Items to Order at Restaurants or 9 Month Old Babies?

Updated on December 24, 2010
L.G. asks from Oakland, CA
11 answers

Hi moms,

When you go out, what do you order for your babies? To date, we have just brought their bottles with us, but now we are thinking that simple menu items may work for our girls. Miso soup at a Japanese restaurant? Can they dilute it so it isn't too salty? What about at a Chinese restaurant? Is a restaurant willing to give you an order of the steamed buns that they serve with Peking duck? Mexican? Italian? Continental? Just bread or do you ask for some steamed veggies? Any ideas of what restaurants have provided to you and your kids, any cuisines, and any restaurant recommendations are appreciated (We live in East Bay but I'm sure others are interested in different locations). Thanks!

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So What Happened?

Thanks everyone for these creative ideas. As we transition from bottles and baby food, I've been trying to figure out what would work for my girls. Figuring out all the issues with solid foods has been more challenging than I expected. Your advice will help me when we are out and about!

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C.F.

answers from San Francisco on

10 months old... I would say watered down miso soup is fine. When my daughter was that little I usually went with steamed rice and steamed veggies, the simpler the better. Most places will help you out. Mexican whole beans & rice. Indian I used to order her rice & peas w/o sauce. Good luck! C.

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T.G.

answers from San Francisco on

L.,
We used to bring our own finger foods for our son. Cheerios were good or even a jar of baby food, and we would just feed him at the table while we were eating. If that is not an option, then we would order a side of rice, veggies(plain), noodles, basically anything he would eat. Most restaurants are very accomodating.

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E.C.

answers from San Francisco on

Agree with the others, at 9mos they aren't going to be eating enough to really need their own order of something. I'd usually bring along things like rice cakes, yogurt cups, or applesauce cups to go along with sharing bits of what we were eating. Things like steamed tofu or bits of fish fillets at Chinese restaurants, bits of tortillas, beans, and rice at Mexican places, bits of pasta and bread at italian places.

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M.F.

answers from San Francisco on

I wouldn't order them their own meals quite yet. Restaurant portions are so large that my husband and I would share portions of our meals. Eating out is expensive enough without adding on two extra plates. At that age I would pack pureed vegies for their main course and let them try things such as black beans or spainish rice when we were out at a mexican restaurant, small pieces of pancake, and oatmeal when we went out to breakfast. Other ideas might be small soft pasta or risotto at Italian restaurants or mashed potatoes, little bits of baked potato, and polenta at places that serve comfort food. Soups can be great too depending on the consistancy and temp. Enjoy eating out with your little ones!

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N.D.

answers from San Francisco on

When they get a little older, my daughter loves the ravioli's at Tomitina's restaurant (in Dublin and Walnut Creek). The order is so big though that it usually makes dinner the next night too - maybe with twins they can split it! Also we go out to breakfast a lot because we are up early and home early these days. At breakfast what works best is one plain scrambled egg. She loves it, and it is really inexpensive. Other than those two things, she usually won't eat enough of any plate to order her own. So we still just share from our plates.

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C.J.

answers from San Francisco on

Bring your own tried and true finger food or baby food and let them experiment with the flavors and textures of the foods that you are ordering.

I used to carry a food mill and grind up a little of what I was eating. My girls were adventurous eaters from a very young age (until they hit 3 when suddenly everything had to be white and bland for a year or two), and their dad is a chef so we ate out ALOT.

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J.L.

answers from San Francisco on

Depends on what your babies likes. My son loved pinto beans and avocados at that age so we ate at Mexican places a lot; but I had to bring my own rice porridge b/c he wasn't so good with lumpy food at that age. At a Japanese restaurants I fed him avocado and bits of grilled fish but not raw and again brought my own rice porridge. It's probably best to just go out where you want and bring all his food for them; you can let them try bits of food off your plate to try new things on them without having to cook a whole meal, but your dinner will be a lot more peaceful is you know you have stuff for them to eat. It really won't be long before they'll be eating regular foods with you!

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H.A.

answers from San Francisco on

Hi there,

I can only make a suggestion for Italian restaurants. I'm actually living in Rome, Italy, and here babies eat "pasta in bianco" at restaurants. It's just plain pasta with olive oil on top! Our daughter ate it when she was 11 months old or so, and she loved it even though here it's cooked "al dente" (kind of under cooked by American standards). If your daughters are eating dairy then sprinkle some parmigiano on top.

I agree with what other mothers wrote, steamed veggies or bits of what you are having. But I'd also bring snacks or an emergency jar just in case they don't want to have what you are having.

Buon appetito!

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L.P.

answers from San Francisco on

Just give them a little bit of what you are ordering. You don't have to order them something special, plus you might be wasting money as they may not like what you ordered special for them. I share my chicken (cut it up real small), pasta, steamed vegetables. I also would bring a little something they like in little tupperwares to feed them while out so you don't have to totally rely on the restaurant food.

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G.R.

answers from San Francisco on

Our 9 1/2 month old daughter has just started transitioning from mush into more finger foods, and when that happens, restaurants get a lot easier, because you can just dice up some of what you're eating and give it to the baby. Even when you're still in the mush phase, there are things you can find/

Breakfast/brunch is easiest: yogurt and some fresh fruit which you can cut into tiny pieces or mash into the yogurt.

At Italian places, we've done well with a lump of ricotta cheese and some steamed or grilled veggies. Chinese restaurants and will usually give you some steamed veggies as well. The toughest for us have been Indian, Thai, Mexican and other places where they use lots of spicy sauces, but even there you can usually find something, even if it's just some cucumber yogurt sauce with rice or a few chunks of cheese and a tortilla. We also keep a container of Cheerios with us for emergencies.

I hope that helps!

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Z.R.

answers from San Francisco on

Avocado! My pediatrican told me it might just be the "perfect baby food." Almost every type of restaurant carries it. Japanese restaurants are also happy to give a miso cup with lost of tofu cubes. Tempura veggies are good to gnaw on.

For breakfast, an egg yold(our pediatrician told us no egg whites until after age 12 months) and avocado(though she did not seem concerned about the amount of egg whites in baked goods). Pancakes are messy and fun!

When ours was that young, we often brought our own stuff. One of our favorites still is what my toddler calls a "Squishy." These awesome, though a bit pricey pouches that oarents can spoonfeed younger babies or toddlers & kids can suck out the fruit/veggie puree, themselves, after parents hold on to the cap. Some brands I've tried are Ella's Organic Kitchen, Plum Organics, Trader Joes Apple Carrot Sauce pouches(they also have just apple). It's a good way to introduce fruits & veggies, no refridgeration needed, unless you have leftovers, the fit nicely into a purse and my daughter loves the independence of it. I made all of her food until she was about 14 months and suddenly got way more independent that skilled with a spoon. The result was, she would not let me feed her and she ended up wearing most of what she was supposed to eat. Then, I found out about these little pouches from a fried and we've been hooked ever since!

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