Woman supported because she wanted to change the table to avoid a crying baby

The internet has defended a woman for asking a restaurant worker to change tables to sit further away from a crying baby.

Posted on Reddit’s r/AmITeA****** forum, a woman under the anonymous username u/Ok_Candy7966 shared her story with the “AITA” community to help them decide if she acted inappropriately.

The original poster (OP) began her story by explaining that she and her husband were eating out for the first time since their baby was born. She wrote that it was her second child but the first for her husband. They hired a babysitter and went to a fancy restaurant for dinner.

After being seated and ordering, another couple sat at the table next to them with a baby in a stroller. After some time the baby started crying. The OP explained that the mother tried to comfort the child but nothing worked.

The OP explained: “Until then we just wanted to leave but we had already ordered so we decided to ask the waiter if we could change the table to the other side of the restaurant. The waiter asked if there was a problem and I said it was like 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 who were in the same area also asked to be seated elsewhere. The couple with the baby overheard what we said to the waiter and [especially] my mother was angry and called me [a******],” she continued.

The woman argued with the OP, saying that she had no children and that “babies are people too” and she had to accept how babies behaved and that there was “nothing she could do about it”.

The OP told the woman she could take her child home to get some sleep so people could enjoy their dinner and ignored everything else the woman told her. They got their new table and enjoyed their meal – although they could still hear the baby crying.

The next morning her sister told the OP that she was wrong.

news week asked u/Ok_Candy7966 for a comment. We have not been able to verify the details of this case.

news week has published several articles on raising infants, including a mother who changed her child’s diaper in a restaurant chair, a mother who wouldn’t allow her mother-in-law weekly visits with her new baby, and a mother who “denied” her to feed newborn sleeping.

Ways to calm a crying child

“Toddlers can cry for a number of reasons, including when they are overstimulated, tired or hungry. Especially in the first trimester of life (which experts refer to as the fourth trimester) they are easily dysregulated and cry easily. “Result,” Dr. Whitney Casares, tanner Pediatrician tells news week.

Casares shared ways to soothe a crying baby in a public setting, including using a baby carrier to make them feel “snug and safe.”

“Sometimes inserting a pacifier helps, or even a change of scene and the movement of a short walk around the location. A white noise device set at a low volume is also a good trick,” she said.

In general, to calm a crying baby, parents can try soothing, swaddling, or rocking them, as this can mimic the “safe” feeling they felt in the womb, Casares added.

Casares also said to check if they are crying to communicate what they need, including a diaper change, or if they are hungry.

“Parents are often embarrassed or sorry when their babies cry in public, but it’s perfectly normal for babies to cry in childhood,” she said news week. “Learning calming techniques before a big adventure can help parents feel safe and prepared.”

Redditor reactions

“[Not the a******]. They have children and a babysitter. In what universe do you want to go to a fancy restaurant ANYTIME and sit at the next table listening to someone else’s baby cry? Absolutely not,” said u/corgwin, earning the top comment with over 15,000 upvotes.

“[Not the a******] – People with crying babies should get up and take them out of the dining room to calm them down,” wrote u/BeastOGevaudan.

“[Not the a******]. I’m a mom and I would be totally moved if I was out on a date night and we were sitting next to a crying baby. It is your prerogative to move when you feel like it,” explained u/caryn1477.

U/PrydferthAnnwyl asked: “[Not the a******] Children, especially babies, tend to be loud and annoying, so why take a loud newborn to a fancy restaurant and expect others to agree?”