and I know I've done a bloody stupid thing but - changing a wet nappy in public

[booradley]

I feel so stupid and I know I'm in the wrong but I changed DD nappy in the cafe area of a farm park today. It was 4.30 and there was no-one around, the nearest people were sitting 15 feet away and the baby changing station was occupied. I knew that it was just a wet one and that she had on dungarees so no part of her body or the used nappy would touch the table so I changed her.
A member of staff came up to me late and said that a doctor had seen me do it and he is going to report the park to the dept of health.
I know the staff member was freaked out but when I asked what this would mean she said they would probably get closed down.

I know its a bloody stupid thing to have done and I feel a complete mug but does anyone have any idea what's going to happen?
I figured the best scenario would be a get a snotty letter from park telling me off but the worst, well I have a vivid imagination and I'm thinking all kinds of stuff - does anyone have any ideas.

ps - yes I know it was a bloody stupid thing to do.

the doctor is lying, the cafe will not be closed down

Hahaha ... go back and make a dirty protest

(joke)

ffs it seems odd to change a nappy on a table??!! When did we all become such sanctamoniuos twonks in this country? I realise that that there pedestal that you all cram on is probably wiped down with bleach, disinfectant and a hundred other such cleaning products hourly, but you all also probably have no resistance to germs. We who inhabit the real world think that it wont kill us to imbibe a bit of muck. Worry about that which needs worrying about.

I don't believe there was a doctor.

I think the staff member didn't have the backbone to say that they didn't want you doing that on the table.

No doctor would bother to report the farm park to the Dept of Health - it's nothing to do with the DoH anyway, it would be Environmental Health!!

It's not very hygienic (to put it mildly- she might have recently had a D&V bug or been immunised against polio for all that doctor knew), but you are probably not the first to do it (always bugs me that people think it's perfectly ok to change a pooey nappy on a little baby without a second thought when actually they could be passing polio on to people) and imo, it is very unlikely that anything will come of it, either for the cafe or for you. They took your name and address to put in their report to justify their side of the story.

Urine is sterile - the doctor should know that.

Not the end of the world, more germs on a chopping board than a nappy me thinks, must have been a slow day, for the park doctor??

My youngest is now 8 so i have less tolerance of other people's small children but this seems absolute tosh: had I seen you I would have been underwhelmed but no more than that: you've already said you shouldn't have done it but from where I am, if the worst crime you commit is to pull off a wet nappy and replace it with a dry one, you're fairly saintly anyway... have a glass of wine and watch the Eurovision...

Viva la Eurovision!

If you feel bad about it you could give them a bottle of disinfectant as a peace offering!

But I don't think you have anything to feel guilty about. What a load of officious busybodies! They had no right to make those threatening remarks and I don't think there was any doctor there, they were just trying to scare you.

For a restaurant to be closed down by Environmental Health (not Dept of Health - what ignorance!) there have to be rats, cockroaches, lots of grime, and ongoing poor hygiene practices. A baby being changed on the table is nothing.

You haven't committed any crime. Your baby's nappy needed changing. The changing room was full. You were considerate and made sure no other customers were looking. I've changed nappies in some pretty oddd places just out of necessity.

Do you think they employ a fully qualified doctor just to spy on people like yourself? I don't think so.

If anything the baby would have been more at risk from the germs on the table than the other way round! But I think your baby will be fine.

They will just have to give the table an extra scrub with some disinfectant. No hardship. Cheer up. (sorry, a bit long!)

you haven't done anything illegal - end of

the worst they could do is ban you from coming back

Duchesse - Polio is no longer given as a live vaccine so no issue there at all.
Plus it was not a dirty nappy ...

o and there is no way on gods green earth they would be closed down for this - maybe if you'd done it in the food preparation area, placed a pooey nappy face down and left it, they'd left it and then prepared food in it - maybe then as there would have been clear negligence on their part. even then they would have been issused with warnings before any action would be taken

officious twats indeed!

No big deal.... but then neither is waiting a few minutes for the baby changing room to become free...... nobody has really answered the question of why it's ok to change a baby on a table rather than just wait a couple of mins. As I said earlier, most people don't drop their pants and pee just because there's a queue for the lav. Otherwise I'd have peed on a lot of toilet floors by now!

isnt polio no longer an issue due to changes in vaccines? it is no longer a live vaccine?

I did the same thing in a coffee shop on a chair outside, dont worry!

I guess if the 'doctor' was watching you from afar he might not have known it was just a wee nappy and thought it was a poohey one ? Still an arse though. .

The OP never says it was outside. I still maintain that it was a pretty unpleasant and unnecessary thing to do, but OP seems to think along the same lines and I very much doubt anything will come of it so I would just let it go. Booradley we have all had the odd lapses of judgement so I would try not to worry too much.

As far as this thread is concerned though and being accused of being "holier-than-thou" the general consensus on mumsnet seems to be that it is unacceptable to expect a breastfed baby to feed in the toilet area (strongly agree with this) and so the flip side of this is surely that it is also unacceptable to change a baby in an eating area.

Here's an outrageous suggestion...couldn't they just wash the table?

I'm no expert but I'm guessing that, if contacted, the career civil servants at the DoH may have suggested something similar. But like I said...I'm no expert.

Okay Booradley, next time someone takes your name and address, this is what you say...

"My name is Mrs J Mumsnet, 1 Mumsnet Towers Mumsnetville MN1 1MN."

I've a feeling my MN membership may be revoked. If so, it's been nice knowing y'all!

I agree with Sidge. I think that the member of staff could have made this all up just so s/he didn't have to directly tell you off.

I agree the member of staff probably made it up.
I also think the OP could have just waited and used the baby changing place... not that hard is it?? I would have thought it pretty odd if I'd been having my lunch in the cafe and someone did that, just could they couldnt be arsed to wait.

How OTT. Bit of dettol spray. Done.

If you get a letter return to sender.

hey chill out you wont get into trouble at all, i had the same thing happen to me with ds1 (now 8) however i didnt change him on the table but i laid him on a changing mat on the floor in a student cafe (uni campus) i was partially hidden behind a sofa, but apparently some customer complained....

anyhow again it was only a wet nappy, NOT a pooey one and at first i was upset, but i DID POINT OUT TO THE CAFE MANAGER THAT THEY DIDNT HAVE ANY CHANGING FACILITIES, so what was i supposed to do, at the time there were NO baby change facilities on the whole of the university campus interestingly a few weeks later they installed some

Was there a notice saying don't change a nappy on the table? Never seen one anywhere.

What about this other customer had he stepped in dog poo & tracked this into the cafe, had he washed his hands, did he sneeze or cough - bet he was more of a health risk.