Baby Led Weaning & Eating Out

This evening we decided we would head out for a bite to eat to a local restaurant.

It's always a funny time of day, tea time. Both Daniel and Emma are getting tired - Daniel rarely naps in the day now, and it can be quite hard to keep them both engaged at the dinner table. But, we decided to brave it and head to a local Italian restaurant that we have been to a fair few times, so we know they are super family friendly but also that service is prompt and that we wouldn't have to wait an age between courses.

Daniel was a bit restless before we left the house, he had been playing outside and didn't understand why all of a sudden we were heading out. But, thankfully we were able to distract him enough and he was fairly content to stay in his seat.

I had taken a sticker book with me, to work on with Daniel but he wasn't interested. Emma has, yesterday, learnt to clap so we were talking to Daniel about how Emma was clapping so that passed a bit of time - he is ever more fascinated by her as she becomes more and more interactive and fun!


We shared a garlic bread which Daniel loves and we had ordered him and Emma a pasta to share. I had pizza and Damian had calzone. Usually Daniel wants whatever everybody else is eating and shows little interest in his own, but the promise of being allowed some cheese on it made him quite excited for his meal!

He wolfed down a fair bit of pasta and was completely disinterested in the pizza I shared with him. Emma had a good go at the food we gave her too.

We followed so called 'Baby led weaning' (BLW) with Daniel and it's interesting to see the marked difference between him and Emma - Emma is far more engaged with food than Daniel was at the same age, and her co-ordination is pretty good. She gags more frequently than Daniel ever did, but I know that it all part of the process. Food has got through Emma's system much much quicker than it did with Daniel.

One of the problems with BLW is that food often ends up all over the floor. Whilst most places will clean up, I don't think it's fair for them to be clearing up half chewed food from the floor, so I always take a stack of baby wipes or napkins. To be fair, Emma was pretty clean today and it only took me a minute or two to clean the floor up and wipe down Daniel's chair.

I was surprised that Daniel ate as much as he did, but then the food is always good at The Italian. What I love about this restaurant is that they take the time to remember their customers, but without being overbearing. We held both Daniel and Emma's baptism 'parties' at the restaurant (I say party as they were very low key affairs with just family invited to the service and for a meal) and Alex who served us remembered Daniel's name (no doubt helped by my use of twitter!) which managed to surprised Daniel into silence! It's the kind of restaurant which is friendly without being over the top.

It's Daniel's second birthday next month and we don't intend to have a party (not least because we are having a the house re-roofed and it might not be finished by the time his birthday comes so the house will be in scaffolding). We might, instead take a trip to The Italian.