to change dd's nappy on the bus?

[amieis]

When we are still 30 mins from home and she's whingey?

tittytittyhanghang sometimes I think some posters on MN don't like children very much

kelly, i very much realised that when i read the another thread about small children in coffee shops the other day

I'd change a wet nappy on the bus if it needed doing and was causing my child to cry.
If it was a pooey one and the bus was quiet I'd probably change it too.
If it was busy I'd get off the bus, change bum and get on the next bus (purely hypothetical as the buses run twice a week here).

Before DCs I'd have been a bit about it, now it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Some DCs have sensitive bums.

No perfect solution to wet/dirty nappies in this sort of situation. However, I think you just have to go for the least bad solution. For me, I'd rather a parent did a quick nappy change than the baby crying for half an hour as that would be way more intrusive than a quick nappy change.

On public transport we all just have to be tolerant and understanding of other people, and that includes accepting the needs of small children/babies

I'd try to avoid it if possible,even if it meant getting off the bus there and then,though that's not always an option,but as a fellow passenger I'd rather put up with the smell for a few minutes than have a baby end up with nappy rash.

What would the objection be to changing a wet nappy on the bus? I can understand about a pooey one- but wet nappies don't smell.

wee nappy fine. Poo nappy not fine.

I dont get the objection to a pooey one either tbh. A pooey one will smell when on or off the bottom! Atleast if you change a grizzly baby then they should be quieter and less likely to disturb. And as was pointed out, if the nappy goes into a nappy bag then it will smell even less!

The stink of some people I have had to share buses with make a shitty nappy seem positively delightful in comparison! Stale piss, stale booze, BO and general unwashedness is much worse than a baby who has done what a baby does!

Get off the bus immediatley if you needed to change a nappy???

Really???

Where my mum lives there is 1 bus every 2 hours, when dd was a baby, I changed her nappy on the bus, she had a tissue paper bum as well, 30 minutes would have been too long to wait.

And personally I am of the opinion that if its a choice between dc being uncomfortable or a stranger being a bit meh about changing a nappy, I'd choose to make my Dc comfortable.

I'm a bit sad actually that you didn't change your DD's nappy if you knew that was the reason she was crying. Although also sad that how many people here would have judged you badly for it as well.

I would probably leave a wet one as it wouldn't bother my child but I'd change a dirty one right away, wherever I was. For a start she would get nappy rash if it was left even 5 mins, secondly, how horrible and disgusting to have to sit in a dirty nappy?? Its going to smell regardless. If other people don't like it, tough shit. I'm sure there are plenty of things they may do in my vicinity that I don't particularly like. That's life.

i bet all the people saying "get off the bus" live in urban areas where there is a bus every 10 mins or so, not in rural areas with one bus an hour.

yanbu amieis, but i like the smell of newborn poo so it wouldn't bother me. mmm, milky poo.

Yes, even if there was only one bus an hour, I probably would get off (not necessarily immediately, depending on if we were in the middle of nowhere at the time). In the same way as if my toilet trained child desperately needed the toilet on a bus or train, I'd have to get off (fortunately this has only happened to me once! )

Changing a pooey nappy in a confined yet public space, where others have no choice about walking away, would definitely be my absolute last resort, and I'd rather inconvenience myself - having to wait for the next bus, etc etc - than do it.

Having said that, neither of my children have been particularly prone to nappy rash, except when they are teething, so the course of action I'd be most likely to take is just to wait until I reached my destination. I understand that some others have more sensitive skin though.

It really wouldn't bother me personally if it was just a wet nappy - if it was a stinker, however I'd be a bit

why would you get off a train if your toilet trained child needed the toilet, they have toilets!

and depending on how frequent the service etc its just not feasible to get off and wait for the next one, what if you have to be somewhere else like picking up other children from school or a drs or hospital appointment etc and getting off and waiting for the next bus will make you late?

its not ideal to change a nappy on a bus, but life isnt ideal, i would change it and explain/apologise to other passengers but i wouldnt leave my child to sit in poo, infact i changed a pooey nappy of my dds on a train to london recently, she is 18mths and i took her to the bit inbetween compartments, laid a mat down on the floor and did it there and bagged it up, yes it smelt but there wasnt much other option, 2hr train journey and her nappy needed changing.

OP did you actually post this message from the bus? Do you need MNs permission to act in every situation?

We moved overseas when my daughter was 6 months old, and whilst we were being coached down to our new location after getting off the aeroplane my daughter started to cry, and she had a really stinky bum. I was reluctant to change her because I was worried it would stink the place out and offend some people. In the end I just said 'sorry peeps but I have to change her bum, it is either that or she screams for the next hour' and did it. No-one batted an eye lid.

It is all very well for people to say they wouldn't change their baby on a crowded coach/bus/train but some babies cannot wait an hour in a mucky/wet nappy without getting extremely sore. Plus how would you feel sitting in your own faeces for an hour?

please will someone tell me what possible problem there could be with changing a wet nappy on the bus? Poo I can understand, obviously.

I'd have changed a poo-filled nappy but not bothered with a wet one.
In fact, until she was about a year old, I'd not have worried too much about either, because she never suffered from nappy rash.
Then something happened (we don't know what, possibly started with a food related issue) and from then until she was potty trained we had massive issues - being left for more than a couple of minutes in a dirty nappy resulted in bleeding and blistering which usually took four or five days (and in the most extreme case, nearly three weeks) to clear up.
We never figured out what caused the shift from bottom of steel to the world's most sensitive rear.
In the end, the GP at our health clinic prescribed steroid cream to use when it got really bad as there was no other way of shifting it (and yes, we tried different brands of nappies, we tried all of the over the counter creams, she had nappy free time every day - it had no impact.

If you have ever laid your child on a mat to change them, and watched them start to cry and wince and arch their backs and beg you 'No Mummy please, it hurts', and then had to clean them anyway, or had them refuse to sit down in the bath and then scream with pain when you slosh water over them because it is so sore, then you'd opt for changing and screw anyone who raised so much as an eyebrow hair!
I think it depends on your circumstances. Now, I'd rather see a baby clean, even if it smells a bit for a minute or two, than have them sit in their own dirt.

common????

Bloody hell, I'm enormously posh, and I don't think it's common!

Common!

I'd say that any time I see this sort of thing, it's more the posh, entitled parents at it. Including one who changed a shitty nappy on the table of a train and then DIDN'T WIPE IT AFTER. She was a total Bodenista, all "there there Henry, your nasty poopy nappy can sit in this bin and stink out the nasty nasty carriage".*

Grim.

*Actual quote may have been amended.

Sorry but please don't change a wet nappy on bus! YABU in my opinion! I think some mums might think this is acceptable but lots of people would think this is unacceptable. Wait or get off bus.

Why is it unacceptable Soontobe? What would you suggest if the child concerned would have a serious skin reaction if left for too long and the buses (as for a poster above) only run twice a week?!