RE: dirty nappies and public transport

[ThisIsANickname]

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!

YABU - It takes 2 minutes max to change a nappy problem over.

I don't think that being a parent automatically means that your comfort and convenience is more important than anyone elses.

No, but being a parent should mean your comfort and convenience is AS important as everyone else's. It's not the baby's fault it did a poo, it's not like he/she can hold it in until Mummy is near suitable facilities.

I take DS by tube every day. There are very few tube stations with public toilets and none on our 35min journey. Fortunately, I've been quite lucky with him, he's only pooed twice. The first time I exited the station and had to wander about a strange area looking for somewhere to change him - I got home almost an hour late. Not good when you have a tired toddler.
Second time I found a quiet area on the platform to do it.
I get that its not great for her to have it done on the train but frankly the toilet facilities are practically non existent.

yanbu, I wouldn't even change my own babys shitty nappy on any surface of my home without a changing mat underneath her. The type of people that will do that in public, in front of everyone, without even a mat, are the same type of filthy people that won't notice (or care about) the shit they leave all over the place for other people to sit on. And they will, however much they deny it, dirty people are blind to it.

wow Bobbledunk - hope I never meet you out in public, I must be one of those filthy people then, spraying shit liberally all over the place as I expose my baby to actual EYES! (of course evryone will be taking a huge interest). Jesus, its poo, its baby, get a grip!

I'm a bit shocked at those saying "its just a bit of poo."

This is a complete exaggeration, but you wouldn't be happy if I curled one out on the seat and still expected you to sit there! Why is it different as it's a baby? The seat should still be protected by a mat.

Crikey it's only poo, it's not nuclear waste or poison. ....... (says the girl who's been known to whip a travel potty out most places...)

bobble

How do you cope with things like door handles, people giving you change, coffee cups, etc etc

BTW I would change DS on the train in that situation even if I didn't have a changing mat, doesn't make me a filthy person who casually leaves shit everywhere. Blimey.

I always used to deal with these incidents by carrying a large thin foldable changing mat so I could change dcs on the floor in the train toilet/coach toilet/have even done plane toilets. Easy for me, no hygiene hazards for dcs and no unpleasantess for other travellers.

You can't really get off to take the next train if you're travelling halfway across Europe as I did on occasion.

I think on balance YABU. If the baby was in a pram then it's a miracle they managed to get onto a commuter tube in the first place and if I had been in her position I wouldn't have wanted to risk getting off and not being able to get back on again. She would also have been very limited in her choice of stations as most of them aren't accessible (which I think is shocking but that's another thread...) so expecting her to get off to change her baby's nappy is unreasonable.

I don't think YABU to think she could have changed the nappy with the baby in the pram though. She should have had a changing mat (I know it's easy to forget things but a changing mat?? ) to protect baby/pram and as she had the choice, changing the baby on the seat wasn't the best option. I have no idea if all prams have this but DS's had a removable liner that was regularly washed so no reason why she couldn't if that was the case. Anyway, to misquote the Bible prams are made for babies, not babies for prams!

And if she couldn't get to the pram toilet, a pram is a very handy place to change a nappy- easier on the back too.

It puts a bit of a different slant on it if she got off anyway 10.-15 minutes later, - I think I would have braved it out and waited if that was the case.

On the other hand maybe she got off earlier than planned due to the weight of judging glares raining upon her

In 13 years of living in London and riding on tubes and trains at all hours of the day and night, not once did I see anyone changing a baby's nappy on a moving carriage seat. Not once.

Seriously, if this thread had been written by the Mum, 'I changed my baby's nappy on the tube during rush hour and was inundated by catsbm faces, WIBU?' she would have been flamed to high hell and back...

Do you have any kids op?

Do you have any kids op?

Oh, the OP is not entitled to opinion based on whether she's reproduced?! (She has I believe).

Grow up.

my2centsis did you not see the part where I said "That's what I've done in similar experiences"?

I have 2 pre-schoolers, both still in nappies - I wouldn't do this. I would inconvenience myself before changing a nappy on a seat on a busy tube/train.

Not being a martyr or anything - I simply don't have the brass neck to just go ahead and do this! More fool me, maybe, but there you have it.

not pleasant but on a tube train which doesn't have loos there isn't much alternative. Not pleasant to not use a mat and I would always use something under DC's but smell wise probably better than leaving it and you can always use a wipe to clean your hands and the antibac gel to sanitise.

So to a degree YABU

How rubbish are you at changing nappies if you leave shit on the surface you are doing it on?

OP, I have a present for you. Its a huge box of grips. Take a few and hand the rest out to those equally uptight.

If she was on the Tube then there's no loo on the train or on 99% of stations, so it was either do it there or on the platform.

I'd probably have gone for the platform at the next stop but I can imagine in a sleep-deprived haze, stressed with getting the pram onto a commuter train in the first place to get to somewhere important (because if it wasn't an important appt no way would I be on a tube in rush hour!) that I might have just changed the baby in situ to stop it screaming.

Do babies not wriggle these days? Do they always comply? I don't have kids, but I have sat with my SIL while she does DN, and sometimes he's a monster for squirming about all over the show and putting up a fight during a nappy change!

i blame the parents. Obviously the baby should have been trained by now to only poo at certain times. Damn kids.

Thank goodness I didn't have to travel by public transport when DD was little.

When DD was 3months old I was starting to use underground/trains with DD. I asked my HV what to do in such a situation. She said that you MUST change your babies nappy as soon as it is dirty, wherever you are. If there is a changing table/room fine, if not then lay them on the pram and change there. She also said rather a few dirty looks than one sore DD.