changing baby in public places

[Brodicea]

Hello all, I'm currently 31 weeks pregnant with my first and pondering several baby-care questions - one in particular is the following:

Last week I met up with a friend and her baby (four months) for lunch, lo and behold baby needs changing but they don't have official baby-change facilities in the restaurant so my friend left to go across the street to a shopping mall to change the baby which of course took ages, and she had to queue etc. But the restaurant was quite nice, and the loos were actually pretty clean and I thought 'why not change the baby on the floor here? Plenty of space, looks clean,' we weren't talking right up against the pedestal, it was a roomy downstairs loo type room. I asked my DH and he said that it was pretty gross to change a baby on the floor of a toilet, and I felt like a right minger!

What would you do oh wise MNers?

I would change on my lap if possible. Travel mat on the floor is fine though if baby not too wriggly (DD would crawl off at top speed!).

I would definitely use a travel mat and change the baby on the floor. Better than a) leaving baby stewing, b) walking for miles to find a changing area.

I've changed dd on toilet floors, I used a disposable mat and threw it away afterwards. Some of the floors are cleaner than baby changing tables as people don't always wipe them down afterwards

I've not read all the comments, but in an ideal world I'd not change him on the floor. Depends on grimey-ness obv

Probably wouldn't have left you in the restaurant either though...

Think I'd have used the floor, with mat, done it quick and wiped everything down after. Poo isn't exactly clean after all, and as long as he doesn't touch the floor I'd see no major issue.

You can change baby on your lap (not recommended for messy newborn poos though!) and once they can stand you can change standing up - dd prefers that generally. and I prefer it to chasing a naked baby across the bed, around the flat, and rugby tackling her...

you can get disposable changing mats. they take up no space and obviously you can chuck them once they get poo'd on. We switched to these once made the discovery. reuse them until they are dirty then replace. would be perfect for that scenario as you wouldn't have to fold up a dirtied mat back into your clean bag.

also pushchairs. have changed in back corridor of a restaurant! park benches...

Have changed on loo floors with travel mat when needs must. DD is 6m now tho and very wriggly so getting harder without her rolling onto dirty floor! But when smaller and no other option on qualms. Those baby changing tables aren't exactly sanitary either! (Altho probs a bit more than a floor)

*no qualms

I've resorted to the loo floor on a rare occasion in an emergency but if I had the pram or another option I would take it.

Pop the loo seat down, get everything ready to hand and do it on your lap.

I never got the hang of changing either of our ds's on my lap and a loo seat sounds pretty precarious.

I always used to keep a disposable change mat in the bag for situations like this and would change them on the floor of the loos providing they were clean and tidy. The change mat would then go in the bin with the nappy.

Oh, and the poster who changed her baby on the grass verge of a motorway

Unless you were there because you had broken down you were being very irresponsible.

I'm ashamed to say that after a particular snotty conversation with a costa employee about the state of their filthy changing equipment that I changed ds on my lap in the middle of the coffee shop (although the couple in the table next to me were happy for me to do it!).

I've got a travel mat so wouldn't mind doing it on the floor although this would be the last option really, I'd prefer to have a raised surface due to a dodgy back

I've done it hundreds of times, I always had a change mat and DS got awful nappy rash if left unchanged for even a short period of time.

I'm going against the grain and have never and would never change my baby on a toilet floor - wouldn't matter how clean it looked I just wouldnt - so for me if the restsurant didnt have baby change I'd use the pushchair/ pram first or the back seat in the car, if I didnt have these then if the restaurant was quiet and I could do it discretely then I'd change him in their (I have done this in a cafe on one of those long bench seats- no one could see us) if not I'd probably do as your friend did and go in search of somewhere. Maybe I'm just pfb though ha ha

I would on the floor if desperate, but id lay him on a muslin and throw that away. I generally only go places I know there is baby changing though.

No way I would trek over road - would def put mat on floor if really nowhere else - madness to go looking for proper facilities. If u are that fussy then make sure cafe has change room before you sit down!

Some of the baby change facilities (and thinking about it, restaurant high chairs) I've seen in my time have been so filthy it would not surprise me if it were actually more hygienic to change a baby on the floor.

Some of the baby change facilities (and thinking about it, restaurant high chairs) I've seen in my time have been so filthy it would not surprise me if it were actually more hygienic to change a baby on the floor.

Some of the baby change facilities (and thinking about it, restaurant high chairs) I've seen in my time have been so filthy it would not surprise me if it were actually more hygienic to change a baby on the floor.

It's been a long time since i've changed a small baby, but i used to change my daughter on the floor if there was no other place to do it, but you can normally get away with doing it on your lap in the toilet cubical.

I've changed a toddler on the floor, a few times i managed while he was standing up.

Do it in the floor and then make a point to the restaurant about lack of facilities.

Have also as a pp said done it on a long bench thing in a restaurant if it was quiet, can be fine quickly and is only wet. On the floor can strain my back

But I think over time you learn to choose places with easy access to decent facilities

I've changed on surfaces by sinks in restaurant loos, on clean loo floors on a travel mat where absolutely necessary, or on my lap sitting on the loo lid. Nothing minging about it, though of course you shouldn't have to do it.

One rather splendid north London restaurant which, inexplicably didn't have a changing surface (which I always found odd, as the chef-owners were a married couple with small children who were always in and out in the afternoons) used to give me a newly-laundered waiter's apron to spread on the floor under the mat to make my small baby more comfortable.

If there is no baby changing table and no obvious reason why not, I do always bring it up with staff, though politely. Those fold-down ones take up no space and are fitted very easily, and it makes a real difference in terms of ease, especially if you are a first-time parent to a small baby.

Oh, and don't get me started on shops/malls/other places with lots of room and options who only put a changing table in the women's toilet. Because obviously you have to have a vagina to nappy change...

I personally wouldn't! I have a bad back so floor changing is uncomfortable for me, ds wriggle a lot more on the floor, and I would be weird about the hygiene thing, although I know surfaces aren't necessarily any better! I have my favourite places around town and, even though it may take longer to go out of my way, it keeps me happy!

I don't expect everywhere to have changing facilities either and I certainly would not change a nappy in an eating area, that's incredibly rude!

If there's no other option (and obv its clean) then yes. I've used a travel changing mat on the floor of the ladies loo once before.

But this makes me think - surely if you go to a cafe/restaurant etc that are happy to have babies there (i.e. not a posh restaurant) then they should have baby changing facilities?!