Leaving baby with stranger

[sunshine240778474]

I took my 8 month old baby to her first swimming lesson today. Once we were out dried and dressed. I was bursting for a pee. None of the toilets had an area for me to put my baby down while I went to the toilet. I didn't have a pram with me.

An older lady who was at the swimming pool watching her grandchildren swim said she would hold her while I went to the toilet. I was a bit hesitant at first but then agreed because she looked nice.

Everything was fine.

Afterwards I felt terrible and so guilty that I left her with a stranger because she 'looked nice'

Was it wrong of me to leave her?
When I told my partner he made me feel worse.
Now I feel like a terrible mother.

I worry media incl social media has made people unable to assess risk. You left a child with someone for two mins in a fairly controlled environment with swimming. All absolutely fine and I’d expect perfectly normal back in the day.

Don’t over think it. It WAS fine. She’s fine all is ok. I usually just peed with them on my lap 😂

Omg, I have breastfed so many time while on the loo 😂 so glad it’s not just me!

This really made me laugh 😂. I used to take 6m old & 2.5yo swimming by myself. It would be very very rare that DH would come along & even if he did, it would still be down to me to get both kids dried & dressed afterwards! 🤷‍♀️**

I heard recently that some public toilets in Japan have a holder to put your baby in inside cubicles - in fact I googled and found a picture: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/1b64sz7/mall_restroom_in_tokyo_has_a_holder_to_put_your/

Sounds good to me!

Some in the UK have this! It’s a fold down seat with straps like a high chair. Not great for tiny tiny baby obviously and very rare, but useful!
another alternate, if it’s close enough to toilet is strap baby into the baby changing table and also have your hand on to stop them falling off? I’ve done that before but not all changing tables are close enough to toilet!

When I’m wrangling my own gcs I’m certainly not looking to abscond with another one! I like cuddling babies but wouldn’t want to keep it.