Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

in changing my ds on a bench in a shopping centre??

267 replies

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 01:08

If i am please do tell me

Basically we were sat on a bench in a shopping centre eating our lunch. ds is very particular and won't have anything dirty on. He noticed butter on his clothes and started pulling at them and getting quite upset so i undressed him. I thought as he was undressed anyway i might aswell change his nappy before putting a new outfit on. The woman next to me is tutting. So i said have you got a problem? Of course she said no but it was obvious she did have a problem.

So was i wrong? Or was she wrong?

OP posts:
PazzaPlusTwo · 26/07/2008 01:15

how old is ds?

hollyandnoah · 26/07/2008 01:17

I wouldn't think twice about changing him. Yu get some batty old ladies going about!

HumphreySmallPillow · 26/07/2008 01:18

I probably wouldn't have done it tbh.

But if the only option was one of those tiny, stinky changing rooms provided by most shopping centres, I can see why you did.

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 01:23

he's 2.1

OP posts:
troubledfriend · 26/07/2008 01:24

I would not have done it.

I certainly would not have tutted tho!

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 01:26

Those that are saying they wouldn't do it why is that? My friend said she wouldn't do it cos she is paranoid about peedos

OP posts:
falcon · 26/07/2008 01:29

No I wouldn't have done it, both because it isn't an appropriate place to undress a child or change it's diaper, and my concern isn't paedophiles.

Also because I wouldn't care to leave traces of urine or faecal matter on a bench where others will sit, and perhaps eat their lunch as you did. And finally the smell is somewhat less than pleasant.

shybaby · 26/07/2008 01:29

Oh not sure...my friend would invite me to dinner then halfway through whack her daughter over her lap and change a poo filled nappy. It was not nice . Would probably go for a changing room myself!

(daft, ive done the nappy thing twice but hate seeing smelling other kids nappies). I am perhaps unreasonable also

ScottishMummy · 26/07/2008 01:33

were no other changing facilities avail eg shop?i wouldnt matter of fact change on a bench.

unless no other facilities avail

cross infection/hygiene
not allocated place
folk want to sit on bench to rest/lunch etc
not see a dity bum

i wouldn't be best chuffed if i was at bench and someone changed nappy

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 01:44

no urine would have touched the bench though. there was a mixture of him standing on the bench, on the floor and lying on my lap. not sure if that makes a difference?

OP posts:
nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 01:45

oh and no one was eating. if they were i wouldn't have done it.

OP posts:
falcon · 26/07/2008 01:47

I still wouldn't have done it.

ScottishMummy · 26/07/2008 01:49

air borne contaminants still there though.so no i wouldnt have if other facilities avail

muggglewump · 26/07/2008 01:51

YANBU, he's a toddler.
I have to say though I was far too environmentaly friendly lazy to bother with changing for a wee bit of butter, do you change him for every wee bit of mush he notices?

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 01:58

i thought wee was sterile though?

OP posts:
shybaby · 26/07/2008 01:59

Depends on shopping centre too I guess. Our local one has a (nice clean) baby change facility at every turn.

falcon · 26/07/2008 02:08

Urine is only sterile until it's exposed to the air.

Even if it remained sterile it still has an offensive smell which is reason enough not to change a nappy in public imho.

goodasgold · 26/07/2008 02:24

I was reading this thread, and then I saw a picture of Dexter on the right. My dream came true, will start another thread and let you get on with your nappies.

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 02:32

oh i didn't realise that. is it worse than me sitting my toddler with a runny nose next to you though? cos there's going to be germs then aswell.

i would never change a pooey nappy but to me a wet one doesn't really smell.

falcon - what about when people visit your house? do you insist they do it in the bathroom. cos now i'm slightly worried i have offended all my friends by changing ds in their living room.

OP posts:
EustaciaVye · 26/07/2008 02:36

But everyone else wouldnt have inspected whether it was wee/poo, they would have just seen you changing a toddler's nappy.

I have changed DDs nappy on the grass in a park, and on a park bench in a park too when there was no alternative but I wouldnt do it inside a shopping centre for the reasons falcon said.

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 02:37

why is a park bench different to a shopping centre bench?

OP posts:
EustaciaVye · 26/07/2008 02:43

Ref park bench, at the time my reasoning was that it had been raining/there were no baby changing facilities within about 45 min walk and DD had nappy rash already/there was no-one around to offend.

Most shopping centres are busy places (lots of people who wont think the same as you) and they normally have changing facilities in the proximity.

Friends and I have often changed nappies in each others living rooms. We all have DCs and arent necessarily offended by poo/wee etc but some people are.

nappyaddict · 26/07/2008 02:46

ok so my next question is is it unreasonable to go into mcdonalds without buying anything and use their baby changing facilities? cos the one time i did this to use the toilet i felt really bad and like all the staff were watching me. i know they probably weren't but i felt really naughty.

OP posts:
madamez · 26/07/2008 02:54

Oh blimey everyone goes into evil corporate hellzones McDonalds/KFC?burger king to have a wee let alone change a baby. OK hoiking a baby up onto an eating table to change a shitty nappy and then leaving the nappy there is a bit much but in general most public places have some traces of bodily effluvium on there...

hatrick · 26/07/2008 06:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn