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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I know IABU but anyway...

24 replies

belly36 · 05/07/2010 15:37

Went to baby clinic with DS1 (age 4) and DS2 aged seven weeks. I wanted to see if DS2 is putting on weight and if he's heavy enough yet to go in the Connecta.

So, DS2 had been bawling all morning, overtired and he fell asleep on the way to baby clinic. So was asleep when we got there.

The cow at the reception then informed me that I had to leave my pram outside. Pointed out that DS2 was asleep. I would have been prepared to wait outside also, but there's nowhere to sit (45 min wait), there's no shade, nothing for DS1 to do and they don't feckin come and get you if it's your turn. So anyway, she tells me I can put the pram in the corner (inside). I do that and another bitch (HV) tells me prams are not allowed inside. So, rather than argue I just turned around, collected DS1 and told him we were going. B HV repeats "it's the rules" Was tempted to shout "fuck your rules" but couldn't in front of DS1.

Went to soft-play instead much to DS1's delight.

However, am still fuming about this. They expect you to leave your pram which could have cost a small fortune outside. You can't see it once you're inside, so you risk someone nicking the damn thing (have had a pram stolen before) or that it chucks it down. Grrr.

Am not going back there.

OP posts:

compo · 05/07/2010 15:41

Is it because if everyone leaves a pram in the waiting room it's too crowded and there's no room if someone comes in in a wheelchair?
Or are they just being officious for no reason?
Anyway sounds like yanbu to me

LisaD1 · 05/07/2010 15:42

YAB a bit U.

They have health and safety policies to adhere to.

Imagine if there was a fire and someone couldn't get out because the place was rammed with prams? They would be in serious trouble with the HSE.

SagacityNell · 05/07/2010 15:44

YABU

its for health and safety reasons and also some of the babies there will be crawling on the floor and at that licking everything stage.
Wouldn't like to be the one with mud (or worse!) on my wheels!

MrsHarkness · 05/07/2010 15:45

YABU the woman (not cows and bitches as you so nicely put it) were doing their jobs.

BeerTricksPotter · 05/07/2010 15:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Butterpie · 05/07/2010 16:01

Why isn't the waiting room fit for purpose though? If they must have everyone and their babies in at the same time, they should have room, which in my mind includes prams. Unless they want all the new mums driving about?

YANBU, and I hate this idea that those of us who take our BABIES to BABY CLINIC using the standard way of transporting babies are BU. Not everyone can use slings (I have mobility problems that stop me using one on bad days) so how else are we meant to transport our babies?

Oh, I forgot. Everyone has a car to transport our babies from door to door so they don't inconveinience anyone.

They wouldn't hold a disability meeting somewhere that has stairs, they wouldn't hold an AA meeting in a pub, so why on earth hold a baby clinic somewhere it is hard to take babies?

I'd have kicked off. Unless they have a staff member free to pram sit?

lucky1979 · 05/07/2010 16:02

Our clinic gives everyone bicycle chains to lock up your prams outside. But if everyone with a baby brought their pram in then it would be an utter nightmare if there was a fire - eveything would be totally blocked.

How were you going to weigh DS2 if you didn't want to take him out of the pram or wake him up anyway?

thisisyesterday · 05/07/2010 16:02

well you know you're being unreasonable so i won't tell you that you are!

get a cheap bike lock and lock the pram up outside is my advice.
or drive

thisisyesterday · 05/07/2010 16:04

well i am sure if all baby clinics were purpose-built they would make space.

but it'd have to be HUGE, which would cost an awful lot to build, jsut so precious mums didn't have to leave the buggy outside.

most baby clinics round here are run either at GP surgeries or in community centres

SagacityNell · 05/07/2010 16:07

butterpie - actually i don't drive and didn't manage to use a sling. Baby clinics cannot be compared to wheelchair usersmeetings. By LAW these buildings have to be accessible by wheelchair users, it's not law to allow buggies in a baby clinic.

If you buy such an expensive pram then you should buy a bike lock.

Original poster

belly36 · 05/07/2010 16:11

Trouble is, this is purpose built. They moved it from an old clinic where you could leave your pram in the 'pram room' (you could wait there too) to this new place.

Really like the idea of the bike lock, never thought of that, am definitely getting one (thanks).

On how I was going to get him weighed, well I was going to let him sleep for the 45mins, then wake him up. At least he would have got some sleep.

OP posts:

mousemole · 05/07/2010 16:13

what a nightmare. Sounds like my old doctors. My old health clinic was good though - they put up a lean too to act as a 'buggy park' which was helpful. YANBU.

BeerTricksPotter · 05/07/2010 16:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

WhereYouLeftIt · 05/07/2010 16:25

"If you buy such an expensive pram then you should buy a bike lock."

My pram was not expensive but that doesn't mean it would not have been a problem if it was stolen - DS was pretty heavy and home was quite a walk!

Yes there are H&S issues with having lots of prams in the waiting area, but in a baby clinic surely that was predictable and there should be SOMEWHERE that prams and buggies could be safely left? Is it really so unreasonable to expect a bit of forward planning on the clinic's part.

Love the idea of wafting babies via a gentle breeze btw ...

Original poster

belly36 · 05/07/2010 16:34

My pram wasn't expensive either, well £280 or something like that. Cheap in comparison to a Bugaboo, but expensive in comparison to a pushchair. Too bloody expensive to get nicked!

Yes, long hard walk home if stolen...

OP posts:

diamondsandtiaras · 05/07/2010 16:56

YANBU I don't think. I was in a similar situation the other week when I decided to take my DDs to a new toddler group at the local children's centre. I arrived there with 3 month old DD2 fast asleep in the pushchair to be told that I wasn't even allowed to take said pushchair into the building.......not even to leave it in reception. I can understand the health and safety implications of taking it into the toddler group, but to tell me I had to leave it outside in the car park was a bit much.

They eventually agreed that i could leave it in the corner of reception and I then had to hold a sleeping newborn for the 1.5 hours of toddler group as there was no where to put her down.

slushy · 05/07/2010 17:03

I am unsure whether or not YABU Our local baby clinic allows prams the clinic is right at the end and there is nothing past it so no need for wheelchair's to pass.

But I don't know what your clinic is like so I am fence sitting.

morethanasong · 05/07/2010 17:08

Prams/pushchairs aren't allowed in any of the Children's Centres round here (though they'll sometimes make an exception for a sleeping baby if it's not too busy). The Children's Centres are where the baby clinics are held, as well as other groups like breastfeeding support and baby massage. I always had mine in a sling (toddler in a v cheap pushchair that I didn't care about when dd2 was born) for convenience so it didn't bother me unduly, but it certainly would have done if I'd been using a pram all the time. Neither of mine slept particularly well most of the time and I wouldn't have wanted to wake them up to go inside if they'd slept on the journey. I think what I'd have done though is put the pram in travel system mode, i.e. attach the carseat, and let the baby sleep there. Then when we arrived, I could have locked the pram up (our local children's centre loans out cycle locks and has a shelter for pushchairs) and taken carseat and sleeping baby inside. Not ideal as I know it's not good for babies to spend too long in their carseats, but probably ok occasionally.

emsyj · 05/07/2010 17:15

Very surprised to see this, our local children's centres (where they have baby clinic) are purpose built and everyone takes their prams in, if they have them. A lot of people drive and just have the baby in a car seat but I often walk with the pram and I've never had a problem taking my pram in.

Seems very strange to me to not provide facilities for prams at a location where most people will need them.

5DollarShake · 05/07/2010 17:16

Our GP clinic is in a Church. Until they moved rooms about a year ago, everyone had to leave their prams outside.

There was barely enough room for all the naked babies getting changed for their weigh-ins, let alone all those prams as well.

They're now in a bigger room, and people can bring prams in.

If I was walking rather than driving, I put DS in his car seat and attached that to the pram, parked the pram outside, and then lifted him in his car seat into the room.

Everyone was in the same boat. So - I think YAB a little U, and as this thread goes to show, it's not that uncommon that this happens, albeit for different reasons, i.e. health and safety, combined with the fact that babies and toddlers have to share the floor with filthy pram wheels...

5DollarShake · 05/07/2010 17:24

To add, re our clinic being in the Drs surgery, which is part of a Church - the baby clinic used to happen in the waiting room, so you can imagine how small it was.

The clinic runs for just under two hours once a week, and in that time they do not schedule other appointments, so the waiting room was given over to Mums and babies. It really was a very tight squeeze, with literally no space, for even the smallest of pushchairs folded up, let alone a lie-flat pram with a sleeping baby in it.

Not all clinics are purpose-built, and it's sometimes simply not possible to provide facilities when you're in an establishment that's been around for a very, very long time, with no inkling that one day it would also be used to weigh babies and deal with masses of prams.

UndomesticHousewife · 05/07/2010 17:32

That would really annoy me, I would have wanted to leave the baby sleeping and wait inside. But I can understand that some places can't have prams but if they hold a baby clinic it would be good sense to try to sort something out for the buggies that will inevitably turn up!

And anyway, re the above post about babies crawling on the floor and dirt on the wheels - I assume that no one takes their shoes off at the surgery door so teh same dirt and muck will be on the floor anyway .

Original poster

belly36 · 05/07/2010 17:46

The thing is though, this is purpose built. You'd think they would have thought about this when designing/building.

OP posts:

Butterpie · 05/07/2010 17:56

I don't have an expensive pram- it cost £38 from the charity shop and fits both children if need be (it is actually a single, but they squash in) but that doesn't mean I have £38 to spare for a new one!

A shelter with locks would be acceptable, but I would not just leave it. I would like warning too, so I know not to take the changing bag or anything.

I hate that it is assumed that using a pram is laziness though- I'm sick of being told to leave it/fold it down etc when there is no good reason. Without the pram I would be housebound on medium pain days, never mind the worst days, but hey, at least I wouldn't be getting mud on the floor...

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