Changing nappies in church

[StormGlass]

We went to a christening today.

After the service had finished, and as people were starting to leave the church (quite slowly, as the family group were loitering around the font so guests could take photos if they wanted), one woman changed her little girl's shitty nappy on the end of one of the pews.

I thought this was very bad behaviour.

Okay, shitty nappies need to be changed before too long or the kid could get nappy rash - but the service had finished. People were leaving the church. I've never been in that church before, so no idea what the toilet facilities were like, but surely the mum could have found somewhere outside the church to change the nappy, if it needed doing urgently. Like the well tended grassy verge outside the church, or their car, for instance.

I didn't mention anything, as the family group didn't seem to notice and I didn't want to spoil their day by making a fuss about it. But I'm sort of wondering if I should have said something.

AIBU to think this was unacceptable behaviour? And pretty grim.

Yes I was on the train for 5 hours (Aberdeen to York).

Sorry Nelly, but the fag was lovely (hehehehe!). Yes, of course he was going to do a poo at some point, at my plan was always to either use a loo with a changing table, change him on a seat, or on the floor if there was no seat available. It never even crossed my mind to take extra things for the floor.
And I would do the same again (and probably will be doing so in a few months).

I don't own a changing mat!

You don't have a changing mat? What do you use?

I've done the 5 hour journey by train with a new baby, & I recommend buying a newspaper (or grabbing a free copy of the Metro, even better). Read paper, change baby on it, in the loo, dump paper, all good.

No special status for church IMO (agree with everyone else that The Baby Jesus probably filled His nappies too).

But I would have to be in fairly dire straits before I changed a nappy in a confined public space; other people can do without the stench. So I wouldn't change a shitty nappy in a church, train carriage, restaurant, or any other public place unless there was NO other option, & I've changed many a nappy outdoors or on a grubby floor.

Yes raven- as the theologians go, fully God and fully man(/boy/baby). But the fact remains a lot of people would be more offended over seeing it in church than (say) a train. The same goes for BFing or other natural functions which those of a certain mentality believe to besmirch the sanctity of the place.

This version of prudishness seems more commensurate with Gnosticism than the canonical Gospel, i.e. denying the physical

what trains do you go on raven that have space in the toilet to put them on the floor, the anglia trains i go on dont have the space! i do it in the space between carriages if there is space but often there are bikes and pushchairs there.

Does everyone else have magical babies whose nappies only smell once they're opened??

I would be embarrassed to change my baby in a church - and I think changing a baby in a public space where there are other people around is a bit disrespectful, place of worship or not. I think it's because to me it seems to show a bit of a lack of consideration for the possibility that others might find it offensive.

I wouldn't lie my baby down on a train toilet floor though! If I have to change her in a public toilet and there isn't a mat, I stand her up on the toilet seat, use one hand to steady her and the other to wipe etc. Or I would sit on the toilet lid myself and change her on my lap. Or I would lay my travel mat on the toilet lid/next to the sink etc - but never the floor in a dirty public toilet! Never ever the floor, eek! But I would always go into a toilet cubicle if at all possible.

If there are a) no church toilets b) no church hall c) it was pouring down outside d) there was no car available, then it would be acceptable to change a nappy in church, but to at least find an out-of-the-way pew: both the smell and the sight would be unpleasant, and it seems inconsiderate of other guests' likely feelings on the matter.

If there is no alternative, changing a baby in church is fine if done discreetly, but it seems there were alternatives on this occasion: the day was sunny at least, even if a car or a church side-room/toilets were unavailable, so finding a grassy spot out of the way was probably not a problem. And the nappy-changing was not done discreetly, away from the baptismal guests and general public view.

I wouldn't feel the need to respond to this one, if it wasn't for the fact that I don't want to be confused with Mintyy, who in this instance I totally disagree with! Don't see the big deal at all - doesn't sound ideal, but if the baby needs changing it needs changing and it wouldn't occur to me to huff and puff about where someone else deems it necessary to do it. Our church has changing facilities so I use them, but wouldn't think twice about seeing someone else doing otherwise.

And on trains, I have to plead guilty to changing DD on the seat, and to be honest it didn't occur to me to go anywhere else; the loos are vile, we'd have had to abandon all our luggage, the poo would have spread and she's still breastfed so not yet so offensive smelling. Only done it on fairly empty trains though...