Staying in a hotel with a baby - evenings

[Daffodil2018]

What do you do in the evenings when you're staying in a hotel with your baby? DD is 8 months and we're away for three nights. She's in a travel cot in our (smallish) room.

DH thinks we should wait until she's down then stick the baby monitor on and eat in the restaurant (literally next door to our room). I think room service but this obviously involves eating v quietly and in the near-dark. At the moment DH is trying to get DD to sleep while I eat on my own in the bar so not ideal (well ... pretty good for me! I have wine).

How shall we handle it tomorrow and Sunday?

Thanks all for the advice. We ended up doing a different thing each night.

On the second night we tried the pushchair but she wouldn't sleep in it and got hysterical from over tiredness just as our food arrived. So I had to take my soup and salad back to the room. We ended up both hanging out in a dark room in silence for much of the evening before going to bed at 9.30.

The third night was much more successful. Did bedtime as usual then we had dinner next door with the baby monitor on. She didn't stir at all so we had a lovely meal.

I don't think I'd want to do it if I was any distance from the restaurant but being so close it felt safe.

It's definitely a whole new ball game staying away with a baby!

Video baby monitor app more recently for the younger ones - with the iPad transmitting from a high place in the room to an iPhone on the table with us and a hotel where the rooms are only a step away from the restaurant. Since we no longer use a monitor at home this actually gives us a much better idea of what is happening than when we are at home.

Eldest generally slept better in the buggy than anywhere else, but rooms with balconies came into their own for a few years. Did also stay once in a 10-room hotel where 4 rooms were upstairs next to the bar and all occupied by my family, so there we used baby monitors on the grounds it was safer than home.