AIBU to be totally baffled by this attitude?

[BB2000]

Two women at work today were talking about pregnant women wearing the baby on board badges on the tube. They were waxing lyrical about how awful they are and criticising women for wearing them. Comments included:

‘Why should a pregnant woman have any more right to sit down than me?’

‘Why should I be forced to stand up for someone else?’

I’ve been on both sides: struggling to cope on busy trains when I was pregnant and so grateful that someone offered me their seat, and wondering if someone is actually pregnant or not and worried that I’ll offend them if I stand up mistakenly for them. In both case I think baby on board badges are a great idea.

AIBU to wonder, if you are healthy and able, why on earth wouldn’t you stand up for someone who is pregnant and might want a seat? And to be amazed that someone thinks wearing one of these badges is being ‘entitled and pushy’?

[runningonwillpower]

I would always stand up for a pregnant woman on public transport. Why not?

But - and it's a little but - what's with the badge? I've never seen such a thing. Pregnancy normally advertises itself. Until it does, do you really need a badge?

[DownstairsMixUp]

runningonwillpower For me, the early stages were actually worse, i felt faint and dizzy a lot if i stood in hot places too long and as i never showed till quite late (around 25 weeks) i never liked to say!

[picnicbasketcase]

The badges are for women who aren't showing yet, I guess? Do they really need a seat more than anyone else if it's early on? Assuming normal healthy pregnancy, no multiple MCs etc. I don't think I would have worn a badge to tell people I was pg tbh

[BB2000]

everlong - yes they have both been pregnant, though a few years ago now.

running - the badges are ones you can get just for the london underground. The idea is that particularly when it is busy people can't tell if you are pregnant. Or it might be earlier in the pregnancy when it isn't that obvious but you still aren't feeling great.

[harticus]

I am a cancer patient - it is a hidden disability like diabetes etc.
If I need to sit down and a pregnant woman need to sit down and there is only one seat who holds the trump card? Maybe I should wear a badge with Tumour on Board?
I have to say that the Baby On Board thing seems immensely naff.

I agree that offering a seat to someone who needs it is simply the decent thing today. But when I was pg I hated sitting down because of agonising rib/bladder/back issues from humungous baby.

[neunundneunzigluftballons]

They are being unreasonable. Baby on board badges are a great idea especially since so many threads on mumsnet are taken up with people who think it is never ok to ask a woman if she is pregnant unless she is about to give birth in front of you.

At our local maternity hospital the midwife used to have to tell the partners to get up so pregnant women waiting for their appointment could sit down. If they were not sensitive to the needs of pregnant women what chance is there?

[LadyGoodman]

Those women are prats!!

Pregnancy doesn't mean u R unable to stand/sit but It does mean u may struggle a bit more than other people. My colleague is 24wks she's still not showing visibly she's a tiny woman and ended up standing on tube as well as a train from paddington to didcot last week people r selfish assholes these days

[Roshbegosh]

It is the 25 year olds at 12 weeks that give me the pip. I have seen them just demand a seat from someone. I agree with haticus there are people in greater need.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Surely they serve as a warning as much as anyone else. ie be careful not to stand too closer and ergo bump them or elbow them
In the rush.

I don't understand why people would begrudge a seat to someone who could need it more than them.

I would happily give up my seat to ANYONE who needed it more than I did. Old, pregnant, disabled, ill or jUst bloody exhausted.

[quoteunquote]

They are idiots, which is why people have to resort to wearing badges, the world is full of total twonks, just like them.

[BlingBang]

Nt sure about the badges - but I think it's polite to offer your seat to anyone who might have greater need of it. Older folk, parents with young children, pregnant women etc.

[DownstairsMixUp]

I don't think it's fair to assume they are all idiots if they ask. :/ If i (fingers crossed) have a normal pregnany next time i would never ever even think about asking for a seat (not that i did anyway, i'm too shy) but i had pre eclampsia and was prone to feeling faint and never wanted to ask! some people will be asking for a reason if they aren't showing, i def never felt pregnancy was an illness or made me an invalid, i just had a crappy pregnancy!

[MetellaEstMater]

I travel by tube every day, and at 30 weeks don't always need a seat. However, when not showing in the first trimester I was so sick that standing in a crowded a triage would have resulted in me vomiting - I go 10 stops and had to get off three times one morning just to get some air. The tubes are really very, very busy. The badge was very useful.

[BlingLoving]

I dnt understand why you wouldn't want to give a pregnant person a seat. Personally I most needed the seat in the first 12 weeks. By the time I was on my way home at night I was on verge of passing out.

[nancy75]

Even with a totally normal pregnancy you sometimes still need to sit down.
My dd was born in July 2005, it was a bloody hot summer.
I worked until a week before she was born and often got the tube, there were days that it was so hot and so uncomfortable that i had to ask for a seat or risk being sick all over the tube carriage. it always amazed me that people would see a clearly heavily pregnant woman looking decidedly green around the gills and just hide behind their newspaper. I was always happy to loudly ask for a seat, but some people are not as mouthy as me so i think the signs are a good idea

[midwifeandmum]

YNBU
I certainly felt terrible both pgs in the early stages. Most woman do, your more prone to fainting due to low blood pressure and hormonal changes. The baby does most of its growing at the early stages- which takes its toll on mum

I feel these badges are a great way for mums to be to get a seat if feeling poorly in hot stuffy tube.

Some women dont feel confident enough to ask for a seat. So i think these women are a bit unreasonable to assume these women should stand.

Try standing on hot tube when suffereing fron morning sickness and low blood pressure

[harticus]

Pregnant women don't have the monopoly on feeling shite.
Does this mean we need to have badges for all eventualities - people with MS, people who have arthritic knees, people with migraines, people who have just done a night shift and are fucking knackered .....
I'm not entirely sure why pregnancy is perceived as an exceptional case.

[WestieMamma]

Didn't the badges come about as a result of a pregnant lady sadly losing her baby as a result of being elbowed on the underground? It's not so much about needing to sit down, although this may frequently be the case, but more about being in a safer position.

[Thurlow]

There definitely should be badges with some sort of appropriate message on that people can request if they have a higher need for a seat. I know my old train company used to give people priority passes they could use to encourage people to give them their seat?

I loved my Baby on Board badge when I was on the rush hour Northern Line. Great for getting a seat in the early stages when you might just end up vomiting over everyone. But they were also good for just making people more aware - as someone else has said, it was sometimes less that I wanted a seat and more that I didn't want to be squashed and shoved like usual. I didn't wear it everyday, if I was having a good day I'd not wear it.

[lisianthus]

I agree with midwifeandmum. For those who are doing the "whataboutery" regarding other people who feel ill for other reasons, it's not a game of top trumps! The badges just encourage good manners and thinking about others on the tube. I've never seen a stand-off between a pregnant woman and an old person over a seat, but I HAVE seen or heard people saying things like "I didn't know if you were pregnant or just fat" or "it was your choice to get pregnant, why should I give up my seat?"

Besides, making the tube a place where it is more the culture to give up your seat for another is going to benefit everyone who needs a seat. It certainly isn't that way now.

[Summergarden]

I think it's a sensible idea, the tube can get dangerously crowded and at times extremely hot. Particularly at busy times when people are crammed in people might not be as observant if a lady has a baby bump.

Also, a serious point is that it is sometimes difficult to tell if a woman is pregnant or just has a bit of a belly, and lots of people don't want to offend by saying anything so the badge spells it out clearly. Someone once asked me when my baby was due when I wasn't pregnant, very embarrassing for both of us, I was only a size 12 but didn't have a very toned tum must admit!

Of course some pregnant women feel fine and may prefer to stand which is fine, no one if forcing them to sit. But at least the option of the badge let them be in a safer place less likely to be elbowed or injured on her bump and if she has a pregnancy related condition eg pre eclampsia, sore joints, gives her relief.

Also, if another passenger had a medical condition and politely said they weren't feeling well of course I would happily give up my seat for them too.

[Inertia]

Following on from the 'whataboutery' (good word Lisianthus!)- is there not some opening here for a nationwide 'priority pass' type scheme which gives priority on all public transport anywhere? It could be perhaps a simple badge which is issued annually (so a different colour each year) by a health professional, to minimise the amount of admin.

It could then be issued to anyone with a medical need- so not just pregnant women , but anyone with mobility problems or any medical need; every badge would be the same so nobody need know what the issues were, and it would also cover people with 'hidden disabilities'.

[kali110]

I actually worry about having to move seats when on public transport. I have spinal damage and severely painful knees . I worry about what people think of me for not getting up and giving my seat up for others as generally couldnt stand for the hour it takes me to get home.

[Lilicat1013]

I like the idea of some sort of scheme for people who have a priority need for a seat as a lot of people don't feel comfortable asking or having to explain private medical issues.

I didn't look pregnant when I was pregnant, I remember being on holiday when 20 weeks pregnant and walking up all these stairs because I thought I would get glares for using the busy lifts (I am overweight so people would have assumed I am just too lazy to walk upstairs).

When I was far enough along to attend the anti-natal classes I walked in behind two obviously pregnant women. Without even asking them what they were there for she pointed them in the right direction for room. When I walked passed she stopped me and asked me which section I was looking for.

Most of them time I was pregnant though I was able to stand without a problem (I am aware this isn't always the case) and would have been happy to give up my seat for someone who needed it more.