restaurants

[kay06072021]

Hi everyone. My little boy is due on the 6th of July, and we have a very special birthday to celebrate on the 24th of July. We are going out for a meal at a family friendly restaurant. I feel like I won’t be ready to leave the baby by then, and I also don’t want to miss this celebration.

anyway, i’m rambling... my question is, do you think it will be okay to take a newborn to a restaurant? has anyone got any tips/stories to share? i’m a first time mum so this is all new to me! thank you :)

Your baby may not arrive until 20th July, for me I was still in hospital at this point. Either your lady bits will be very sore or you may have had major abdominal surgery. You may not feel up to going out or you maybe fine. Are you planning on breast feeding?

Can you bring the celebration early?

I definitely went out within 2 weeks of having DS. Only for a shortish brunch though. If you are able to go, I would have a very low threshold for leaving early.

Yes, you can go out and you can take your newborn with you pretty much anywhere you want to go. At a few weeks old they're just sleeping most of the time anyway.

We or so are completely portable. It's totally about whether you'll be up to it or not.
He won't necessarily arrive on his due date

Newborns, not we or so! Jesus!

I went out for dinner on Day 5... Same day we got out of hospital. I went a bit stir crazy in hospital and just wanted to see people.
I knew I could take the pram in, and there were quiet spots for Breastfeeding.

Normal busy restaurant would be trickier. Might work with a sling.

Sorry - you'd asked for tips:

1. you might not feel like going out and that's fine. Or you might want to go out and that's also fine. No one expects a mum to leave her newborn if they don't want to, and I'm struggling to think of a place where it would be inappropriate to take a newborn. Building site? But restaurant definitely ok.

2. a baby that's just a few weeks old will probably be quiet and sleeping most of the day/night. It might not feel like it sometimes, but they don't make a great deal of noise unless there's an issue (colic or something) so tiny babies rarely make a nuisance of themselves. Take something for the baby to sleep in which you can put next to you - pram?

3. they might make a bit of noise if they get hungry, which is typically as soon as your plate of hot food is put infront of you. But think about feeding. 2/3 weeks isn't a very long time to get feeding established. If your bottle feeding, you'll need to be planning how to make milk out of the house. If you're breastfeeding, you might want to think about what you'll be needing to feed comfortably. If you wanted to get your boobs out on the table for that, it wouldn't bother me, and I'd think good on you! But I definitely wasn't that confident in the early days. When my first was 2 weeks old I went into the car to feed. Then I moved in to using a feeding blanket type thing, so I could make sure I could cover up as much as I wanted.

I think you would be fine. I went to a family pub lunch with my 3 day old DD and you will get plenty of offers to hold the baby so you can eat. Newborns are far easier to contain than a cranky toddler!

The baby will be fine, but you may not be up to it. With my 2nd I was running around doing appointments to sort out my immigration application at 10 days and eating out in restaurants. With my first, I wasn’t regularly managing to brush my teeth at that stage!

I would also enlist your partner in being there to push baby around outside so you can enjoy your lunch.

See how you get on with the birth before setting your heart on it. My baby was 11 days late and then was an emergency section and recovery was rough so I didn’t get anywhere further than the end of our street in the first week.
Providing all goes to plan though, I think you’ll be ok. Just take the pram so you’ve somewhere to lay him.

Another baby that was 11 days late here. However, at 5 days old my mum and I went out to M&S cafe for lunch. In the town I live in, the restaurants have all signed up to a breastfeeding scheme which means they advertise where they happily support breastfeeding. I had checked out the places before hand to make sure that I didn't have to worry about breastfeeding complaints (there were lots of stories in the news at the time). While we were in the cafe, my DS slept, filled his nappy, fed and was very good. However, I would have found it stressful if he was crying and probably wouldn't have been able to relax.

If you feel recovered enough then it is fine to try. Take the pram and make sure there is room to put it right at or by the table so you have somewhere to put the baby down. Slings are good but I always dropped food on the baby! You might want to take a big scarf if you are breastfeeding and it is still a bit tricky to get the baby latched on. You won't need it when you are confident but in the early days it might prevent the whole restaurant seeing your nipples!

I’d be aware that you might not feel physically up to it but in terms of taking the baby newborns are the easiest ones to take to restaurants. Be prepared to feed or cuddle while you eat and if baby is really unsettled take them out. Just be aware though that if you let baby be passed around everyone they may be more unsettled that night so personally I’d limit that.