Hi,
I’m a new mum and have always had an aniexty about taking my newborn baby out in public and having to change his nappy.
When baby S was a week old my husband and I decided to take our first trip out....we went for some lunch and settled down to feed baby S - all went well. It was then my turn to do the first nappy change in public!
I went to the baby changing facilities which was combined with a toilet for the public and stated to go about my business.
As I carefully removed baby s’s nappy he started pooping and weeing....disaster not the quick straight forward nappy change I was hoping for!
I took a deep breath and got on with tidying up my son who by this point was full on crying and told myself....don’t panic you can do this!
Unbeknown to be another member of the public wanted to use the facilities, in between a settled moment of cry’s from my son I heard someone knocking at the door. My son was at a point during the nappy change where I felt I could pick him up and answer the door. I opened the door and was greeted with an annoyed person that I was taking too long and why had I not answered the door previously to let them know I was busy changing my baby’s nappy (I honestly had not heard and my priority was to look after my son)....part of me thought...why do I have to explain myself to you?!
I apologised to the member of public and explained I was changing my baby’s nappy - I would be a few more minutes - I wanted to make sure I left the facilities how I expected to find them.
My aniexty levels at their peak and disappointment that the first nappy change had not been the successful and confidence building experience I was hoping for - I finished my business.
Just as I went to open the door the member of the public was there knocking on the door again....this had tipped me over the edge! I stormed past the member of public and rejoined my husband at the table and just burst into tears.
To be fair the member of public once they had finished their business they came over to the table to apologise to me...but I was so upset through tears and a raised voice I explained it was the first time we had taken our baby out in public and the first time I had changed his nappy and that the member of publics impatient behaviour had really knocked my confiendence over something I was already anxious about. I accepted and thanked them for their apology hoping they would think twice about their behaviour in future. I felt guilty for getting so upset and wondered if I could of handled it differently - was it my baby hormones making me extra sensitive?! Or did I have every right to get annoyed? This was a special “first” moment for us as a family.
Has anyone experienced anything similar and how did you overcome this aniexty? I don’t want to end up sitting in throughout my whole maternity leave because I’m frightened about others, I’m sure there will be plenty more situations like this in the future to face yet so would be good to learn from others.