Infant in restaurants.....where to sit?

Anonymous
We are headed on vacation with a 5 month old. Almost every meal is going to be eaten in a restaurant. These restaurants are small and will not allow us to bring in a stroller and we do not have a bucket car seat to take in with us. Our daughter eats solids but she is not sitting up fully by herself yet so we cannot put her in those wooden highchairs that every restaurant has.

So, what do you do? I do not want to hold her on my lap while I eat and then feed her there as well. I also can not bring my own highchair or any other bulky equipment.
Anonymous
uhhh you pretty much vetoed all the options!
Anonymous
No offense, but this post is setting every poster up for failure: you don't have a bucket car seat, can't bring a stroller, won't bring a high chair/booster, baby is too little to sit in the resturant high chair and you dont want the baby in your lap. WHat do you expect us to do - have some magic equipment that no one's ever heard of and send you a link to buy it at target?


good luck - i hope the rest of your trip isn't set up like this, where you seem to have decided that things just won't work
Anonymous
Make her levitate. What do you want from us, you shot down literally every possibility. Buy a Bumbo when you get there, keep it in the car, and set it in the booth next to you so she can sit in while you eat. That's about the only solution.
Anonymous
My partner and I just trade off holding. It's really not bad, one person holds and talks while the other eats.
Anonymous
http://www.spoonsisters.com/product/1001000/68301.html

Spoon Sisters website has a foldable travel seat that I love. This won't work for you now since your baby does not sit yet, but maybe something to consider for future travels!
Anonymous
Trade off, pick different restaurants or get takeout.
Anonymous
Hmm, there's something called the Tie Chair that's designed for babies who can sit...it's been awhile since I've had a 5-month-old; could you use this with her as long as she's in a chair tall enough to support her back and head?
Anonymous
OP here- wow, some of you are really snarky.

We do not own a bucket seat and the no strollers is a restaurant rule. It is a legitimate issue....although perhaps not one that people deal with often.

Thank you to the bumbo poster- that is a great idea. Not very bulky- I bet I could fit it under my stroller.
Anonymous
Eddie Bauer makes a portable high chair that may work for you. It folds down to about 10 x 10 x 4 or so inches and is not very heavy. We found ours at Buy Buy Baby.
Anonymous
You can get a Baby Bjorn. My wife and I each had one of our twins in Baby Bjorns for Thanksgiving. We wore the kids and were still able to eat above them (although I did drip a couple of drips of wine on my twin ).

If you don't want to wear your child, then I suggest that you go to Walmart, BRU, Target or your favorite store and buy either a bouncy seat or a bucket car seat to take with you for your child to sit in. As other PPs have mentioned, you've ruled out most of the common options. I think you're going to have to just buy one of the standard options or compromise on taking turns holding the baby.

You can probably find an inexpensive (about $50-60) car seat, use it and then if don't have anyplace to leave it, donate it to the local hospital's NICU department. Many NICU's have car seat loaners that they lend out to people who don't have a car seat to take their baby home with.
Anonymous
http://www.giggle.com/Phil-Teds-Metoo-Portable-Highchair/18319,default,pd.html?dwvar_18319_color=BA&start=12&cgid=nursing-feeding-highchairs

We use this. It is basically collapsible and fits in DD's diaper bag. It attaches easily to most tables. I also second the idea about the fabric thing that attaches to chairs.

Either of these options is more portable than a Bumbo seat.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:http://www.giggle.com/Phil-Teds-Metoo-Portable-Highchair/18319,default,pd.html?dwvar_18319_color=BA&start=12&cgid=nursing-feeding-highchairs

We use this. It is basically collapsible and fits in DD's diaper bag. It attaches easily to most tables. I also second the idea about the fabric thing that attaches to chairs.

Either of these options is more portable than a Bumbo seat.


we love the Phil and Ted seat. I would totally recommend it if the child oculd sit fully inassisted, but if the kid can't sit on their own it is not going to work unless you put a lot of blankets/padding around it.

Anonymous
Try bolstering the wooden highchairs with one of those shopping carts seat pads:

http://www.amazon.com/Leachco-Prop-Shopper-Shopping-Cover/dp/B000F1O8JI/ref=sr_1_4?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1323891088&sr=1-4


Or even a bunch of blankets. That's what we did for DS around that time, and it worked just fine. For the shopping cart covers, there's also the plus that many have built in toys for entertaining while you eat.
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