To be annoyed that baby change is always in disabled toilet?

[lizzlebizzle33]

Just that really, twice this week I have come out of a baby change (having had to deal with a full outfit change for 3mo old 🙈💩) to find a fed up looking person in a wheel chair has been waiting ages for the loo, or another mum in the same boat as me but having to wait there with a grumpy, stinky baby.

It makes me feel guilty and I always apologise but it's not my fault that's where they put the baby change and there is only one.

AIBU to think they could be a small room with one or two baby changes in? I wouldn't mind sharing.

Obviously not everywhere has the room to do this but the bigger places.

I’ve been trying to think what makes a good baby change, and one local upmarket shopping mall has it and so do the west Moreland group of service stations. I can’t think of anywhere else. M&S no toilet in theirs, John Lewis John Lewis toilet has to be locked so baby left outside in main baby change area, some place don’t even have a sink.
The components imo of a good baby change are
Plenty of space
Change table with work top with soft mat area for changing.
Antibac for wiping down mat with white roll.
Two toilets one toddler one, one adult.
Same for washbasins.
Pegs in the door.
A seat.
One of those wall mounted fold down baby seat things.
I guess the main issue for places is space, hence the installation in the disabled loo.
I try when taking my toddler for a wee to use the regular ladies toilets but have struggled fitting my very normal pram into the toilet without blocking off other cubicles. [blush.
There isn’t a straightforward answer.

Penggwyn....ta

Zzzzz don't know your case sorry, if you don't do it, then it doesn't apply to you.

I'm yet to try and change my 2month old whilst also out with my 20 month old. On the occasions I've taken them out alone in the double I've been lucky!

I don't know what I would do though if for example ds1 was asleep in the pram and ds2 needed changing and I was alone?
There is no way I would fit the pram in the loo with me, it's long rather than wide, hmm haven't thought this through........ Oh there returns my anxiety of taking them both out alone, hello

Puzzle...leave the disabled toilet door open, leaving double buggy outside but in view, whilst you change baby. If you need to go yourself, guess you would have to take both in with you, one in a sling perhaps, or put on changing table if near to toilet, leaving buggy outside for a minute?

@lizzlebizzle33

DS used to do one massive poo every five days or so. No nappy created could ever have contained it, and it would require a full change of clothes.

And to whoever mentioned Debenhams - their facilities are fantastic. I could not change DS on those pull down shelves as they terrified him. As did hand dryers. Debenhams was brilliant. Separate room, proper built in unit for changing, loo for me. I get lots of places may not have much room but surely department stores and shopping centres can manage decent provision.

@mirime you feel mine pain then! Exactly why I don't take ds2 out in the sling, for fear of said massive earth shattering poo being done all over me.
I already have to take changes of clothes out for 2 children I don't want to have to carry around spare trousers for me too! 😂

The St Enouch centre in glasgow has a great baby changing room it has i think 4 changing mats built in, a little nook for feeding away from the nappy bins, a small toilet built in with full door that your pram can go in and a bench for older kids ti sit on. Best place ive found you have to buzz in so only people with small kids are able to get in.

M&s annoys me they have 2 combined changing feeding and changing rooms so if 2 people are bf at the same time you can wait 20 mins to change I would have thought a double changer and a double feeder would be better.

as a disabled person, I hate the smell of dirty nappies

That's still going to be an issue in non shared use disabled toilets.

Given that some disabled people are incontinent.

Bluewater shopping centre has the best parenting facilities I've ever seen. Every set of toilets has a family section, with a specified feeding room (with comfy chairs) a changing room with built in tables with rounded sides and disposable mats and the bins under every table so you don't wander around leaving baby to chuck the nappy, nd enough room for the biggest buggies (not all of them have this room but the big changing room downstairs does, as does the big feeding room). Finally there are family toilets, same set up with the changers but with a toilet in there too so mum/dad/toddler can pre at the same time. There are straps on the baby changers so no worries about wriggly toddlers. The big feeding rooms even have bottle warmers, private cubicles and and section with a t.v. for other kids whilst you feed baby. I get that every where can't be like that but its amazing!

@Bobbiepin just add a coffee machine and I would be planning days out to these loos, forget the shopping centre 😂

Thanks to ds I have developed a bladder of steel zzz

Hand dryers have also been an issue for ds (on the rare occasions I can use the toilet when out I never use them anymore because I know how much distress they can cause!) what really annoys me is when disabled toilets are so small you can’t manoeuvre the chair around it without your bum setting the hand dryer off!

Not quite toilet related, but age 2, getting changed after swimming, and whilst I was semi naked, DS opened the cubicle door and invited everyone to “look at Mummy’s bottom”. Glam indeed.

Yes we have had the door opening thing too!

It would be great if there could be, in addition to the ladies and gents, a family room with cubicles, changing tables and a slightly bigger washbasin, as well as somewhere to park the toddler while you change the baby.

That would be truly family friendly, and seeing as families are by and large an enormous demographic I don't understand why it hasn't been done before.

@lizzlebizzle33 all the big ones are by the food court so very easy to grab a coffee on the way in. I don't go anywhere else at the moment!

How about mothers and babies boycott shops that don't have decent facilities

Fair enough. Of course it will mean eventually you'll get one or the other.