Ordering from kid's menu??

Soon2bkarki · March 2012

Hey all,

I'm popping in from the 9-12 mo board since DS will be 1 on Sunday. (Aaaahh!!) I'm curious if you can shed some light on something: When taking LO out to a restaurant, at what point should you start ordering off the children's menu? DS eats most everything now- so do I need to order something off their menu or share my meal with DS or can I still bring in my own "baby" food event though it's finger food??

I'd prefer to bring in my own food, not due to the cost of ordering a kid's meal & not because I don't want to share, but because I've been making all his food thus far and I'd prefer to know how his food is prepared.

I'm guessing there's no set rule as to when you need to order a child's meal off a menu (although maybe there is??) so I thought about going by the crayons-- DS still puts crayons in his mouth and doesn't scribble or color at all. Since most kid's menus come with an activity sheet and crayons, I was thinking maybe I don't need to order anything until he actually grasps the concept of using crayons. Is that ridiculous??

Anyway, any insight you can offer is greatly appreciated.

TIA!

aforst · March 2012

I don't think there is a rule for when you have to order off the kids menu. If you want to bring his food, bring it. Sometimes we order off the menu for DS2, usually only if it's a "kids eat free" day b/c we're cheap. Most of the time he shares w/ us or DS1.

sdpookie13 · March 2012

I think you're the best judge on what & how much your child will eat. So when you think they can eat a lot of what's offered on the kids menu then I'd order from there or you could just order yourself a larger portion and share. We usually do a kids meal for dinner but order larger plates if we're out for breakfast and share with her.

Smootchy · March 2012

Do whatever you'd like. If bringing food is easier/cheaper then by all means.

Often when we go out to a resturant it's because we haven't been home to eat/get food. I order DS food off kids meal or share my food. Most often I just get him chicken noodle soup and he loves that and crackers. (I don't give him the broth, just sorta scoop out noodles and veggies put on plate/bowl and let him eat)

If we are with other kids (DS's cousin, they can share a meal. Hot dog or chicken nuggets etc)

PerfectTogether1731 · March 2012

I'm a restaurant manager, and it is totally okay for a mother to bring her baby's food in, especially that young. Let's face it, he probably won't be able to sit still and wait for the food, anyway! Actually, it's almost stranger for a less then one year old to order his own meal :-P DD is 20 months, and she usually shares all of our meals when we go out.

Ardmhs83 · March 2012

I normally bring his food and milk b/c I know how it was prepared. He does share some of our stuff too, but as of right now I feel he is still too young to order his own meal. It would be a waste of money. We have done it before and he barely ate it. So we are waiting a bit longer now.

3003girl · March 2012

I think you are thinking too much.

If you want to bring food for your LO, just do it. I don't think there is a problem with that until they are much older. Esp. for health reasons = ie you don't want to give them fried food, dairy allergy (almost all kids menu items have dairy) or whatever.

We either share food, she eats some snacks from our stash, or she sometimes gets a pizza with no cheese or apple slices, or another side from the menu. She can't have diary.

BeetleLinz1125 · March 2012

I will usually just either let her take something off of my plate or order her a side of something - usually the veggies. I don't think she's ready for a full-blown kids meal, but she's starting to get a pretty big appetite, so I know its going to come sooner or later!

hterry85 · March 2012

It really depends on the place as far as what they serve ad the size of the portions. Sometimes DD and SS share a kids meal and we get an extra side, or if we only have DD and the adult portions are large we just give her some of ours. When DD was younger we ususally just got a side for her, like fruit, veggies, or cattage cheese or something.

ksyknelvr73 · March 2012

We do a little of both...depending on where we go. There are some places where the kids menu just doesn't have enough variety or something I know he would eat easily, and in that case we bring food from home. But there are quite a few places that have things that he likes. Plus, there are a lot of restaurants that have certain days where kids eat free so we try to do that as well.

Soon2bkarki · March 2012

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the input!

superned · March 2012

I agree that you're probably over-thinking this.

We did BLW with DD, so we never did purees at all and I have never brought food for her to a restaurant. At first we just made sure that one of us ordered something that we could share with her. NBD.

We don't really eat at a lot of places that have kids' menus, so we generally continue to share with her and will often order a (healthy) appetizer to fill in our meals in case she eats a lot. : )

I get what you're saying about wanting to know what he's eating, but I guess my response would be - don't you want to know what you're eating too? If the food is that suspect/unhealthy for my child, then I probably don't want to eat it either.

But, when it comes to food, I think some "bad" food is fine every once in a while. (DD is a pretty healthy eater, but she'd do anything for french fries or chocolate.)

MamaNikita · March 2012

i find that most of the "kids menu" items are rarely healthy. we usually order him his own adult meal and take the leftovers. we got a crazy look from the waiter at IHOP when we ordered DS a veggie omelet, but it was a lot more healthy than the chocolate chip pancakes with a smiley face on them. we also, if going for breakfast, will almost always bring some yogurt to feed him til his main gets there. for dinner, we usually tide him over with bread.

MamatoA2010 · March 2012

I'll share some tricks of the trade with you: DD is 2 years and 2 months old now and when we dine out I bring along snacks, stickers and crayons to keep her busy before the main meal arrives. She usually will eat macaroni and cheese and thats about it. She won't eat grilled cheese, chicken fingers, etc. Gerber Graduates Little Crunchies, fruit and veggies keep her busy until the meal arrives (that and crayons and paper to color on). GL!

ANJ410 · March 2012

I am not a fan of kid's menus because they usually consist of a lot of fried, cheap food. As soon as my kids were off of pureed baby food, which was around 9/10 months old each, I just gave them some of what I was eating whenever we went out. Obviously, I made it a point to order something healthy and that I knew they could chew, like pasta or chicken. I have always tried to encourage my kids to try new things and develop tastes for a variety of foods, including seasonings and sauces.

Even now that they are older, I usually order them an adult entree and whatever they don't eat, we just wrap up and take home.

laurapalmer · March 2012

Just keep bringing food or sharing yours if that's what works best for you. I don't plan to order DS his own meal until he's old. Like maybe high school. He'll just share with us. I don't worry about what the restaurant thinks because we tip really well. Edited.

Ordering from kid's menu??

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