Out with child in a pram and you need the loo...

[Blackbear19]

If your on your own what do you do?
The obvious answer is to use the 'family loo' if there is one but few places seem to have them. Do you?

1. Use a standard cubical in the ladies. Keeping the door open so you can keep an eye on child?

1. Ask a stranger to keep an eye?

1. Leave pram unattended and hope for the best?

1. Use a shewee?

1. Quickly nip into the accessible loo?

List all that apply or you'd consider.

Disabled loo I'm afraid and yes I know it isn't appropriate however I would never leave baby outside or ask a stranger to watch them. They way I always think of it is, would you leave your purse outside with a stranger? Nope then I certainly wouldn't leave my baby.

Disabled toilet. Most of them are intended for parents anyway as they have a baby changer in there too. Or if there isn't one available or it's full I'll go in a cubicle and close the door, be very quick and make sure I can hear them.

Family loo. If not, accessible loo - that’s what it’s there for.

Always head for the disabled toilet / parent and child

If not I'd take my DS out the pram and take him in the cubicle
I have kept the door open before in the end loo if it's been quiet

Always use disabled when with Pram/pushchair there is no family size toilet. Yes it could cause someone to have an accident while they are waiting for me which is horrible but they also could if someone disabled was using it. I certainly wouldn’t risk my child being kidnapped over being a slight inconvenience to someone 🤷‍♀️

Accessible toilet without question.

I don’t want to leave my baby with a stranger, no matter how nice they are. And I’m not pissing with the door open, I have some dignity ffs.

That’s the disabled toilet tied up for another 25 minutes or so.

Family loo. If not, accessible loo - that’s what it’s there for.

No, accessible facilities are not there for people with prams. They are there for people with disabilities.

In my 2 under 2 and latterly 3 under 4....

Take babies in to cubicle (one lying, one sitting on mat on floor - or standing when older) - leaving cubicle outside.

Leave in buggy (wedged in door of end cubicle)

I have some dignity ffs.

And yet absolutely no shame.

Accessible toilet, I have never ever come out to find anyone waiting for it and I pee really fast so they’d never be waiting any more than 90 seconds anyway.

I have also used a cubicle and blocked the doorway with the pram but it’s not ideal if there’s a bank of mirrors opposite the cubicles, I did once have a woman have a proper good stare while she was washing her hands.

When DD was a baby i'd go to the end cubicle and leave the door open and be super quick. Usually the buggy stops people venturing down that far anyway.

Accessible loo. Most of the small ladies round here you cant get a pram in there at all!

Disabled loo quickly or left pram outside end cubicle. I’d always take my bag/phone in as I thought that was more likely to attract attention than my baby.

Also, I find 90% (possibly more) of accesible toilets I have encountered are also the baby changing toilet.

in the last I have;

Asked stranger, but mostly in soft play so they have children themselves.

Baby on floor on blanket (pre moving)

One handed toilet visit

Once they can stand independently I’d leave the Pram just outside the cubicle and stand them next to me shouting don’t touch continuously

DotForShort Hooray. Another thread about misuse of accessible facilities. I wish I could say I'm surprised

Yes no surprises here , It is depressing really isn't

I should be shocked by the number of people popping in just for a minute, but I'm not.

Just a thought - how many of you have offered to help another mum in the toilets? I’ve held babies or just chatted to them in the Pram whilst mum goes to the loo.

Or even if they’ve managed a one handed wee, a one handed hand wash is impossible so I always offer.

I used to either take the pram into the ladies with me and if the baby/toddler was awake talk to them through the closed door til I was finished. If in my local Tesco where the loos weren’t big enough for the pushchair I’d leave them outside next to a checkout with a member of staff.

Tbh it was never a dilemma for me, just common sense.

HiHoToffee, very depressing indeed.

Bring the pram into the disabled toilet with me.

People, stop using disabled loos to go to the toilet just because you have a child. Use the ladies and go to the end cubicle.

If you can pee so quickly that you won’t inconvenience a disabled person then you can pee quickly in the ladies.

I've been asked a fair few times to watch someone's baby in a pram or toddler in a buggy while they go to the toilet or take an older child to the toilet. This was usually when I was out with my DS in his pram or buggy. There was a place I used to go to in a shopping centre and the bit to sit and eat wasn't far from the doors to the toilets so I often had a flustered mum come over and say "would you mind watching the pram and baby or buggy and child while I nip to the loo or while I take my child to the loo". I always said yes no problem. The mum was generally away about a minute if that and sometimes I'd see the mum returning squeezing hand gel into her hands as an alternative to washing. I would say it happened every other time I went there. I even once had an elderly man ask if I could sit with his elderly wife that was in a wheelchair that had dementia while he nipped to the loo. I must have that kind of face! Unless it's a disabled toilet, toilets are generally not accessible around here and are often locked. Most baby changes I come across don't have a toilet in them either

find 90% (possibly more) of accesible toilets I have encountered are also the baby changing toilet.

Current design guidelines advise not combining the two, a recognition these spaces are not to be shared. Having a baby change in them doesn’t mean you should use them to pee just because you have a buggy with you.