Amazed at lack of changing facilities!!

[tuckie82]

I am lucky enough to have travelled to various places in the UK this summer and I still cant get my head around the lack of usable baby changing facilities! I like to go with my baby to locally run cafes and restaurants as I am a firm believer in supporting the local communities but it becomes impossible when they simply don't provide any where to change your baby! Something needs to be done as it makes me so depressed to think I can only ever go to big chains with children!

Lay the buggy flat, put changing mat down and change baby.

Christ almighty.
You know what people also did way back when? Shit in a hole and bury it. You need a toilet? Pah! In my day we used a bucket and threw the contents out the window and we were bloody grateful!

OP I know how you feel. Because we happen to live in an age where baby changing facilities are available, it has made our lives so much easier. My DS is currently nearly impossible to lay down still while you change him. He rolls, wiggles away, eats his feet etc honestly I could do with some back up! A baby changer means I have somewhere to put him and hopefully strap him down, if he went on the floor he would wiggle/crawl/roll away. Also often the floor space is minimal too so I don't want people tripping over us while I'm cleaning shit from him bum. Do it on my knee I hear half of you call out, well yes that's a fab option. I love eau de shit/piss, it's my new fav!

Why would you actively avoid something that makes your life easier? I suppose everyone who's taken a pop also washes their clothes in the local stream? Boils water in a pot over a fire? For god's sake, the woman just wanted to whinge about places being stuck in the Stone Age and it seems she's found the matching audience!!

Sorry- how on earth do you change a baby) 2 year old on your knee?
My 9 month old wiggles and tries to crawl away on the floor, I definitely don't want anything smeared over my trousers if he did this!

If there are no facilities I usually change in the pram. My second baby is only 5 months so still in carry cot so it's easy. When older i will lie the pushchair flat. It is a pain not having a changing table but I wouldn't avoid somewhere due to not having one. Once my eldest could stand I'd change her standing up anyway.

I avoid places with no baby changing facilities. Tends to mean sticking to chains but so be it. I also find chains more tolerant of kids where most local independents are too small for the pushchair and are much quieter

I uused the car seat. this occasionally resulted in an undignified exit fro the front seat/door as i had to climb over the seat due to child locks...

Everyone queuing and washing their hands and applying lipstick can see, hear and smell your baby, which I think is very inappropriate.

Hahaha, oh are you serious??

Oh my word the level of ineptitude on this thread is hilarious, my child moves, my child is more than 20cms long, someone my see my child's bottom, my child is guilded in 24ct gold. Fgs, it's a child in a nappy, as sensible adults I'm sure you can work it out!

Ds is 7 and I don't remember ever having a problem finding somewhere to change him unless I was somewhere very remote and I have noticed that there are lots of baby changing rooms/family rooms popping up in places now even in such a short time.

I thought this was going to be about the lack of suitable disabled facilities especially for those who need larger beds/hoists in order to be changed - now that is a valid campaign!

ScoobyDoobyDont, get over yourself. If there were no changing facilities then yes, other ways would be found. Kids would not be covered in shit. Times change, you can stay in the past, but things have moved on and the facilities are now available. You are not a better parent because you have only used a changing facility twice.

Bufferinkisses, yes, yes, we know you had it hard back in the day. You are a real trooper (!)

Changing facilities are great to have and I agree it would be nice if more places had better facilities but to limit yourself as to where you go because of it is just bonkers. The boot of the car, the pushchair or the floor are all fine for the majority of people. Not ideal but once you have a baby you have to learn to be more adaptable.

Agree the situation for older children/adults is terrible but that's not what was being discussed in the OP.

Ooh arrogant much daydreamer?! I'm 40 years old not 90. I just have the ability to be sensible and practical about changing nappies rather than entitled and drama llama on need speed about it.

Are you sure you are 40 Bufferingkisses? You sound much much older.

But hey, my arrogance matches your condensending nature.

funny as

I never liked changing tables, I was always paranoid ds would fling himself off somehow, safety straps or not. At least he can't fall off the floor.

Standing changes are the way to go once they can manage to stay upright, anyway.

You know what people also did way back when? Shit in a hole and bury it. You need a toilet? Pah! In my day we used a bucket and threw the contents out the window and we were bloody grateful
This! Its the pusjchair on bus conversation all over again. I assume you also live in a house without double glazing, take no modern medicines, don't drive a car etc.

Floors in café toilets are not clean enough for me to be down on my knees n the floor with a toddler on a mat on the floor trying to see what he can pick up off the floor to lick.

Thankfully we're adept at doing the standing up nappy change.

There's lots of department stores etc that have decent changing. Bus stations. Train stations. Just use one of them before going to the café.

I'm more concerned about people trying to change a 10 year old or a 20 year old etc with disabilities and facilities aimed at a 6 mo

I dont understand how you change a baby or toddler over your knee.

You're right. The lack of decent public lavatories in most towns I see a disgrace and a real issue for the elderly or those with disabilities as well as young parents with babies.
It's about money and the disgraceful behaviour of a few. The notion of publicly funded services doesn't sit well with our government and the majority who voted them in. In order to maintain good public facilities we'd have to pay more tax and that is politically unpopular. Add the additional costs of a public who spray graffiti, leave a disgusting mess, fail to flush, put whole loo rolls down the bowl, junkies leaving needles and the use as a meeting place for sex and the decision to close them is easy.

Op, you might have it already but if not the NCT changing app is handy for showing the nearest changing facilities.

red me neither. Changing them on my lap worked for about two months. Once they started twisting and rolling it was impossible.

Imagine what is like when your child becomes a teenager and you still having to change them lying down but they won't even fit on the toilet floor

I have to do this with my dd as well. My dh can take her into the disabled loo, and change her pad while she's standing up by supporting her weight. She's taller than me so I just simply can't get the hang of it. We're fortunate that she can actually stand up as well. Even that's not possible for some people.

And I could definitely change her on my knee when she was two. It's necessity.

Once a toddler can stand up, you don't really need to lie them down to change them.

There are lots of options - on your lap, in the buggy, on a changing mat on the toilet floor (or even a corner of the park), boot/back seat of the car, standing in the toilet, sitting on the toilet...

I'd be pretty surprised to see someone with a 2 or 3 year old queuing for a baby change rather than just taking them into the toilets.

Nice baby change facilities are nice, but let's not make a drama out of it!