buggies, have cafés to stop off in, helpful staff, so on.

I suppose late night openings are probably more aimed at the childfree, so you might just feel unwelcome then ... but I doubt it even then. We've taken ours (now 9 and 8) to everything since they were tiny and I can't ever remember anyone even subtly vibing unwelcomeness at us. It can be slightly trickier with a toddler because you have to do lots more "Don't touch" "Be careful of the lady" supervising - but a baby in a buggy (or a backpack? dh used to do his gallerying with a backpack - children adored it because they could SEE so well), no problem.

Just one thing - I'd check the content of what you're going to see. Obviously your baby isn't going to register "adult content" or anything (!) but I do remember getting some quizzical looks having very small children in certain bits of the Saatchi collection (Chapman brothers' things eg)

Went to the Royal Academy on Monday - it's reasonably accessible but probably mainly due to the need for disabled access. The cafe and restaurant are very good, lovely food, etc but there isn't much in the way of baby changing and the main issue is that generally the clientele, if that's the right word, are probably the most child unfriendly I've ever come across.

One woman in the restaurant glared at my surprisingly well behaved dcs and there was a general feeling of 'children should be seen and not heard' and preferably not seen either. I wouldn't like to say what the reaction would have been if I'd been bfing - along the lines of the Little Britain vomiting WI ladies, I fear. The staff on the other hand are fine. On a positive, at least a 9mo is contained in a buggy and more controllable than my dcs of 2 and 4. Depends how thick skinned you are, if a full scale crying session starts.

I'm used to the more laid back Tate and all the other museums like Natural History and Science Museum which welcome families and where pretty much anything goes.

Thanks all for great advice as usual.

I suppose I should make the most of my pre-toddler days, and enjoy these things while I can, without having to run round after her, shouting 'Don't touch that!!'

If I can get the timing right with naps and feeds, we might just about be ok.

Absolutely Moosh. Start from the premise of "what art do I want to see" and take it from there. The snotty types onceinalifetime registered can fuck off. It is our solemn duty as mothers to take our children to these sorts of places so other people get used to it. Everyone always bangs on about community groups excluded from the arts, and I don't see why mothers should be top of the list.

With specific reference to the RA:

You might like to take a sling so your LO can see what is going on; then they will be the belle of the gallery. The RA brigade all have grandkids and love a baby, if not toddlers (ahem). They all stopped to play peekaboo with DD when I took her earlier this year. Luckily, although she was in the habit of projectile vomiting, DD managed to control herself as I leaned in to take closer looks at priceless Cranachs. I would have felt less welcome with a buggy as the RA can be really crowded and the queue for the exciting glass lift is always a bit long.

I prefer a local Eat on Piccadilly to the RA's cafe. Personally. Cheaper and more room.

Onceinalifetime is right, the Tate is more laid back and particularly welcoming about me bf for hours and hours in their information suite.

Thanks for all your comments. We went yesterday and had a great time. Wish I'd listened to wobblegong's tip about the sling though - took her in the pushchair which was a bit of a nightmare - she hated it for a start, and it was so busy we couldn't actually get to see any of the cases. So I took her out - parked up the pushchair in whatever space I could find as soon as I entered each gallery, and just held her most of the time. She loved looking at all the people, and like wobblegong said, the lovely old dears (and young dears) were enchanted!

So glad I braved it though - I think we've still got a few safe months to take her round things like that before she becomes an active toddler.

Tate Modern next stop!!

I live in central London and find most of the museums and galleries are fine, used to be a friend of the RA and took the children into their Friends' Room all the time, no-one batted an eyelid. I have even breastfed in front of the Haywain in the National Gallery! . Absolutely the worst though, especially if you have a buggy, is the Tate Modern, the lifts are a nightmare, very slow and always packed with people who could quite reasonably walk or take the escalators - usually foreign teenage students . The cafes are awful too.
Had a little snigger to myself at Bink's comment about "adult" content - we took the DCs to the Tate Modern a while back and ended up all practically wetting ourselves in hysterics at the Gilbert and George exhibition. There were several huge pictures of men with their pants down showing their bums which the DCs thought were hilarious. DH and I tried to resist but we were all soon in tears from laughing so much and attracted a lot of frowns from those trying to appreciate the art in a more serious manner