Thinking About Going Out to Dinner with a Colicky Baby?

It's not really the best idea. When my son D was 5 months old, we went to a retirement party for one of my husband's professors at a local Olive Garden.

It was the first time we went out to eat after D was born. We brought the gas medicine, and I think we even gave him some just before going into the restaurant. We brought him some rice cereal and toys to keep him entertained. He did great until just before the food arrived. He started getting a little fussy, then a little fussier. I took him into the restroom and he began a full blown screaming fit. I was horribly embarrassed. If you've had a baby with colic, you know that there is just not much you can do to get the baby to calm down. And it's so awful when it happens in public because everyone looks at you like you're a horrible mother. I tried everything, I even stood there in one of the stalls and tried to nurse him. Nothing worked, he just kept screaming louder and louder. I had to walk all the way through the restaurant, with him screaming the whole way (and everyone craning their necks to see what was going on), to tell my husband I was going out to the car.

It was an awful experience. We didn't go out to eat again for months. Not until D was about 10 mos old and over the colic. We usually don't go out to eat very often, but when we do we just make sure to take plenty to keep the two little ones occupied (crayons and paper seem to work well with D [who is almost 3 yrs old now], and crackers or snacks for baby B). And if it starts to get a little crazy, we just get our food to go!

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.