to think you shouldn't change your babies nappy

[Samantha2014]

AIBU
I went out for lunch with my dd and my sister and her dd, after the meal I went to the baby change to change my daughters bum. Came back and my sister started changing her toddlers bum at the table. aIBu to think this isn't right! Go to the baby change for god sake. I said are you doing that there and she said yeah
I had to walk out with embarrassment!

Lea

I'd probably say that I had done it in the bath but actually do it on the changing mat on the bathroom floor.

I had to change DS's nappy on a twin prop plane once. They didn't have a changing table in the toilet so I did it on the floor in the loo but I couldn't close the door as it was so small. I had DH standing behind me passing the nappy, wipes and sack whilst I went as fast as I could. I think I'm still scarred.

They lean over. It would be hard to lie with me standing there in the doorway talking with them. No one seems to find it difficult.

Bathrooms are for tending to toileting needs, be they adult or child, in nappies or out of them. My living room sofa, rug, kitchen table, bed etc. are not toileting areas. Those who don't want to use the bath are free to use the boot of their car. Most do out of politeness anyway.

I still don't find it easy to change a nappy in the bath, unless the baby was tiny. I probably would never visit you again, TBH (not that you'd want me to visit, either ).

A good changing mat and good changing technique should be safe enough.

I wouldn't be able to change my son in the bath period so I'd probably have to leave and never visit again. Also what happens if someone has a C section or something similar?!

YANBU For using the phrase 'change my daughter's bum' Yuck, say nappy!

*YANBU even

LIE not LAY.

lealander does anyone ever come back? If I was asked to change a baby in the bath and then was hovered over to make sure I had then I sure wouldn't!

What's dirty about lying them on a changing mat? It's only wee and poo and I doubt the parents are smearing it everywhere.

I'm ashamed to admit that I did something a bit like thus last year without even thinking because I was trying to avoid DS (2.5) tantruming. We were at a pub having lunch and his nappy was soaking. He started kicking off about going to the loos as he was scared if hand driers, so I just did a quick standing up change if him at the least public side of our table (we were in the corner). It wasn't until I saw my open mouthed Mum and sister that I really thought it through, and in my defence I was pg and knackered. But I am sorry MNers!

I have 2 in nappies and don't change them in my own lounge, let alone anyone else's! I hate it when friends come round and don't ask where the bathroom is but just start changing their kids in the lounge. Unhygienic. One friend changes nappies on the kitchen table!
But if I were asked to use the bathtub I'd probably say yes but just use the bathroom floor.

Um. There is no way in hell I would ever a) ask someone to use my bathtub to change their baby in, or b) attempt it myself or c) use any bathroom floor, domestic or public, to change a nappy on.

@Diddlydokey and others who would change a baby on a bathroom floor - I realise that people are worried about germs from the baby getting onto their nice rugs (that people walk on for crying out loud) - but are you not concerned about the health of the baby? There is no way I would ever put my baby on the floor of an aeroplane toilet. No way, ever. Imagine the state of the floor, and therefore the underside your changing mat, which then gets folded and put back into your nappy bag. No, no, no.

When your child is too big for a changing table you have no option other than to change them on the floor.

Now seems like a timely place to link to the Changing Places website changing-places.org/

For 1000s of disabled children and adults, having a nappy changed on a public toilet floor is a frequent reality. The majority of disabled toilets have no suitable changing facilities.

Cross posted, honking!

Japanese the aeroplane floor was the worst but honestly I wouldn't have considered ds getting ill by me changing his nappy on the mat on the floor. He wasn't mobile at the time thank goodness and really we had no choice.

I'm happy that my friends would clean their bathroom floors regularly and would use his changing mat anyway.

I cleaned the mat and bag regularly too and the mat was kept in a separate compartment that didn't touch anything else but that's only now you mention it.

Maybe it's a regional or cultural thing. I'm in my 50s so as I was growing up and younger aunts and uncles were having children, and then as an adult when my peers were, and now as younger cousins and friends' children are having their babies, i have NEVER experienced, in my home or any friend or relatives, anyone changing the baby in the kitchen, dining or reception rooms. The bathroom is the default indoor location whether one is just visiting between friends or at a major family holiday gathering or anything in between. No one would dream of stripping off a child's clothing and diaper in front of others and frankly inflicting the sights and odors on them.

Some people change kids in the bedroom of their own home, or perhaps that of the child's grandparent, with permission. Most often unless it's freezing out, people at parties and such just nip out and change the child in the boot of the car and leave the used items there for transporting home. Exception would be a tiny infant but again they would be carried to the bathroom and the changing done privately. Even if it were just two friends or relatives visiting over coffee. Changing in a public eatery would not be something anyone I know would dream of doing.

The bathtub is a perfectly sensible alternative -- clean, convenient and easy to sanitize.

Nobody I know would dream of asking somebody to change their childs nappy in a bath. Everybody is different but I think most people know changing a child in a restaurant is wrong.

Yanbu. If there are facilities available you should use them. But i wouldn't bat an eyelid if a friend changed their baby in my lounge on a changing mat.
On a complete tangent, I had to change my baby on a plane as it was about to land once. His nappy had leaked everywhere so the smell was already horrific and it had leaked up to his shoulders and through to my top. We weren't allowed to stand up cos the seatbelt sign was on. Grim. So we stripped him off, shoved another nappy on, scrubbed him with wipes and tied everything up in a nappy bag to make the smell go away. Maybe some people were grossed out by the changing part but it really was the lesser if two evils, for everyone. I was so embarrassed!

'Inflict the sights and odours' Lealander? If my 7 month old has done a wee then there's no odour and the only 'sight' is her bottom which is hardly offensive.

"The bathtub is a perfectly sensible alternative -- clean, convenient and easy to sanitize."

Actually, bathtubs aren't particularly clean - not the kind that have a shower over them, anyway, which people step into with bare feet. They are in no way convenient for changing nappies, because they are low, and the side of the bath separates you from the baby, plus the position is side-on which makes nappy changing really awkward and difficult.

Finally, I'm not sure that "sterilizing" is necessary. We are talking about someone laying a mat down, then changing a nappy, which 80% of the time will have nothing worse than a baby's urine in it, which has been captured by the crystals inside the nappy. Hardly toxic waste. Bleaching the bathtub is total overkill and awful for the environment.

I really don't get how anyone could think that it's reasonable to ask someone to use a bathtub for this purpose.

@badg3r we had a really similar experience, it was awful. Thank god we had a lot of nappy bags!

My Asian sister-in-law did changed her son on a chair at the dinner table when we visited them. I was mortified. Disgusting.

*In a restaurant.