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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

RE: dirty nappies and public transport

149 replies

ThisIsANickname · 30/04/2012 16:08

About 5 minutes into my journey into work this morning, the train carriage I was on began to smell and it became very apparent very quickly that the source was a baby's dirty nappy.

Fine. Babies do that. No one blames the child.

But the mother, who had a seat just behind the pram, decided that the best way to deal with this was to change her baby right there on a rush hour train. She lay them down (awkwardly as there wasn't much room) on the seat she had been on, and proceeded to change the soiled nappy.

It was horrendous.

AIBU thinking that this was completely wrong? I mean, really? EEW!

OP posts:

littleducks · 30/04/2012 16:21

I think its pretty disgusting actually and yes I have travelled with a baby by train. I have when desperate as there were no facilities about changed babies with the pushchair laid down flat and on the back seat of the car. I think that it is pushing a bit far to change a baby on a bus/train seat. She should have either waited until she got of the train if it was a short journey, got off changed and got back on if it was a frequent service like a tube or used the on board toilet (PITA but needs must) if it was a long journey.

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 30/04/2012 16:22

Look, I'm sure it wasn't pleasant but the parent had little choice.

Leaving the train would have been quite ridiculous (and possibley made her late for work/her appointment/wherever she was going).

Changing nappies in restaurants and so on is not on. On a train, with no other options, then fine.

YABU.

YonWhaleFish · 30/04/2012 16:23

TBH I think it's gross to do it directly onto a chair, that's why I was asking whether she had a mat etc.

Surely you need running water to wash your hands too?

Poo is gross, no matter who it came out of!

BertieBotts · 30/04/2012 16:23

But there is even less room in a train toilet than on the seat - I don't understand how you could change a baby in one!

SparkyTGD · 30/04/2012 16:23

I don't think there are changing stations amongst the seats either

Its been a long time since I've used a train though.

Quite sure I changed DS in an airplane loo before, so would think it would be similar, probably.

insancerre · 30/04/2012 16:24

maybe she had some antiseptic hand gel in her bag? no need for running water

gnushoes · 30/04/2012 16:25

You can barely turn round in the loo of a commuter train let alone lay a baby down to change a nappy. Experienced mums are pretty good at changing babies without crap flying everywhere, so what she did was the best option, I'd say.

YonWhaleFish · 30/04/2012 16:25

Disclaimer - I have no kids.

bigjoeent · 30/04/2012 16:27

A train is very different to a restaurant, no excuse for changing a baby near food.

How packe was the train, I find it difficult to walk along a moving train to the toilet especially if busy, let alone holding a baby at the time. Never tried but the idea of changing a baby in the toilet sounds difficult.

Changing on the seat not nice for anyone but maybe the best idea in the circumstances. As for getting off...... god.

AllYoursBabooshka · 30/04/2012 16:28

:o YonWhale.

Don't worry, It's usually a very quick and mess free process if you have experience. Hands need not come in direct contact with poo at all if done correctly!

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 30/04/2012 16:30

You expected her to get off the train, hope there was somewhere to change the baby at that station and wait for the next train... all to save your nose?

Hahahahahhahahahahahahha

Not really a workable solution unless she had nothing better to do that day.

SparkyTDG - I haven't, but I have been very very tempted . When you are there with more than one child, especially another baby/toddlers or a very young one just starting to go off on their own, it's a bit of a nightmare finding/dragging them all to the loo to change one baby's nappy. I was at one the other day with a 9month old, a 14 month old and a three year old... it was very very tempting to change the 9 month old at the side of the 'baby' area where the 14 month old was happily playing and where the 3 year old knew where I was.

lovetomoan · 30/04/2012 16:31

I understand i's EWWW but I am pregnant and any smell makes me sick (I'm not on the 1st trimester) but then I would have probably done the same as I would have been more worried about any damage to the baby skin for not changing nappies often enough. And I had to put up up with the same situation yesterday. I took it as training for when my baby arrives lol
It's a difficult one whether YABU or YANBU.

squoosh · 30/04/2012 16:32

YANBU

bigjoeent · 30/04/2012 16:32

Chipping, agree completely, its fast and much easier.

catsmother · 30/04/2012 16:32

She should have sprayed the baby liberally with a handy bottle of Febreze (Spring Flowers, Fresh Linen, Cheese & Onion or Fags & Booze maybe ?) which all good mothers keep in their handbags precisely for this sort of eventuality ...

missdt89 · 30/04/2012 16:34

on the trains near me the train toilets are litterally a cupboard with no baby changing facilities.

I have had to change my dd on the train when she has pooed there is no way i would leave her in a dirty nappy!

If there where changing facilites i wold of taken her to them but htere wernt so had to change her ont he seat. Yes its not very nice but what else aam i meant to do?
YABU

Rubirosa · 30/04/2012 16:34

Not ideal but don't really see what else she could have done. I would maybe have tried to change the baby in the pram if possible. I've had to change ds on a train seat in the past too.

TrudiRed · 30/04/2012 16:35

I'd have done exactly as she did and changed my baby as soon as I could in the easiest way possible. I don't make a habit of smearing poo everywhere when I change a nappy but would have cleared it up if I had. I would probably have found something too lay the baby on to protect the baby from the crud on the seat rather than protect the seat. YABU to expect some-one to get off a train to change a nappy imo.

Mrskbpw · 30/04/2012 16:41

Am green with envy at the thought of a commuter train where there is room to change a baby's nappy. Was she sitting next to someone? Bet they enjoyed it! I'd have left it but purely because on my train to work there is barely room to breathe, let alone change a nappy, and definitely no chance of walking through the carriages to find a loo...

Original poster

ThisIsANickname · 30/04/2012 16:45

Was she sitting next to someone?

Yes. This was a tube train filled with people. Not bursting at the seams, but still a rush hour commute. I don't understand why, if she had to do it on the train, she didn't at least do the changing in the pram. I think she didn't want to lose her seat.

OP posts:

G1nger · 30/04/2012 16:45

"I have always been under the impression that changing a baby in a place that other people's hands, feet or clothes could come into contact with anything accidentally left behind is wrong"

Tell us, did she leave anything behind? No...?

ilovesprouts · 30/04/2012 16:45

i was on the train to temple meads and had to change my ds2 on the floor

EnjoyResponsibly · 30/04/2012 16:49

Oh for Gods sake.

I'm assuming she didn't smear poo all over the seats. I'm guessing the dirty nappy and clean up took less than 30 seconds, before it was rolled up and stashed. The smell would have been lots worse if left clamped next to a hot bottom, plus the baby would have likely screamed the place down.

Im telling you if it was a South Eastern train a whole lot worse goes over those seats on a Friday and Saturday night, right where you innocently parked your arse this morning.

Claw your judgeys down from your arse OP.

G1nger · 30/04/2012 16:49

Btw, never in a month of Sundays will I change my baby's nappy in his pram. The reason why I change my baby as soon as I know he needs it is that it could spill out into the pram. Much better to put him on a changing mat and get it over with.

Original poster

ThisIsANickname · 30/04/2012 16:52

G1nger so you are saying that you wouldn't change your child in the pram for the exact reason that I am objecting to her doing so on a seat (no, she didn't have a mat)?

OP posts:

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