We are working a dinner meal into LOs feeding schedule this week (she's 7 months tomorrow).
For the first time (ever?) we are all sitting at the dinner table and having a meal together. DH and I have always just eaten on the couch, and usually at different times in the night.
It is something we had planned on doing forever and I'm so happy it is finally here! I love having dinners all together at the table. 
I really want LO to have memories of doing this for all of her childhood.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
We've morphed into the same thing, dinner AT the table together (or at the island, but same deal! lol!) It's such an awesome family time. Now we just need to work on turning off the TV in the background :T
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
I can't wait for this. When DH and I at the table now, put R in the bouncy seat on the table. We even hold her hands when we say our blessings.
Lately we have been eating once she goes to bed. I always remember eating dinner as a family. DH as well. This is a tradition we both said we were doing before we had kids. No TV, just us talking about our days.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
Aw, that's so exciting! We can really only do this on the weekends and sometimes Friday nights (because of DH's work schedule) but we try to make breakfast our big family meal. And I eat something small with E when he eats dinner.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
I want this!!! How do you find the time?? By the time I'm done nursing Xander, it's time for a bath and then bed, and THEN Hubs and I eat dinner. I have no idea how to have family dinners, unless maybe I try nursing Xander earlier... What does your schedule look like for feeding your LO, dinner, and bed?
coconut / 8079 posts
yay! that's exciting. i have been trying to work on this with DH since we got married. his family never ate at the table together. mine did as much as possible so i hope to have that same experience with our kids some day.
kiwi / 612 posts
@highwire: we do this every night too now and I LOVE it. He jumps in his jumperoo while we eat and smiles at us. It's really important to us that he grows up with family meals too!
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
@Adira: I don't know how others do it, but E's bedtime is 9p. I put him in the PnP in the kitchen with me when I make dinner. I have dinner ready for him by 8 (sometimes it's what we'll be eating later, sometimes it's something else). He usually eats between 8-8:30, then a bath, then I top him off, then bed. (He nurses on demand, and has usually "snacked" all day leading up to dinner).
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
Yay! Before LO came along we'd eat in front of the tv. Now we also do family dinners every night
kiwi / 612 posts
@Adira: I try to time cooking so that we have dinner right before I sit down to nurse him before bedtime at 7:30. Sometimes I get it wrong and I'll actually just nurse him at the dinner table - we just say that the whole family is eating together!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Hubby and I used to eat dinner while sitting on the couch watching TV. Once we started TTC, we started having dinner at the dinner table to make it a habit. Unless we're having pizza and a big game/tv show/movie is on (we don't have DVR), but those are rare.
I can't wait to have LO join us at the dinner table!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@Adira: The daycare has usually given her her last bottle right before I pick her up and I dropped that 630 PM nursing/pump session this week that I was previously doing as soon as we got home. That's the only way it is possible now.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
We just started doing this because DD is one so it is now or never. We have dinner between 6.30 and 7 and then bath is around 7.30-7.45 with bed right after. DH and I have always eaten together, but never at the table so this makes a nice change.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@FutureMrsMcK: A later bedtime would definitely make it easier for us! Right now Xander goes to bed around 7:00/7:30!
@sotofamilia: I think that would be my problem too - eating dinner while I had to nurse! I feel like it's just not doable at the moment.
@highwire: Ahhh, I see. Yeah, that would make it easier. Currently Xander's last bottle at daycare is at 3:00, so I nurse him at 6:00, and he goes to bed by 7:30, which is when Hubs and I will FINALLY make dinner. Maybe things will change as he gets older though and it will be easier.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@Adira: DH has this weird thing where if he doesn't eat dinner as soon as we get home, he just won't eat at all! It is weird. So doing it asap is the only way that it can work for us.
ETA: LO also doesn't go to bed until 8/830
cantaloupe / 6164 posts
We always eat on the couch in front of the TV. Our table is crammed into a corner of the kitchen, and I have zero desire to eat there! 
I hope that we can move before Sadie can eat with us!
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@highwire: I'd ask my mom what she did to get some advice, but she was a SAHM, so she'll be no help to me! Hubs and I both work full-time so we get home around 5:30. He'll go relax on his computer while I play with Xander. Then I feed Xander at 6:00, then bath time (or just a wipe down), books, and then bed. But maybe I could try feeding him at 5:30 and convince Hubs to make dinner for 6:30. Then we could do dinner, bath, books, bed. That might work. He's only 4 months, so I don't have to do it yet, but I want to get him used to dinners together so I can get an idea of whether he's interested in solids or not!
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@Adira: What about cooking/eating in the 5:30-6:00 time slot? I pop C into her high chair and dance around the kitchen while talking to her and she plays with a toy and watches me.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
@Adira: It might be easier for you to wait until he starts eating solids and you can incorporate him into your evening routine better then. I find it easiest to just cook right away when I get home, so 5.30-6 and then we eat when I am done cooking.
kiwi / 612 posts
@Adira: oh sorry, I think I phrased that wrong! I'm not coordinated enough to nurse and eat at the same time lol. I'll nurse just holding him in my arms at the dinner table while my DH eats and then he'll take the baby and burp/play with him while I eat. We then go directly into our bedtime routine and clean up from dinner after the baby is sleeping.
ETA: my DH has been exposed to nursing moms his whole life (he's Peruvian) and thinks it's totally fine for me to feed the baby while we eat...I don't know if this is normal though, maybe most people like to eat dinner and nurse as seperate activities!
coconut / 8681 posts
I love having dinner together as a family! We started having dinner all together once E started solids. However, DH's schedule changed and he doesn't get home until about 8pm now. He does start later in the day so now we have family breakfast.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@highwire: @plantains: My only concern with having dinner first is that I still want Xander to receive most of his calories from breast milk, so I don't want him to fill up on solids and then not really nurse - does that make sense?
@sotofamilia: Oh, haha, that makes sense! I've actually had to do that before when Xander was less predictable, though we were still eating on the couch then.
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
@Adira: Maybe you can just have him sit there while you two eat? That's what we did at first. Can he just hang out and play until you are done eating and then you can nurse him?
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@highwire: That might be a possibility!
ETA: Sorry to thread-jack! I didn't mean to make it all about me. 
It's awesome you've been able to start having family dinners! It's one of the things from my childhood that I always liked and want to incorporate too!
kiwi / 612 posts
@Adira: yeah, most nights I can time it so he just jumps in the jumperoo while we eat...he's definitely a lot easier to predict now that he's not a newborn!
Totally off-topic, but it sounds like our LOs are around the same age - mine was born in February!
grapefruit / 4903 posts
I love it too! She seems to love the attention and time with us, and we of course love having her there. We started solids with dinner time, and having dinner together is definitely our favorite part.
@Adira: I nurse LO (6.5 months) at 5:30, then we eat dinner at 6:30 as a family. Bathtime at 7, then final nursing, prayers, song and bed at 7:30. DH isn't always home in time for 6:30, so those nights we eat just the two of us after she's in bed (somewhere around 8pm).
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@sotofamilia: Mine was too! Xander's 4 months today, born Feb 26th. You should join us on the Feb boards! Or March boards - those are more active, haha.
@rattles: Oooh, thanks for your input! That schedule sounds like it might work for us! I'll just have to nurse Xander a little earlier than normal (5:30 instead of 6:00), but I doubt he'll mind, haha.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
@Adira: DD is still a nursing addict whose not sold on solids, so that spacing seems to give her some time to get hungry before supper (which I'm now self-conscious about calling it after that other thread, ha) so that she'll try some table food while still keeping up my supply, since she'll never turn down the bedtime nursing even if she just finished eating solids.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
@Adira: if he is anything like my DD, that will be the least of your problems. My chica is a boob monster. I have to feed her solids before she nurses if I have a hope of her eating any!
grapefruit / 4291 posts
We / I try to eat all our meals at the table or breakfast bar with Miss A (eight months). I think it's really important that kids learn good table manners and it's a great way for our family to reconnect at the end of the day.
I'm also really lazy and A eats whatever food we prepare (within reason) so eating together saves me making special food for her.
In terms of scheduling A nurses before her second nap at 1530ish, has a small snack at around 1630-1700, we have dinner at 1800ish and then she nurses before bed at 1930. So far her nursing and solid intake aren't really affected by each other.
watermelon / 14206 posts
Awesome! We didn't have a dinner table in the apartment, so when we moved to this house, we finally got one and have been enjoying sitting down together. It's so nice, isn't it??
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@rattles: @plantains: haha, good to know! I hope that's the case for me, but I have no idea since we're not close to starting solids quite yet. Guess I'll find out soon enough!
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
Aw that's lovely! We have dinner all together now, we sit A in her highchair and I'll feed her and myself at the same time. My next battle is to get DH to turn off the TV so we can all focus on her . I have my breakfast with her too now, I love it but OMG is it messy!!!
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