Baby changing room etiquette

[Orange53]

Two questions:

1. If you’re changing one child in a public changing room and the room contains two changing stations and a sink (nothing else) and the door is lockable, do you lock it? (assuming there’s no one else waiting while you’re there and you’re using it for a standard nappy change taking about 3-5 mins)
2. If you’re waiting for the room because another mum has locked it, do you say anything to her about why she locked it when she comes out?

Just realised you are OP. Missed the namechange the 2nd time. Name changes are confusing. Sorry about that.

Still though, as I said it really is fine to lock the door. I said that ages back and so did lots of others. But there will be choices you make countless times that, rightly or wrongly, annoy other parents. And you need to be able to own those choices to be able to brush off other people being rude. Asking permission to do something innocuous won't help you do that is all.

Noone is taking about parading anything so stop being ridiculously dramatic when it isnt needed. Getting back to the actual thread, what privacy does a baby need in a changing room having a nappy change shared with another parent who is also changing their babys nappy? The baby doesn't give a shit about its "privacy".

Well isn't it up to the parents to decide how much privacy they think they need? Again - you might not care - but others do and that's that.

Yes, seriously. In fact it's an important aspect of early years provision that the practitioner maintains the child's privacy and dignity during changing. Establishments can be marked down for not doing so.

I had an awful experience like this once. It was in a baby change with an adult toilet in the room (not in a separate cubicle) and one pull down baby changing unit. My son had done a poonami and needed a full outfit change. To me it was clearly a single person room and I had locked the door. Someone tried the handle and obviously found it locked, then about 30 seconds later tried it again and started banging on the door saying she needed to get in and it was a baby changing room not just for one baby (it wasn't, unless other mothers routinely pee in front of each other). She was incredibly rude to me and shouted at me that she needed to change her child (who was about 1 year older than my baby). It left me shaken for hours because she was so unpleasant and I still don't believe I was in the wrong. I conclude that some people are just not very nice.

Of course you don't lock it unless you have twins and another adult. If there is two changing tables then clearly it's designed for 2 People to change kids at once, so don't block someone else. Doing this is very selfish. Unless it's a breastfeeding room too and you are also feeding. It seems weird to have space for 2 kids to be changed, in a space which is then lockable and meant for doing something private

If privacy for your very tiny baby is important to you then that’s absolutely fine but most parents take a more pragmatic approach. I do find this post in particular a very strange argument. Parents are not early years practitioners and do not need to attempt to be. I guarantee that every parent on this thread would be marked down by Ofsted against the EY inspection framework for something if we were observed for a couple of days, just as we would probably all lose a star somewhere for hygiene ratings if our kitchens were inspected against commercial criteria.

I think there is a lock to provide for parents in more extreme circumstances, to provide privacy like if you need to change a baby with disabilities. In normal circumstances you should not lock the door as the room is meant to be used by more than one parent with child. So the other parent stood waiting for no reason at all and got upset - waiting with a child is never easy. I understand your wife has post-partum anxiety but sharing a changing room with someone in the same lifesituation isn't exactly disturbing I think. After all, it's just changing a diaper 🤷🏼‍♀️