Wholefoods, High Street Kensington

Mid-morning cakes amid empty tables

Who doesn't love Wholefoods??! All those cakes. I believe they sell other things too, but I've never seen them cos I'm too busy staring at the cakes.  Pre-Cosmo, I was well aware that Wholefoods was a great place for buggy-pushers because my local branch (High Street Ken) was chocker with them.

Wholefoods is one of those places where the facilities and staff attitude lives up to their company's ethos. When I met up with some NCT friends there last week, Cosmo spent half the time howling (who was I to know I have a blocked duct and wasn't getting any milk? Whoops...)

If I'd been by myself I'd've scarpered quick sharpish - nothing raises an incompetent mother's  stress levels than a crying baby in an enclosed crowded space. (It's not that competent mothers don't have babies that cry, it's just they rightly accept and get on with it...). But when you're with other people, you have to try to pretend you're competent or at least trying.

I was relieved that when a staff member came over it wasn't to boot me out, but to coo at Cosmo until he stopped crying. Magic.

As well as having a family friendly vibe, Wholefoods puts on regular events, including a fortnightly Babies Club (10am-11am) where, rumour has it, they serve free juice, tea and... wait for it... CAKES. Naturally, if there's a cake involved, and a free one at that, I'll be there (purely for the purpose of this investigative blog, you understand...). However, as an incompetent mother, I turned up on the wrong week and learned that even if I had been there at the right time, I would have needed to to book. (I thought it was a drop in...). I'll do a separate post on the Babies Club if I ever get there at the right time. They also host Monkey Music class for babies at 2.30pm on Tuesdays. Sadly this clashes with Cosmo's feeding time, but hopefully I'll get to a class elsewhere and report back...

Comfy chair with coat pegs and magazine

Practicalities for feeding:

Wholefood has great facilities for breast or bottle feeding, and very good baby change. The 'Room With a View' is usually a quiet place to sit if you'd to escape the restaurant floor which can get very crowded. However, if you wish to nurse in complete private there's a little room tucked away in the basement for just such a purpose. As the restaurant floor gets so crowded at lunch I'd definitely head to the Nursing Room. However, morning time is great for an incompetent mum to get her first cake fix of the day - before noon, the place is pretty much empty so plenty of room for the buggy and a relaxed atmosphere for feeding. Furthermore, there's no witnesses to your 9am cake scoffing.