So how to do a baby at a museum? It's so tempting to just not go at all. Rather, wait until they are three or older and understand about holding hands, looking with eyes, walking with quiet feet, etc. in ordinary situations before presenting them with wide open galleries and priceless objects.
I, at least, could not go that long without a museum-fix. So I continue to figure out ways to manage the different stages of babyhood for museums. Let me give a pointer or two for each main stage of the way, in case you have a baby-in-tow on any upcoming museum outings of your own!
For those first few months
One word: baby carrier. Oh, that was two, sorry.
Going to a museum is as easy as going anywhere else--grocery store, mall, park. As easy as those (I say with tongue in cheek). My main survival for any thing in or out of the house is a good baby carrier or two. I love me a great sling ring carrier (like the Maya wrap) or a comfy K'tan-type wrap for the first while, then an Ergo for a long time after that. Baby's happy, mom's happy and hands-free, and off to the museum we go!
Most big museums (and especially children's museums, of course) I've been to lately have a separate room just for feeding and changing and general care of baby. In a smaller one I find it's easy enough to navigate the museum itself in between feedings/changings then head back to the car/transportation/home.
Sitting up Baby
I've lucked out with my sitting up babies as that's all they do for a couple months--happily stay in one place. I just plop them down in the middle of a gallery and let them watch the movement all around. Play peek-a-boo as they track mom's and older siblings' movement. Let them enjoy the different sounds and textures of the space. I loved being able to peruse a gallery on my own/with the older kids knowing that baby was safe in one spot and enjoying her own discovery of senses.
I usually start bringing both a stroller (just a lightweight, easily maneuverable umbrella stroller) at this point as well as the carrier, to give some options as to how we get through a museum. Sometimes one or the other works best, so it's just as easy to have both on hand. Each museum will have its own policy on strollers and baby carriers. The museums we frequent just specify that the baby--however old--should be worn on the front so that there is less risk of miscalculating your size when working around the objects and exhibit space. Just like back-packs are checked, back-worn babies should be avoided.
Crawling/Moving Baby
The first bit of crawling is still ok, knowing that baby is limited to a relatively small area. I try to prolong the time of carrying/pushing the baby because once she's down, she's down! You can guarantee a loud echoing wail when it's time to pick up and move again at a kid/adult pace.
Again, I usually bring both a stroller and a carrier to give some variation. Kind of a pain sometimes, but worth the inconvenience for the life-saver one or the other proves to be in an emergency.
If you're doing any activity with the older kids at the museum, give the baby a chance to be involved in whatever way is appropriate. Maybe sucking on glue sticks (like I admit I let my baby do just a couple weeks ago) at a craft activity wasn't the best idea. But she was quiet, she was very happy, and it gave me a few minutes to help the boys and ooh and aah over their creations.
Also, it's okay for a baby to go an hour without a snack. Believe me, they will survive. I find that if I do a snack before we head in to the museum and lunch or a snack on our way out, I don't feel any anxiety about not pulling out the Cheerios in a moment of fussing. Now, I don't want to overstep any parenting preferences here, but I just wanted to say in passing that if nothing else from that book, Bringing Up Bebe (about French parenting and how much better it is) I got the message that it's okay for kids to not be snacking all the time or have the habit of getting a goldfish every time they make a peep. Just as that relates to going to the museum--don't feel too nervous about the "no food" policy. With young children you'll be in the museum an hour and a half max, and no one will faint away in hunger in that time.
Walking Baby
This is where it gets really really tricky to do any museum that is not a touching museum. Or anything remotely resembling lingering and learning with older kids in the galleries. My friend once said it so truly when she remarked that a crawling/moving baby just uses the mobility to get to the entertainment but once they learn to walk, walking is the entertainment. So chasing a toddler is a full time job and adding priceless objects and laughing brothers into the mix is a disaster waiting to happen.
An art museum can be done, still, for those brave at heart! Again, bring multiple methods of conveyance and use those as looooong as possible. I went with a friend and her very active toddler recently and she brought the little girl's favorite soft blankie and pacifier (that is only ever used at bedtime now) just for the chance to have half an hour of peace in the museum. And it worked! (After chasing her around several large rooms . . .) Run them around a little before and keep promising more walking after. Even if they don't understand now about the concept of later, I'm sure the wheedling tone helps in some way. ;)
Find someplace to walk or something to walk toward/away from. Herding a small child is not the easiest feat in the world, but it can be done. Giving the little child permission to walk is a happy thing for everyone. Maybe a long hall where all the artwork is up at adult eye level and out of reach of a child's hands. In a sculpture garden, where it is often a little more casual. Play some sort of "speed game" variation of eye-spy or can-you-find with the older kids as you whiz past objects. Go back to the online catalog with the older kids later, during nap time, and find out more information on any highlights.
Babies this age may not love to be picked up when they are on the go, but we have the advantage in that they are still easily distracted. And they love animal noises, pointing to things, nodding yes and no to questions, etc. So pick them up, deal with the minute or so of struggle, and start making a farmyard full of noises while pointing to animals in any art/taxidermy around you! Go ahead, sing some Old MacDonald while you're at it. (I heard a daddy singing this very song to his toddler son at the Harvard Museum of Natural History a few months back and I about died of loving it so much. I wish I'd been able to record it without seeming like a creepy lady. It was soo adorable.)
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Okay, so that's what I've been thinking of lately about how to keep going about normal activities--most especially museums--with my littlest museum buddy. I always think of another brilliant idea or five after I've posted one of these things. In that eventuality, I may revisit this "bringing baby" in the future!
Is it worth it, you may ask? Well, yes! I think so! But then I am rather a die hard. It makes the museum that much more of an adventure. Fun is had by all. Learning is done, though perhaps not always at a measurable rate. Sweet old ladies stop and swoon over baby and big brothers. What's not to love about going out on the town to some of the loveliest places in the city with some of the greatest kids in the world?
I would LOVE to hear about any baby-in-a-museum adventures you may have. Good, bad, beautiful, ugly. I'd love any and all anecdotes. I'll laugh with you! I'll cry with you! It would truly make my day to hear you have seen a baby at a museum recently.
