to expect to use a disabled toilet when I'm out with the pram?

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I can't use the ladies when I have my baby with me in the pram. The only thing I can do is wheel him into the disabled toilet with me. But the disabled toilets have special locks on them, which presumably disabled people have special keys for. I appreciate that they want to stop able-bodied people hogging disabled toilets but what else can I do?

Nappyaddict shock horror take dc with you to the toilet OMG

well thats what some would say !

Pixelit varies by council and we weretold not to bother.... we're not entitled to a SW actually.Well not tru.Wewere told we could report ds1 for child abuse if we wanted a SW from cp section. Like Hell!

Thanks for trying to help though.

I finally put in a letter toDLA last week on orders of NAS lady to try and get mobility fords3 (his dla was awarded a day before he became 5; as he is often on rens its clear he qualifies) so we will see.

Cariboo I have sympathy if not agreeing with many posters on here but no,you cannot consier yourselfdisabled by children. Blessed by them perhaps.

I know that, Peachy! twas a bad joke. My sil has MS & now can no longer leave the house. Yesterday was her birthday & she wanted to go out to celebrate but was too ill. I would never, ever deprive her or anyone in her situation of the respect they deserve & the assistance they need.

Phew- had me worried there LOL!

Just to add another question- my dd is 2.5 and potty trained, but she cannot climb onto a toilet by herself.

I cannot lift her on to a toilet whilst holding dd2 (5 months) so I often find I need to use disabled toilets as the baby change is in there so I can put dd2 on a changing table while I hold dd1 on the toilet.
(this is especially useful in supermarkets when i have a trolley and can't take it into the toilets.)
I also have a huge double buggy and it won't fit into most normal toilets, so I have to use disabled or leave my children outside on the street.

So, those of you who disagree with parents using disabled toilets, what do you recommend in this situation?

I have a SN son (autism) and we went on a 5 hour car journey this week. Service stations are a real meltdown trigger for J because of the noise, crowds, queues etc. and I always get really stressed by the thought of even stopping, but had to.

We parked in the disabled space that we're entitled to park in because J has a blue badge. We then joined the queue for the three toilets which were dual purpose (disabled and baby change) instead of going into the ladies where J gets funny looks (he is 7... and male, obviously ) He can't be sent into the men's loos as he would never come out!

So we were queuing behind a woman holding a baby and then there was a family behind us too. Woman 1 went in and then the next loo became free. Woman behind me makes a move towards it (cue J screeching "it's our turn it's our turn it's our turn") and I said 'oh, I think we were next actually, sorry', and she fixed me with a death-stare and said "oh, for baby-changing, really?", looking pointedly at J.

I just said, "no, disabled" and walked past her into the toilet, pretending I couldn't hear the "doesn't look it".

No, he doesn't. But isn't he lucky to keep hearing the word disabled in relation to him every time we have this debate with someone over the parking space or the blue badge or the toilet use ? It's so nice that he keeps hearing the word about himself

I hope threads like this make people realise that disabled doesn't always mean wheelchair, no matter what the disabled sign has as its picture.

Sorry to drag this thread up again when it's obviously been finished with, but I wanted to comment in support of givemechocolate and then our stupid broadband went down. The man has just come to fix it, thank goodness.

I just wanted to agree really, and say I know exactly what you mean. Ds is almost 9 and getting very tall so taking him in the ladies invites all sorts of stares and comments. I can't send him in the gents on his own, partly because he cannot yet manage his clothes and wiping himself etc (he would likely reappear with his trousers round his ankles!) and partly because I've no intention of sending a non-verbal child into a toilet with a load of complete strangers.

So, if dh isn't with us I take him into the disabled loo. The only times I get filthy looks is when the baby-changing is in there as well. There was one woman who kept banging on the door and I could hear her asking a passing member of staff for a key (there wasn't one) while poor ds was trying to go to the toilet. It was awful having to emerge with my seemingly 'normal' ds to face the queue of impatient baby-changers and their mutterings. I don't mind telling people he is autistic, I'm not ashamed of him fgs, but I'm starting to hate having to say it in front of him so we just walked off.

Anyway, as you were, the thread is dead .