15 month old and eating out

[SuperDuperTrooper]

I found myself in the situation at the weekend where we we home late from a day out and my ds's dinner time was pushing later and later. Still had to get home and cook. The thought crossed my mind to pop into somewhere like pizza express on the way back but was worried about whether the kids menus in restaurants were for intended for such a young child e.g too much sugar and salt etc. Just wondering what others think about this and if you ever have done it?

Thanks

It's fine now and again for a 15 month old. At that age ours just used to have a bit of ours.

We just give our 18mo bits of our food when we eat out.

Yes at 15 mo would be ok. Pizza express have pasta dishes. You could ask for plain pasta or something suited to young ones - I do.

Pizza express so a great kids menu. I took my 12month old there last week as he was starving during a shopping trick and raisins just weren't satisfying him!

I wouldn't do this every day but now and again is ok.

DS is 11mo and I've never worried about the salt or sugar content in meals when we go out or at home - IMO in the context of a balanced diet overall, the occasional meal out isn't going to do any harm.

Take our DD to pizza express / Strada etc a fair bit. We usually just give her some of our mains rather than get something special for her.

That's really helpful everyone. I did think that it surely wouldn't matter if it was just once in awhile but was torn so didn't go.

Its just that my DS has quite an appetite so whatever he eats he eats a lot of. I was worried about bombarding his system with salt and sugar that he's just not used to. Adult meals in restaurants are often full of salt and sugar. If I knew the kids meals were made with reduced salt/sugar then I wouldn't have thought twice about going.

Perhaps I'm worrying too much - as always! ;)

We do this lots and I usually ask the chef for a bit of avocado - they're usually happy to oblige - then DS can have bits of our salty deliciousness meal as well

Have you never eaten out with her?

Sorry him

We have taken him out a number of times but have taken always prepared his food at home and taken that for him to eat.

You're massively over thinking this, really, he can eat whtever an adult would with the exception of constant Salty food but that's not good for anyone!

Well I suppose that's why I asked the question in the first place. I had a feeling I might be making something out of nothing but us first time mums can be rather clueless!

We've eaten out with dd every now and again since she was weaned at 6months. We blw so she always just has some of ours. We do make an effort to order something reasonably healthy but as long as the rest of her diet is good I really don't think the occasional salty/sugary meal is a problem.

My dd has ate out since the age of 6/7 months both in the Uk and abroad , she is now 2, she has always been happy sharing mine, dp's and who ever is out with us at the time. I like to see her eating out at different restaurants a good opportunity for her to try new foods. Don't worry bout it at all super trouper and if there isn't anything on the menu your ds will eat, a few chips and bread won't do him any harm on rare occasions!!

That's fine if it's only now and again. DS is 22mo and we either give him stuff from our plates (ask for a small plate, they usually don't mind, or otherwise just put it on the tray/table in front - until recently we couldn't trust DS with a plate) depending on the portion sizes (places like Pizza Hut, carvery etc where you get plenty) or we order from the kids' menu.

I just let DD eat mostly anything I eat,. I'm not into too salty foods so I guess she's okay with that though I don't let her eat, foods that I think has too much coloring, oily, strong taste,acidic and others. I don't let her foods that might be too strong for her toungue, I would rather prefer her to eat tasteless food than those kind of food.

We eat lunch out with our 18mo regularly and have done since he was born really...obviously he only ate from weaning (about 11mo before he ate anything substantial anyway). Pizza express have a decent kids menu and the little pizzas they do are good. It's all fresh stuff and I've never really thought much about salt/sugar content since he turned one tbh. IMO it's a good skill to learn to be in restaurants/eating publicly. Sadly, ds is now at the age where he wants to run around like a loon all the time and will only be restrained in a highchair for as long as it takes for him to have lunch...about 10mins.

Enjoy it while you can!

We have eaten out regularly since DS was little and he has always eaten some of what I have had or his own meal. I tend to look at the balance across a period of time rather than what he eats on any one day anyway.

I have often taken my 2 out,now 2&3,usually for lunch,from a young age.They share a meal from the children's menu usually but at 15 m just had bits of mine as I've always found even children's portions to be on the large side.Wagamama has healthy children's food and is quick!

We've been eating out with our 16 mo DTs since they were 7/8 months old, I have a great photo of them in a fish and chip shop in Devon at 7 months old tucking into cod and chips, and often go out for breakfast on our way to the park on a saturday morning. It's never really crossed my mind to take my own food to a restaurant for them really, as long as you only do it occasionally like once or twice a week I doubt it matters what they eat really