Woman Complains About Baby Crying In A ‘Fancy’ Restaurant And Gets Berated By Mother

Nov 28, 2022

Whenever a parent hears their baby cry, they do everything in their power to help their son or daughter stop crying. It’s heartbreaking to hear the sadness come from such a small human. Sometimes babies just need to be cared for, like having their diapers changed or being fed. Sometimes they need something that demands more of their parents’ time, though, resulting in parents having to come up with some creative solutions to try to help get their little one to finally calm down.

Surely, Reddit user u/Ok_Candy7966 (or OP; for Original Poster) would have agreed with this thinking. OP asked on a Reddit thread if she was in the wrong for asking to be transferred to a different table after a family with a crying baby sat beside her in a fancy restaurant. 

“My husband and I went out for dinner a couple of nights ago. It was the first time by ourselves after our baby was born. It’s my second child, the first for my husband so it was kind of a big deal for us. We got a babysitter and we went to a very nice fancy restaurant,” the post read. 

Little did OP know her dinner plans would be spoiled by the family who sat beside them – a couple with a baby who was louder than everyone else out there. 

“A few minutes after we ordered, another couple sat on the table next to us… with a small baby in a stroller. At first it was fine but after a few minutes the baby started crying. They tried to comfort it, but every time it seemed they had managed to make it sleep, it woke up crying again.” OP continued to recall. 

Initially thinking they should leave the place, OP decided to take matters into her own hands and asked the waiter to transfer tables instead. 

“The waiter asked if there was a problem and I said it was our first time out after having a baby and we didn’t feel like spending our evening next to someone else’s crying baby. He was super nice and quickly asked another waiter to help him set up the new table for us. Another couple that was in the same area also asked to be seated elsewhere,” she wrote. 

However, the mother of the crying child overheard her requests to the waiter and started doing the unthinkable – berating the OP. 

“She went on and on saying that I probably don’t have kids (mm.. I have 2), and that babies are also people and we should just accept that babies can be loud and cry and there’s nothing she could do about it,” she said on the thread. “I didn’t want to start a fight or anything but I got really annoyed by her attitude, so I told her that she could actually do something about the crying.. she could take her baby home so it can properly sleep and then let everyone else there enjoy their meals.”

But still, the lady remains unfazed and tries to talk back to OP, which the latter ignores. OP also noted that they could still hear the baby wailing despite them transferring tables. While OP already had some peace after the dinner, she then asked her sister about her thoughts, only to be called an “a**hole” for doing such a thing. 

Since then, OP has been conflicted about whether what she did was something wrong or not. 

While OP’s sister seemed to think she was in the wrong for asking the waiter to be transferred to another table, the responses on the Reddit thread are in unison. 

“I’m a mom of 1 almost 2 and if I pay for a baby sitter so I can go out to eat I damn sure don’t want to listen to another persons baby crying the whole time. Not even the least bit sorry. Certain places you just don’t take baby to-mom needed a reality check. NTA,” another said.

It was important to note that OP described the place to have been a “fancy” restaurant, meaning that it must have been a place where silence or voice moderation should be highly respected. 

“It’s the fancy restaurant part that got me. It’s one thing at an Applebees level place, but when at a nicer place there is an expectation to have a certain atmosphere, and that doesn’t include crying babies.” someone commented. “Signed, a former applebees server and mother of 2 who accepted never taking my young children to restaurants cause they were heathens”

Meanwhile, another user offered a piece of very reasonable advice for parents who might find themselves in the same situation as the parent with the crying baby: 

“The solution is that one of the parents takes the baby outside, walks around, goes to the car, etc… you do not interrupt other diners’ meals with your infant. I understand her problem, babies cry, but when my son cried regardless of the restaurant type, one of us took him for a walk, it’s just part of being a parent.”

Do you bring your children to fancy restaurants? Would you have done the same thing as the OP? How do you make your child stop crying in public places? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to your family, friends, and other parents!