How do you manage to go to the toilet with DC when you're out and about?

[Maydream]

Genuinely curious about this. I only really thought about it yesterday whilst in town. My DS is 8 months and I went to change him in Debenhams, which is where I normally go as there isn't many baby changing facilities in the town centre.

Our store has a separate room for baby change which also has a toilet in as well. So if I ever need the loo, I always go there so I can change DS and go to the toilet as well.

However, yesterday the baby facilities were out of order and I needed to go to the toilet. I tried going in the women's but my pushchair has really big wheels and I couldn't get or fit it through the door.

I figured I could have used the disabled but you needed a key and I didn't feel right asking for one because I don't have a disability. In the end I just left early and went home. There isn't anywhere else in the town centre that has a toilet with a baby change in.

Has anyone else found this a bit of a PITA?

I must be a really crap mum because I left my double pushchair outside the cubicle door. The chances of them being kidnapped while I was having a wee were ridiculously tiny. I could see the wheels under the door so it was never taking any real risk.

If you can't hold on for a shit when out shopping, yes, there is something "wrong" with you, it's faecal incontinence and I wouldn't wish it on anyone but it is quite common post-childbirth and not something that is easily cured. For sufferers it simply isn't possible to hold on till they get home and is reason to use a disabled toilet if no regular one is available. Or should women with this condition never leave the house?

Couldn't care less whether it's out of order or not, frankly; the idea of deliberately circumventing the system to use disabled peoples' facilities because you can't organise yourself while out with your children is fucking outrageous. If you're not capable of that, stay at home or leave them with someone.

Sorry if you can't hold a pee after you've had a baby but that doesn't make you disabled and entitled to use the disabled toilet.

Fab- hence why I'd prefer to get a 20 minute bus home than use a disabled loo. It's not fair if genuine people need to use it and there's someone with a pushchair in there (obviously it's different if the disabled and baby change are together). Tbh id rather do a number 2 in the comfort of my own home

Yes whoknows, if you have some kind of condition then that entitles you to use a disabled toilet. Someone who just pops in for a shit because they need space for their baby's pram is not entitled to. Boils my piss. If you really can't organise yourself while out with children, stay home.

I did say I wasn't condoning the use of disabled loos in anyway, I'm agreeing with you there, read my post. What I am saying is referring to children as "stupid" because parents might struggle using PUBLIC loos (not disabled) isn't on

First buy a bike lock for your buggy then you can leave it places safe in the knowledge no one will take it.

Buy a cheap wrap/sling if you don't sling regularly which will leave your hands free. I got one from Tkmaxx was about £10.

Whilst the baby is immobile you can use a folding changing mat on the floor.

I use the combined baby change/disabled loo in M&S, Mothercare/local parent cafe/bar/the shopping centre and on one occasion the disabled loo in the shopping centre.

A sling only works if you only have 1 baby!

But prime a toddler will generally be able to stand by the door while you go.

I agree with those who have said disabled toilets shouldn't be used just because you have a pram. I hate the fact that radar keys are so freely available to buy that people abuse the scheme.

I've always gone in the baby changing room, if that was out of order I'd use the disabled loo.

fabrica I've actually been on a shopping trip before and needed a shit. Didn't realise there was something wrong with me. Am I alone?
It's all well and good telling OP to take baby in with her but when my LO was that age we'd be out in the buggy so he'd sleep...and i wasn't about to wake him so he could sit on my lap while I pissed.

fabrica I've actually been on a shopping trip before and needed a shit. Didn't realise there was something wrong with me. Am I alone?
It's all well and good telling OP to take baby in with her but when my LO was that age we'd be out in the buggy so he'd sleep...and i wasn't about to wake him so he could sit on my lap while I pissed.

I didn't know you could time your poo to be at a convenient point?! Can someone please direct me to this function, I've clearly missed a trick.

If I need a poo, I need a poo. I'm going to go and find a toilet. Why would you not?

The vast majority of baby changes are in disabled toilets, so generally I don't find it a problem. I have a baby and a toddler who is extraordinarily defiant, so the safest thing for my children is to take them in to a disabled toilet with me if that's what I need to do.

If you have a problem with the baby change being located in the disabled toilets, you need to go and address that with the people that put them there.

Bloody hell there's some strange opinions out there.

Chain type coffee places are usually where you need to go OP. Costa, Café Nero etc. Or I found myself driving further to places I knew had facilities, rather than the nearest/quaintest town.

Usually the baby change is in the disabled toilets here so I go in there but on the occasions I couldn't and DD was a very little baby I just left the pram by the sinks and sat her on my knee. When she got a bit older or was asleep I just left her in the pram.

I'm really funny about doing a number two in public toilets anyway to be honest (don't ask, it's always been a thing of mine)... If I had to though, I'd just make do. I live in quite a small place and the town centre isn't massive. We only have a few shops. No John Lewis etc. We do have a Costa and Nero which I'll use if I've had a drink in there, usually though the costa one has a massive queue. The baby change in BHS is in the women's toilets up a flight of steep stairs by the cafe. There isn't a lift which goes up there, so that's a bit of a PITA, especially if you've got lots of shopping bags. The baby change is also situated in the women's in M&S which you have to go down stairs for.

Sirzy mums of twins can't hold both and wee at the same time!
My eldest wasn't walking when my next was born. There is just no way I could hold a baby, support a very wobbly toddler and wee, without peeing all over the floor or myself. It was just a whole lot easier to leave them in the pushchair outside the cubicle. I kept the front wheels in sight under the door. It also meant that if one was asleep, I could leave them be.

Prime - I would just hold one ( in sling usually) and put other on the floor on travel changing mat by feet ( that would be washed once home).

I never saw the need to go to all that palaver!
They were perfectly safe in the pushchair.
When they were a little older and walking, fitting 3 of us in a cubicle was never going to work. If they were in the pushchair they were less likely to open the door and disappear while I was mid pee.

Depends on age of child, ds1 is 6, and since he was around 3, he washes his hands and stands by the door so i can see his feet, or he stays in with me.

With ds2 in the pram, i either go to costa as they have the babychange/disabled combined and i can change him at the same time, or i go to m and s and ask a member of staff in the changing room which is right by the loo and nip in. Or ask someone else that in the loos to keep an eye on him a sec

Fabrica you're disputing that incontinence is a disability!?

Usually there is a queue for a toilet, would a disabled person really get their knickers in a twist of a person desperately needed to go to the toilet as just happened to have a pram?!! you wouldn't know if they had some sort of illness or just a mum with a pram!!

My advice is only go to places that have these facilities. Are there other shopping centres you can go to?? I tend to travel a bit further to use a shopping centre with better parking and better cleaner baby changing.

Usually there is a queue for a toilet, would a disabled person really get their knickers in a twist of a person desperately needed to go to the toilet as just happened to have a pram?!! you wouldn't know if they had some sort of illness or just a mum with a pram!!

My advice is only go to places that have these facilities. Are there other shopping centres you can go to?? I tend to travel a bit further to use a shopping centre with better parking and better cleaner baby changing.

"Excuse me, nice looking person, could you possibly watch my baby for two minutes while I pop to the loo? Thank you SO much"

Sorted.