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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to not want friends to change nappies in my living room?

281 replies

Nappiessmellbad · 30/12/2011 10:07

I have name changed for this as I don't want friends to recognise me and it's my first post in AIBU and I'm a wimp. Blush

About six months ago, we had about 10 friends round for dinner. One couple had a toddler. I was in the kitchen serving up and returned to the dining table in the living room with the food. The parents of the toddler were changing their nappy at the other end of the room and I must admit I blanched - there was poo everywhere and it stunk. The smell lasted through the first course and when they left, my DH and I both said how rude it was.

Last week we had a different set of friends round for a meal on boxing day and again, one set of parents had a toddler. When we finished our meal, the toddler announced he'd done a poo. The parents started changing the child on our carpet with no changing mat and leaving the rolled dirty nappy on our floor.

As this has happened with two different sets of parents, are we the uptight ones or is this gross? We have a perfectly functional bathroom.

(I promise I'm not the poo troll)

OP posts:
ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 19:35

well I wouldn't lye down on a tiled bathroom floor, but if you would then okay!

ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 19:36

lie

DilysPrice · 30/12/2011 19:36

I think a bed is a reasonable thing to offer if the parent has a crocked back/knees, has had a CS in the last 6 weeks or is, by some medical miracle, over the age of 60. But in those cases the living room floor would be just as bad.

pigletmania · 30/12/2011 19:37

Your friends should invest in a fold away changing mat, and any sign that they are about to change their dc, you should point them towards the bathroom, don't be afraid.

Sirzy · 30/12/2011 19:38

If they are on a towel or similar it doesn't really make much difference if they are lying on the carpet or on tiled floor really does it? Its only for a matter of minutes anyway!!

pigletmania · 30/12/2011 19:40

Reduced I would not lie on a living room floor either. Reduced do you change your pants in the living room then in front of everybodyHmm. thought not

ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 19:42

why wouldn't you lie on some carpet? weird! have you never ever laid on a living room floor?

Original poster
Nappiessmellbad · 30/12/2011 19:44

Reduce - I'm not sure, I haven't changed a nappy in about 20 years, I'm in a current state of blissful ignorance! :) Don't you sometimes get a fountain of wee effect when changing little boys though?

Morloth - glad to hear it, the hardness of the floor hadn't been something I had considered before.

OP posts:
Maisieskates · 30/12/2011 19:44

I always change DD on the changing table in her room where I have everything to hand. Nappies are bagged and then put in a carrier bag, which is put in the outside bin every evening.

From experience, guests tend to ask where to change their babies and I always tell them to use the changing table. I always ask where to change DD when at other peoples house and ALWAYS take soiled nappy home with me.

dementedma · 30/12/2011 19:45

christ, tiled floor won't kill them for a few minutes.
Has the art of changing a child on your knee died out? Sit on the closed lid of the loo and change child on your knee - I've done it a a bazillion times - with terries and pins!!
(admit this doesn't work with older child or super shitty one)
Put a towel on the floor if your changing mat isn't up to the job.Better the host has a towel to throw in the wash than a carpet to clean.

Original poster
Nappiessmellbad · 30/12/2011 19:46

X-posts, I was answering how would it soak through to the bed.

OP posts:
pigletmania · 30/12/2011 19:46

No can't say I have

ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 19:47

"Don't you sometimes get a fountain of wee effect when changing little boys though"

when they're little babies you do, not toddlers they can control it more. This is about a toddler's nappy isn't it?

and even with little baby boys it's only the first few times that you let that happen, you quickly learn to pop a wipe over it as soon as you open the nappy. By the time parents are out and about its not likely to happen

LoveInASnowyClimate · 30/12/2011 19:49

Re floor hardness, I have the same wooden floor in the sitting room and bathroom, so would make no difference where they were changed - other than that the first would be disgusting for me and any other guests.

pigletmania · 30/12/2011 19:49

And certainly not to change my pants in front of an audience

pigletmania · 30/12/2011 19:54

Look whatever you think, it is rude not to ask the host where to change a nappy. They might be fine with you changing in the living room, they might not. But it's not yours to decide unless you are at home.

Zimbah · 30/12/2011 19:55

One of my friends likes to change her toddler without a mat. Her child does fairly solid poos (TMI but relevant!). Once, at my house, as she was changing a dirty nappy on my living room carpet, a ball of poo rolled out of the nappy and across the floor . I was not best pleased but like the wuss I am didn't call her out on it.

ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 19:56

Piglet I do ask, but have never been told "the bathroom floor". People always either say the living room is fine or else offer a bed

pigletmania · 30/12/2011 19:59

That's fine then, but people who do not ask like those friends in the op are rude.

msbaublestwinkle · 30/12/2011 20:02

I'm happy for nappies to be changed in my living room, the bathroom is too small to lie a baby/toddler down and then crouch next to them and I'd rather not have people in my bedroom.

I do always ask at other people's houses though.

LeQueen · 30/12/2011 20:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnyoneforTurps · 30/12/2011 20:27

Smile at the petal soft toddlers.

ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 20:29

"That's fine then, but people who do not ask like those friends in the op are rude"

but the OP wouln't offer them a comfortable alternative in another room, only the bathroom floor so..

pigletmania · 30/12/2011 20:33

Bathroom floor is fine fgs they are not going to melt. My dd was changed on many bathroom floor and she is fine. Don't you take a portable changing mat where you go, they are soft

ReduceRecycleRegift · 30/12/2011 20:35

I take a FOLDING change mat, they don't have cushioning like the non folding type. and they're small they just fit under the bum, if I stretched it up to his head then the nappy area wouldn't be well covered defeating the purpose