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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be terrified of addicts contaminating baby changing tables?

61 replies

SpikyCactus · 26/09/2018 23:40

Apparently drug addicts are using baby changing tables to shoot up drugs. So changing your baby could expose them to fatal traces of drugs or infected blood.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6208231/Indiana-mother-reveals-shocking-truth-black-marks-left-babys-changing-table.html

AIBU to be utterly terrified?

OP posts:
OP posts:
QuestionableMouse · 26/09/2018 23:42

It's blatent scaremongering.

LittleBearPad · 26/09/2018 23:42

Put a changing mat down.

Problem solved.

skippy67 · 26/09/2018 23:42

YABU to be "utterly terrified".

CrispbuttyNo1 · 26/09/2018 23:43

Fake news.

skippy67 · 26/09/2018 23:43

Just put a changing mat down.

MyBrexitUnicornDied · 26/09/2018 23:43

Utterly terrified seems to be a bit of an overreaction to be honest.

Surely you put a mini changing mat down on the changing table?

dinosaurkisses · 26/09/2018 23:44

Isnt this the same as "razor blades hidden under stickers" and when there were false reports about people injecting fruit in the supermarket with contaminated needles?

MissusGeneHunt · 26/09/2018 23:46

When I used them for changing DS, I would wipe down anyway, and use a specific cover that would be bagged and washed afterwards. Anything's possible in a public changing room so go prepared....

MissusGeneHunt · 26/09/2018 23:47

But yeah, 'utterly terrified' is a little OTT...

NonaGrey · 26/09/2018 23:48

You don’t need to be terrified. This is one American woman, resident in America talking about one changing table.

Wipe the table, use a travel change mat and if you want to be extra cautious put a disposable change mat (pampers do them) down underneath it.

This is not an insoluble problem. It’s not an epidemic, you need to find some perspective here.

rainingcatsanddog · 26/09/2018 23:48

The Australian strawberries with needles is true

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-australia-45555835

HopeGarden · 26/09/2018 23:50

If you put your own changing mat down, and stop your baby from licking the changing table, then I think any risk will be very tiny.

You can even buy disposable changing mats in supermarkets if you’re worried about contaminating your own changing mat.

hungryhippo90 · 26/09/2018 23:53

I would be worried what with fentanyl seemingly doing the rounds, but then we have a bit of a heroin problem in this area it seems. And full disclosure this sort of thing is an ongoing worry for me and I’ve just been diagnosed with OCD so maybe not the most levelled sort of opinion from me!

ReanimatedSGB · 27/09/2018 00:01

Yabu. It's bog-standard scaremongering with undertones of racism and poor-bashing. Use your changing mat and stop panicking.

giggly · 27/09/2018 00:06

You seriously think their going to leave any behind 😜

ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers · 27/09/2018 00:08

Eh?! Use a changing mat and wash baby’s hands along with yours afterwards. I’d be more worried about germs from the contents of other babies’ nappies to be honest!

LRDtheFeministDragon · 27/09/2018 00:11

I'm much more worried about your own hygiene standards, if you're seriously worried about this.

As others say, you carry a mat and you put it down on the change table. And your main worry isn't drugs or blood, it's smears of baby poo from people who don't clean up! A couple of weeks ago I had a memorably nasty experience in John Lewis, as a mum sat there calmly feeding her baby, having left the change table looking like an outtake from Mud Wrestling 3. Now, if she'd been a HIV infected junkie, I expect I could have reasoned with her, but as it was she totally ignored my passive aggressive 'goodness, this is dirty' comments, and I just got on with it.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 27/09/2018 00:14

(Also, perhaps it's just my baby, but she's 18 months old and still has rubbish dexterity with a rollie, and I can't even begin to see her managing teaspoons over flames, even though I've shown her Trainspotting. I can't help suspecting she'd just crush any exciting residues under her soggy bottom with nary a whimper of recognition._

DayManChampionOfTheSun · 27/09/2018 00:17

dinosaurkisses yep! And 'HIV needles' in cinema seats!

BasiliskStare · 27/09/2018 00:18

LRD Grin

EwItsAHooman · 27/09/2018 00:21

Ive been using public changing tables for nearly ten years now and my DC are yet to get stoned off their tits quiet afternoon for me if they did

I'm picky about where I change them when I have the option so have a mental list of where the nicer changing rooms are (i.e., ones that I know get cleaned regularly and don't smell like Satan has been shitting directly into the nappy bin).

Jozen · 27/09/2018 00:23

Anyone with sinister intent can contaminate what they choose to cause panic or harm. That could be your lovely neighbour, the bloke who served you at the post office etc etc.
This is blatant, scaremongering bullshit aimed at a group of people who are already kicked down and ostracised by society so let's beat them down a little bit more.

Ginkypig · 27/09/2018 00:24

Have you ever seen a story on the news of a baby contracting a common drug Related disease (hiv or hep etc) from being changed on a changing mat?

The answer is no.

yumyumpoppycat · 27/09/2018 00:35

Def don't worry - just wipe the changer it will be fine.

I am a bit ocd around public toilets but a lot less so now that I have 3 kids who don't seem to care about germs … one of my small dc once licked the shiny metal toilet roll dispenser in a macdonalds in central London - gross but she seems fine several years later!