Finding good places to eat with little ones can be difficult when traveling. You might even want to consider choosing a drive-in if you’re traveling with a very fussy baby. Or at least pick a noisy restaurant where you won’t be that noticed.
• You can ask any restaurant to fill your thermos with hot water that you can mix with cereal, soup, or just heat up formula along the way (even for breakfast the next day).
• You can also feed your baby first, then take your satisfied child with you to enjoy a meal out. Save good adult times for later when you can leave your child with a sitter.
• If your child is with you, be sensitive about your placement of an infant seat. It can take up a lot of room on a restaurant table, and it can be in the way on the floor. A booth can be your best bet.
• For an older child, let them play with a toy or edible on a high chair tray. Don’t give your baby a metal spoon or fork to bang; it does nothing for other diner’s digestion or their eardrums.
• Wait for food to arrive before putting baby in a high chair and don’t let a walking child circulate. It’s dangerous, and it’s annoying to other diners.
Vicki Lansky’s practical, common sense approach to parenting is familiar to millions throughout the world. Vicki’s first book, Feed Me, I’m Yours, published in 1974, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country, was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her other titles include: Toilet Training, Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8, Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep … and Back to Sleep, Trouble-free Travel with Children, Baby Proofing Basics and Games Babies Play From Birth to Twelve Months, Koko Bear’s New Potty, A New Baby at Koko Bear’s House, Koko Bear and the New Babysitter, and Koko Bear’s Big Earache. Vicki Lansky’s Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath