Do you let your toddler eat in the car?

[booksie]

Do you let your toddler eat in the car? I'm wondering if it's dangerous... I DO know that it's a messy ordeal... I feel like I'm always cleaning the car seat!!

Also, if you have any ideas on how to make it better, easier, cleaner, safer, etc... please share!

[margiepgh]

We let my DS eat crackers, cheerios and other dry food in the car. To make it less messy, he uses a SnackTrap (see www.snacktrap.com) that I bought at BRU.

[IrisHope]

Yes I do and it does get quite messy.

[firefly]

not anymore... we just got a new car ;)

[Renrel]

DS eats in the car all the time. Usual cereal and goldfish out of a snack trap in the morning on the way to daycare and animal crackers or graham crackers on the way home. Is it dangerous? yes. There is a chance he will choke on the food while you are busy driving. You may not see it and it will be hard to get to him or her. We take that risk. We also let DS walk around the house with food which is also a choking hazzard. I do try to choose foods that dissolve fairly easily rather than things like fruit, but we have let DS eat fruit when he asks for some as we leave the house. There are a few helpful things about eatting in the car. It is a bribe to get him to turn and sit in the chair so I can buckle him in. We only do cookies in the car so he rarely asks for them in the house. This limits his sweets in take without me having to be bad mommy to often since he does not expect me to say yes in the house. But he often has to have a cookie in his hand to be happy in the car. He may hold one in each hand for an hour, but he needs to have it in his hand.

[Littlelamb11]

never. we have a no eating in the car rule. although the choking hazard risk is there, the main factor for us is the mess and teaching DD that we respect our property and belongings by taking care of them and keeping them clean. We don't allow DD to eat anywhere in the house but at the table either.

[JenniferEC]

No, but not just for the choking factor. I agree with Littlelamb11 about the mess. DS is very messy in his highchair, so I can only imagine how messy he'd be in the car. But we don't travel great distances so it hasn't been an issue yet.

[dal]

Never. I let her drink in the car though. She always has a sippy cup with her.

[Kay]

He eats in the car very often. Mostly just dry things for a snack like cheerios, and cookies. It keeps him quiet and it gets him in the car. He also usually has his cup with him too.

[emschwar]

Noah eats in the car all the time. I was planning on having a no eating in the car rule, for safety reasons only, but then one day my sister fed him in the car while she was sitting back there with him, and since then, if he's hungry, and doesn't get to eat in the car, all hell breaks loose.

We may reinstate the rule when we get a new car, depending on when it is and if I feel he's old enough to comprehend the change.

[mamax2]

Yes, but only things I feel aren't likely to be major choking hazards - Cheerios, Goldfish, cereal bars (a real mess) and of course there's the ever present 'cuppy'.

My DD has struggled to gain weight for a year now and she's been anemic throughout that time. I don't miss any opportunities to let her have a snack. If the kid wants to eat, by all means, eat! If I hadn't had a kid who wasn't picking up weight and I wasn't being watched like a hawk by her peds, I may not have been so quick to introduce snacks in the car. I probably also wouldn't have ever allowed her to eat in front of the TV or other things that I consider 'bad habits', but that wasn't my lot and I need to give DD every opportunity possible to have snacks.

[Natasha]

Before the new car, yeah, we did. But we have a new car, and he almost NEVER eats in transit anymore. However, when we visit my parents (3 hours one way), I'm sure it will change. He is allowed beverages in the car (sippy cup usually).

[almostthere]

Yes, but only on longer drives and only dry food. My parents live an hour away and we visit regularly, she often needs a snack. As ideal as Lisa makes its sound about respect, I will be honest I eat and drink in the car often so why can't she. When we take longer trips (over 3 hours) we always stop for a meal. This is one fight I am def willing to lose.

[Winter Biscuit]

Yes, but only on long trips, like when we head up to the cabin (3.5 hours away) or when we go to grandma's house (3 hours away), and only foods that are easy to eat and only foods that are very small (e.g., Cheerios, peas, blueberries). We frequently give her a sippy cup of water regardless of where we are going, unless it's a really short trip.

We have 3 cars and 2 have leather seats while 1 does not. I will add that she is only allowed to eat during transit in the cars with leather seats because we find that it's much easier to wipe down the leather than it is to clean the upholstered seats if she gets messy or drop crumbs.

[Sarah]

Not usually. Maybe once in a while if we happened to have a trip that turned out to be longer than we had planned. But I can't think of the last time that happened. I generally try to not let my DD snack much- she's very skinny and doesn't eat meals if I let her snack. She is allowed water whenever she wants it, though, in the car or wherever.

[carolc]

Only if someone is in the back seat with her.

It's a choking-fear issue only. It's WAY too late to keep our car neat and clean. ;) Also, I was never ever allowed to eat in the car as a kid, and it always bugged me. (I freely admit that I amprojecting my own childhood dissatisfactions on my kid, here.)

[1_mommy]

only if there is a second person in the car to keep an eye on her. a sippy, she always has.
we just got a new car a couple weeks ago, so even eating with the second person is very minimal now adays.