Public Diaper Changing Tables
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Say it with me, DISGUSTING! As a new mom, I am totally grossed out by public changing tables for babies. They are always dirty and look like they haven't been cleaned in years. The worst part is seeing other parents just take their baby out of its stroller and flop it up on said table without a covering underneath. SICK! Do you know how many germs are on that? We're not talking just common cold germs that kids can pass around anyway. What about e.coli? If you can catch it in a baby pool, you can certainly catch it off a feces encrusted table. Yes, horrible visual, I know, but I'm trying to prove a point here.
Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, and Babies R Us all sell the disposable changing table pad covers and they are only a few dollars. Please, please, buy these for your kids and use them when you are out. If you're too cheap to buy the covers, change them in the back seat of your car or in the cargo hold of your SUV before you come in a store. That way the only germs they get are family germs. The re-usable changing table mats that you fold up and keep in your diaper bag are great for padding on top of the disposable cover but think about it. Do you want to use the mat and then put it back in your diaper bag? What about all the germs that will now be lurking in your diaper bag? So, by all means use the re-usable ones (I have one too) but put something down underneath it. Let me make myself heard as loud as possible on this one: DO NOT PUT YOUR CHILD'S BLANKET ON THAT NASTY TABLE! Ok, it felt good to get that one out. I cringed as I stood behind a lady changing her child that took the blanket off her baby, put it on the dirty table, changed her child, and then put the blanket back on top of the baby. That is soooo gross. Would you put your blanket off your bed on the toilet seat and then cover up with it? I don't think so. Nasty. Nasty. Nasty.
Go ahead and say I am "overprotective", but when you put your kid down on the bare changing table they lay all the way down on it. Everything is on that table, including the back of their head and hair and then their little hands are touching it too. Babies put their hands in their mouths. Would you touch a toilet seat and then put your hands in your mouth? I don't think so. Even if the table looks clean (which it rarely does), you don't know what has been on there.
If you don't want to use the changing table pads, at lease improvise and get some paper towels and lay them down or some toilet seat paper covers. See, adults use toilet seat paper covers or either "hover" over top of the toilet. We don't want to sit on a nasty toilet seat, so why would we put our baby on one? Your better retail establishments and restaurants provide changing table covers for you. I'm going to start keeping a list of the places that have both clean and non-clean tables and provide the pads for you and post it on the blog. If paper covers don't sound like a feasible option for you, at least carry around some antibacterial wipes (not just regular baby wipes because they don't kill germs). I've also seen small containers of Lysol spray. But, then you don't want to put that spray on your baby either. So, the disposable pads are the easiest. That way after you change your baby, you can just pick up the pad off the table and toss it.
We've come to find out that it usually becomes the mother's job to change a baby out in public. Matthew gets very mad when there aren't changing tables in the men's rooms because he said he'd be more than glad to take half of the diaper changes. He says why should it always be me that has to eat cold food because Marin has a blow out in the middle of dinner? He changes him at home, so why wouldn't he out in public? I guess most men don't change diapers or something? What if Matthew wants to take Marin somewhere by himself? Do men not take their children out without their mothers? My dad said that was a real problem when we were little. He says he took us out on his own sometimes but that there was never a place to change our diapers in men's rooms so he always had to go back to the car. That was over 30 years ago, so you'd think times had changed by now. But, I guess not. It makes me sad that dads who want to step up and help raise their kids aren't give the tools to do so.
I guess that is all on my changing table rant but I do plan on doing another post about "must haves" in your diaper bag. Of course, the changing table pads made the list. :)
Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, and Babies R Us all sell the disposable changing table pad covers and they are only a few dollars. Please, please, buy these for your kids and use them when you are out. If you're too cheap to buy the covers, change them in the back seat of your car or in the cargo hold of your SUV before you come in a store. That way the only germs they get are family germs. The re-usable changing table mats that you fold up and keep in your diaper bag are great for padding on top of the disposable cover but think about it. Do you want to use the mat and then put it back in your diaper bag? What about all the germs that will now be lurking in your diaper bag? So, by all means use the re-usable ones (I have one too) but put something down underneath it. Let me make myself heard as loud as possible on this one: DO NOT PUT YOUR CHILD'S BLANKET ON THAT NASTY TABLE! Ok, it felt good to get that one out. I cringed as I stood behind a lady changing her child that took the blanket off her baby, put it on the dirty table, changed her child, and then put the blanket back on top of the baby. That is soooo gross. Would you put your blanket off your bed on the toilet seat and then cover up with it? I don't think so. Nasty. Nasty. Nasty.
Go ahead and say I am "overprotective", but when you put your kid down on the bare changing table they lay all the way down on it. Everything is on that table, including the back of their head and hair and then their little hands are touching it too. Babies put their hands in their mouths. Would you touch a toilet seat and then put your hands in your mouth? I don't think so. Even if the table looks clean (which it rarely does), you don't know what has been on there.
If you don't want to use the changing table pads, at lease improvise and get some paper towels and lay them down or some toilet seat paper covers. See, adults use toilet seat paper covers or either "hover" over top of the toilet. We don't want to sit on a nasty toilet seat, so why would we put our baby on one? Your better retail establishments and restaurants provide changing table covers for you. I'm going to start keeping a list of the places that have both clean and non-clean tables and provide the pads for you and post it on the blog. If paper covers don't sound like a feasible option for you, at least carry around some antibacterial wipes (not just regular baby wipes because they don't kill germs). I've also seen small containers of Lysol spray. But, then you don't want to put that spray on your baby either. So, the disposable pads are the easiest. That way after you change your baby, you can just pick up the pad off the table and toss it.
We've come to find out that it usually becomes the mother's job to change a baby out in public. Matthew gets very mad when there aren't changing tables in the men's rooms because he said he'd be more than glad to take half of the diaper changes. He says why should it always be me that has to eat cold food because Marin has a blow out in the middle of dinner? He changes him at home, so why wouldn't he out in public? I guess most men don't change diapers or something? What if Matthew wants to take Marin somewhere by himself? Do men not take their children out without their mothers? My dad said that was a real problem when we were little. He says he took us out on his own sometimes but that there was never a place to change our diapers in men's rooms so he always had to go back to the car. That was over 30 years ago, so you'd think times had changed by now. But, I guess not. It makes me sad that dads who want to step up and help raise their kids aren't give the tools to do so.
I guess that is all on my changing table rant but I do plan on doing another post about "must haves" in your diaper bag. Of course, the changing table pads made the list. :)
