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.

[ikeaismylocal]

bib not big.

[ocelot41]

Gross. The only public place I have ever changed a nappy in is a massive National Trust park...and even then I nipped behind a tree!

[TheresLotsOfFarmyardAnimals]

I'm with you Ikea. I don't see the issue. Not the same for a poo admittedly but I've done a wet one then wet wiped my hands and antibac gelled and been on my way. There aren't always the facilities.

I have changed my baby on my lap on plane as it was fit to burst and nowhere else to do it. Sometimes needs must.

There may have been no car etc.

[CuChullain]

ikeaismylocal

Nice creation of a strawman there, it has fuck all to do with catching a glimpse of 'baby genitals' and everything to do with hygiene, bad smells and basic consideration to others. Why the hell should others trying to enjoy a meal have to 'look away', how would you feel if you were informed that the table you were eating had just been used as baby change station 20 mins earlier? Even if you are not changing a shitty nappy the various smells of wet wipes/creams etc is enough to put people off their food as to put it bluntly people associate those smells with shitty nappies.

[HaroldLloyd]

Surely if there are facilities you use them.

If I've been out and there are no changers in a coffee shop I do them on my lap in the toilets.

No issue with being out in the park or whatever doing it on the grass. Toilets are for humans big and small to do their business.

Saying that it wouldn't bother me personally but I understand there are those it would.

[ikeaismylocal]

Ds was a puker, he vomited after every meal, not directly after every meal, sometimes 5 minutes after, sometimes 2 hours after this went on until he was nearly 1 so we were always dealing with bodily fluids in public places, I wish a wee nappy and the possibility of a flash of baby bum was something to worry about.

I personally find the smell of a person who has smoked vile, I can't expect them not to sit near me, if people find the smell of baby wipes disgusting that's their problem really ( aren't most baby wipes fragrance free anyway?)

[HaroldLloyd]

Well it's not all about you, other people might find it very off putting and therefore it's only basic manners to use the toilets.

Like I said it wouldn't exactly bother me but I would do it as I know it is something that would bother a lot of other people.

I've had a baby that puked a lot as well, so don't see why that has anything to do with the issue. He barfed in a few cafés. People were understanding. I didn't choose to make him sick but if I started whipping his pissy nappy off that would be different.

[chopinbabe]

I am astonished at how disgusted people are professing themselves to be.

Babies need to be comfortable, not balanced on the knee in a small, often dim and often smelly place. A baby's bottom is not offensive and nor is a wet nappy.

We need to be more friendly to babies and their carers.

[HaroldLloyd]

Not that friendly.

No harm or upset is going to be caused to a baby by being changed in a dim room rather that at or on a restaurant table.

[WhatsMyAgeAgain]

I honestly don't think it's that bad. A wet nappy quick off and on, no wipe.

I often do this in the car if we're out and about.

Did it in a pub garden.

Might do it in a quiet restaurant one day, who knows. A wet nappy is barely offensive, especially when popped straight into a nappy bag.

[WhatsMyAgeAgain]

Surely most of you have carried and forgotten about your own wee sample in your handbag.

[HaroldLloyd]

I think when your in the zone and have babies and toddlers things are generally less of a deal to you and we are sensitised to the poo/wee mingingness.

If people go out for a meal at a restaurant, I don't think it's outrageous for them to expect people aren't going to change nappies at the table.

Time and place isn't it. Soft play not such an issue.

[HaroldLloyd]

Having a wee sample in my bag and pulling my underpants down and wiping my bum in the middle if a restaurant are too different things though.

[MooMaid]

WTF

[chopinbabe]

Harold: are a baby?

[tobysmum77]

yanbu a restaurant is no.

That said I absolutely detest those gross pull out nappy changing units and wherever possible avoid them. So I would choose to change in the car or outside most of the time. I find out strange tbh how mnetters are over wee in general. fgs if you were sick in the desert you'd have to drink it.

[tobysmum77]

stuck in the desert

[BuggersMuddle]

Sorry it's disgusting.

I was on holiday recently and the hotel wouldn't let a couple change their little one discreetly next to their lounger by the pool. I though that was OTT and said so. But at / on a dinner table? Right next to someone else on your knee on a plane? Gross

BTW I have a digestive disorder, so I have some sympathy with 'needs must', but I can't see how in front of a bunch of people eating their dinner is 'needs must'. I'd even go further than that and suggest that if you are in a fine dining establishment, perhaps you ought to reconsider whether your child ought to be there at all if you 'need' to be merrily whipping off a nappy at the table in front of other diners.

[HaroldLloyd]

I've heard some random points on MN but the wee drinking in the desert must be eligible for a prize surely?

[Droflove]

I was once in a restaurant in Chinatown and 5 Mt old had a wet nappy. It was also his bedtime and he was going to go down in the buggy while we ate so it needed changing. The toilet was tiny. Too tiny to even crouch down we would have had my face practically in the loo and babies waving hands all over the outside of the toilet. So I took him back to the buggy, turned it into the corner with the hood up and did a rapid and sneaky change there. I was quite mortified but didn't have many choices. There was maybe one other couple on the far side of the restaurant, we were in the basement, and they wouldn't have seen but might have guessed.

[Droflove]

I was once in a restaurant in Chinatown and 5 Mt old had a wet nappy. It was also his bedtime and he was going to go down in the buggy while we ate so it needed changing. The toilet was tiny. Too tiny to even crouch down we would have had my face practically in the loo and babies waving hands all over the outside of the toilet. So I took him back to the buggy, turned it into the corner with the hood up and did a rapid and sneaky change there. I was quite mortified but didn't have many choices. There was maybe one other couple on the far side of the restaurant, we were in the basement, and they wouldn't have seen but might have guessed.

[Droflove]

I am now expecting to wake up to a thousand mumsnetters outside my window with cleavers and pitchforks chanting and calling for blood...

[ChangelingToday]

'It's still fucking vile, antisocial, inconsiderate and bloody unhygienic where food is being served and people want to eat. Would be rank if it was a cute little baby's arse being gotten out over the korma, would be equally rank if it was Brad Pitt's arse being gotten out.'
Totally agree. Why can't they change it in the car or pram? Not on a table where food is served, yuck

[MorphineDreams]

chopinbabe we all know you have no consideration for other people in public and the only interest you have is placating the 'little ones'. So not only scooting, but now changing nappies. How ignorant can people be.