To think that the table in an Indian restaurant is not the place to change your baby's nappy

[CrimsonCodswallop]

So me and my DP were having lunch in an Indian restaurant today when a couple came in with their children. Shortly after sitting down my DP noticed that the mother had just started changing the baby's nappy. Now I will say the restaurant was empty, just us and them, but I feel it wasn't really the place to change a nappy (just three tables away from us) while we were eating, not to mention the fact that the mother couldn't wash her hands or dispose of the presumably wet (there was no smell) nappy.

It's just a baby. Get over yourselves. In the olden days people shitted in the bushes and wiped their ass with leaves and grass. Now THAT is gross, haha.

Yep morphine if a child has so little warning that you must whip out a potty then and there, s/he isn't ready yet, or should be wearing training pants. Getting a potty out and catching the wee where they are is barely any different from them doing it in a nappy.

Nothing against the odd alfresco wee- but there's a time and a place. At the edge of the park with no public toilets around and a 15 minute walk home is understandable. Allowing a boy to wee up the outside of a shop (when the shop in question had public toilets just inside the door!) is not on.

It doesn't matter whether it's a baby or not. It's still disgusting for you to think you're entitled to changing your babies dirty nappy where people are going to eat.

I'm with you OP. totally inappropriate in a restaurant.

Yep morphine if a child has so little warning that you must whip out a potty then and there, s/he isn't ready yet, or should be wearing training pants. Getting a potty out and catching the wee where they are is barely any different from them doing it in a nappy.

exactly. Don't get me wrong I've had to find a bush on the odd occasion for my little cousins to have a wee, but wouldn't dream of whipping a potty out or changing a nappy on a dinner table.

In our local park there are loads of loos, all nicely signposted. You see so many folks holding their kids over drains to wee. Maybe it's. Or such a big thing abroad (ok so our local park in kensington gardens, so loads of tourists, but still, loads of loos, well signposted!).

Our very best pooing al fresco incident was in the middle of a passing place in a countryside park. She (adult pooing) must've assumed because it was remote, it was ok to drop her trousers in the middle of the road. We almost crashed the car.

Someone once took a piss on my doorstep. I could hear her from the window discussing it with her friend so I went out and asked what the hell she thought she was doing.

Half

People used to get married at 13 in "the olden days" and we don't think that is alright anymore, either.

Times change and so so hygiene standards.

So. At the table , not on the table
No smell.
Do you think she might have just whipped the nappy off and put some knicks on?

No one seems to have noticed apart from you. The staff didnt.

How 'olden' are we talking about? I don't believe my grandma had her backside wiped with sticks and leaves.

frank At the table/on the table, still is where people are eating their food. And they don't know until they opened that nappy that it wasn't going to smell.

Why do people insist on excusing this sort of stuff.

HalfEatenPizza Yes, but they also only bathed once a year in olden days too. :)

Frank, she was definitely putting another nappy on, this could clearly be seen and the child was far to young to be in knickers. As for no one else noticing it was only us and the family in question present, while the staff were out of sight of this at the bar, as they had no customers to deal with at that point.

• sight, not this

I can't see a problem with it if it was on her lap and not directly on the table. It's not as if she started smearing poo everywhere.
And you definitely know before you open a nappy if it's going to smell

When DD was about 3 months old I was in a small cafe with an even smaller toilet. I was going to take her outside and do her in the buggy but it was quite quiet and I asked if they'd mind me changing her on the (rough concrete) floor. They said oh no, change her on the table! It was otherwise empty in there and I used a changing mat but even so! Poo!

Agree it is gross. But you can kind of become strangely desensitised to it when you are changing nappies conatantly. FWIW I have been asked to change a nappy at a table (albeit one in a secluded area away from other diners) at several Indian restaurants. Think ones on Brick Lane where the loos barely have room to sit down. Tables were all made up for guests for later and it felt a bit strange to me. (Sure the same could happen in Greek/British/Thai but Indian restaurants just happen to be the smallest ones I go to).

In response to nicename, it was done AT the table, as opposed to ON.

that, in my opinion, is A LOT better. Not great, but no one eats on the floor.

When I used to do this, I would of course take my child to the toilet. If the toilet was unsuitable (i.e. no room on the counter and filthy floor) I would look for the closest discrete place outside the toilet. I would never do it in the main eating area.

I think if the baby was on her lap, that is really ok. Perhaps the toilets were too small or grungy: babies need attending to when they need attending to.

It's not so long ago that the same expressions of outrage were made when a mum breast fed.

Can't see any problem at all with portable potty because that is their purpose: they provide a very useful link between nappies and using a public loo (which can be upsetting for a little one)

I don't see a problem with a non-smelly nappy being changed 3 tables away from you, if it didn't smell what was the issue, the wee germs are not going to jump 3 tables into your food.

BFing is a bit different to nappy changes, though...

I once asked in a tiny cafe if there was anywhere to change the baby and the staff suggested a table - the only empty one in the place and about 2 feet from other people eating. Decided against it! (In fairness though I have come close to changing DD on the table on a train, when all the toilets were out of order and the ticket inspector thought he couldn't unlock them.)

@ikeaismylocal

Very few people want to witness a baby change while eating their chicken jalfrazi. I'm amazed some people here are trying to justify this kind of behavior on the basis of that its cool if said baby has not shat itself.

YANBU

Is it the possible glimpse of baby genitalia that is the issue? I just don't understand why a non smelling nappy being changed is any different than say a big being changed.

Surely if baby genitals do offend you when you notice that a nappy is being changed you just look away?