Question about baby wearing and restaurants

[SnuggleBuggles]

I am thinking of skipping the infant carrier/ car seat and just using our Roundabout from the get go (provided baby is the right size for it) and just using a sling or carrier for baby. I figure this can work for errands and such but what about at restaurants?

I will not wear my baby if I am eating or drinking something hot so I am not sure what the practical solution is? We are big restaurant eaters and not all of them are big enough to easily accomodate a stroller. Should I keep the infant car seat/ carrier in the trunk for these occaisions? What have other moms done?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Beth
ds
and maybe TTC

[Momof3Labs]

I often wore DS2 in a KKAFP while eating. I just draped a napkin or receiving blanket over his head (he liked T2T carry). Nothing I ate was really that hot anyways, and I'm not into hot drinks, so I wasn't too worried about his safety. He did occasionally get a drop of something on his head or outfit when I was too lazy to cover him up, but oh well!

[lenad]

We skipped the infant carseat, and if you BW I think that's just fine.

As for restaurants, though we went rarely, BWing DD over meal did not work, b/c I couldn't really sit normally upright while dd was on the front, I had to lean back. So not sure how well that works in general (clearly it does/did for pp).

We first went to a nice restaurant when dd was 5mo old. The main problem wasn't lack of room for a stroller, but a lack of changing table in the restroom. I have since been in a number of restaurants without a changing table. In that case, you can either change the baby inside a stroller (should you have it), or improvise and change your DC on your lap. I did the lap things several times. No fun, but it does work in a cinch.

[TereasaT]

Personally, I liked the infant carseat for times like that. We are big restaurant eaters, too, so the convenience is really nice. I'm short, 5'2" so it was extremely difficult to eat and wear DS2 at the same time. We also liked booths for those restaurants that have them since DS1 was 3 yo. I also do eat hot foods so it was just safer. It could be done, but if DS2 was sleeping anyways, it was very nice to have that option.

It sounds like you already have an infant carseat so why couldn't you just use that until your DS outgrows it and then move to the Roundabout. That way depending on the situation you can decide whether to leave the baby in the seat or not.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Thanks for all the replies!

And thank you for the good solution- use the infant car seat in the car so I have the option to take it in or not. Since I own it and it is still safe there was no reason not to use it. If I were a first time mom to be I may skip the infant car seat though. Don't need to worry about that.

Cool. SOunds like I am set for now. I'll be back if we do TTC so I can figure out what to buy. :)

Beth

[samantha546]

How about something like the Bumbo if your baby is big enough? That's what we did when dd was younger. But we just hauled the infant carseat in if she wasn't in our carrier. That was one good thing the carseat was really good for ;)