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AIBU?

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Original poster

Amazed at lack of changing facilities!!

99 replies

tuckie82 · 05/09/2017 21:57

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!

OP posts:
SomethingNastyInTheBallPool · 06/09/2017 09:17

I couldn't have changed DD on my knee when she was a baby as she was far too floppy. Now she's 3 we still most definitely need a changing table as she can't stand up unsupported. YANBU, OP - a fold-down changing table and a bin seem like the least most places could provide these days.

SleepingStandingUp · 06/09/2017 10:16

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
Really? You struggle to imagine a reason why it might be easier to change a toddler who may or may not be able to stand on a waist level changer for a parent who may or may not have any physical health issues? Not to mention that squatting in the toilet to change said toddler is likely to get in peoples way. Most cuticles are too small to get a baby on the floor and the door closed. Parks are great if its dry. Cars are great if you own one.

Perhaps you need to open your world view up a bit more

Toddlerteaplease · 06/09/2017 12:07

op. Imagine not being able to go out for the day because there is nowhere to change your disabled child. Fortunately there are now 'changing places' in some places with a hoist and a bench. But nowhere near enough. That is the real problem. Not baby changing rooms.

Bearfrills · 06/09/2017 18:43

my child is guilded in 24ct gold

Only 24ct gold? I went for platinum with the diamond detailing but I suppose you're doing your best. I don't even need a changing room, my baby came with the No Poo upgrade.

I've never had trouble finding a baby change and I live adjacent to the arse end of nowhere. Seriously. The local shops still close half day on a Wednesday and I have to ride a bus for an hour to get to the nearest city centre. There's a baby changing room a five minute walk away from my house, in fact there are 12 that I can think of within immediate walking distance. Once I get to that city centre an hour's bus ride away there are an abundance of baby changing spaces, I can't even count them. There is one that is so nice there are people who have blogged about it. I've never felt the need to blog about a baby changing room but I've been to it and it is rather nice as far as baby changing rooms go. And yes, some cafes or coffee shops if they're small don't have a changing table in which case I have a travel changing mat and a pushchair that lies flat, baby can be taken to the toilet and changed in the pushchair (provided no one who is there applying lipstick looks at her, of course).

Where are these places with absolutely no baby changes? I've seen hundreds of the things.

Know what I've only ever seen one of? A proper, kitted out changing space for a disabled person.

Doglikeafox · 06/09/2017 18:52

I'm shocked at the amount of baby changing facilities that don't have a toilet in them. What are you supposed to do with your pushchair/ non walking baby whilst you go for a wee? Sad

Bearfrills · 06/09/2017 18:55

Choose the end cubicle of the regular toilets, park the pushchair directly in front of the door, close the door, and pee. You can see the wheels in the gap under the door so you know no one is knicking it and, if your baby is anything like mine, you can hear the baby chirpping away so you know no one has knicked that either.

60sname · 06/09/2017 18:59

I'm surprised no-one has said ' leave the door open' yet. Who needs dignity when you have children? Hmm

Doglikeafox · 06/09/2017 19:13

I'm a childminder, so definitely couldn't leave the children out of sight. Also, what exactly am I to do if I do see someone moving the pushchair whilst having a wee with pants around my ankles and a door between me and baby.

Bearfrills · 06/09/2017 19:14

I close the door, why would you leave it open? It takes less than two minutes to pee and there is not an army of baby snatchers lurking in the ladies loos. If its going to take longer for e.g., I need to change a towel or tampon, then I go find a loo that can fit the pushchair in it.

Bearfrills · 06/09/2017 19:15

And if I saw the wheels move I'd whip the door open and ask what the fuck they were doing

Xmasbaby11 · 06/09/2017 19:17

How on earth do you change a baby on your knee?! It's never occurred to me to do that and I've not seen it either. I've had 2 dd and not had problems with baby change. I always carried a mat so did it on the floor when necessary.

Sayyouwill · 06/09/2017 19:17

According to half of the Internet, your supposed to:
-leave the door open while you use the loo
-take baby out of pram and have them on your knee/the floor while you wee
-carry them in a sling and have them with you
-leave the pushchair and baby outside the toilet cubical
-leave the pushchair and baby outside the toilet facility
-go home and use your own facility
-never leave the house

mirime · 06/09/2017 19:24

I could never manage to change DS on my lap, just couldn't do it for some reason, plus as a breastfeed baby, if it was his once weekly poo I'd have needed a change of clothes as well!

DS also hated those pull down shelves and was terrified by hand dryers. You also really realise how small some cubicles are, and how small some toilets are generally when you have a baby that needs changing. And how filthy - and worse, wet - the floors can be.

FlandersRocks · 06/09/2017 19:56

it makes me so depressed to think I can only ever go to big chains with children

Except that babies grow. So even if you are completely unable to change a baby on your lap/the floor etc, it's only for a short period.

ScarletForYa · 06/09/2017 19:57

Change the baby in your knee. It's super easy!

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 06/09/2017 19:59

The boot of my car made an excellent changing station...

SleepingStandingUp · 07/09/2017 00:19

I'm shocked at the amount of baby changing facilities that don't have a toilet in them. What are you supposed to do with your pushchair/ non walking baby whilst you go for a wee?
I am a door open kind of woman. People insist on song hand driers and they make him hysterical. I prefer to see him whilst he's hysterical so o can they to calm him. Also some loo's you ris blocking the sinks if you have the pushchair fully out the cubicle. God knows what I'd do with a double buggy

SleepingStandingUp · 07/09/2017 00:20

I'm more perplexed by the number of people kneeling over dirty floors and lying their babies on mat on cold dirty floors.

Sayyouwill · 07/09/2017 08:36

I'm more perplexed by the number of people kneeling over dirty floors and lying their babies on mat on cold dirty floor.

Well it worked for them once upon a time, and apparently wanting somewhere clean and dry to change your baby makes you entitled

Stellato · 07/09/2017 08:40

I'm more perplexed by how irate people are getting about how and where other people change their babies. As if there is an Unwritten Rule and if you don't follow it you are a Bad Mother.

mintich · 07/09/2017 08:51

Download the nct baby change app.thats what I use to find good facilities especially if I go to a town I don't know

DamnFineCherryPie · 07/09/2017 09:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sayyouwill · 07/09/2017 09:49

Well no, it's just been pointed out there are plenty of baby change places available, supermarkets/train stations/family pubs. It is 'entitled' to expect one in every single place you frequent. You may have to walk 10 mins to find one, it's not the end of the world though is it.

If you're eating in a small eatery that doesn't have baby changing facilities, you need to basically pack up to go along the road to the costa who can refuse you access to the facilities if you're not a paying customer.

It's annoying and it makes you feel like you shouldn't have been there in the first place. Baby changing units are not expensive. I recently purchased new ones for my hotel. Even my local church managed to create one by buying a plastic, padded changing mat and a second hand changing table from Ikea. It doesn't take much to help out parents.

It would be entitled to expect only the best, top of the range facilities. Babies are people too, and I don't think it's fair to expect them to lie in other people's piss on the floor to have their nappy changed, something which they need done.

Bearfrills · 07/09/2017 09:54

Costa have signs up saying you're welcome to use their loos without buying anything, I guess the same would apply to their baby change. And if you're in a small eaterie with no baby change, take the pushchair to the loo, lie it flat and change the baby in the pushchair. Or complain to the manager and ask them to consider installing a table. The world isn't always convenient so compromise and adapt.

Sayyouwill · 07/09/2017 09:57

My costa refused me! Bastards.

I know the world isn't convenient, but sometimes people just want a whinge about it. It's something that's annoying. But the world doesn't end. And I don't think anyone has said that it does. OPs post was a bit dramatic saying she can only go into big chains for the foreseeable future, but I think you have to read some of these posts with a pinch of salt.

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