FedUp

On vacation seems like any flat surface is fair game for changing a baby. I have seen babies changed in all kinds of places, from the conveyor belt at the supermarket to the diving board to the hood of a car and it's making me sick. I go on vacation for beauty and romance, not to see a dirty naked baby spreadeagled next to the buffet table.

What happened to manners in this country? Take your baby into the bathroom and change it where it's supposed to be changed - on the counter next to the sink - and stop ruining my vacation!

kiki

LOL~ very funny and sad but true!

Pete

Oh, boy. And it's off to the races . . .

Maxie

What is totally appalling are mothers who leave smelly diapers anywhere they like! Who else has gone to the ladies room in a very nice restaurant where some mom has left the baby's disgusting diaper in the trash?

kima

I have to laugh, once while on a plane trip I got up and left my first class seat, FF at that time, When I returned there was a woman changing her baby on MY seat. A nasty stinky poopy diaper. When I asked what she was thinking of, she said that the attendant said she could go "up front" to change the diaper. I explained that the attendant probably mean the BATHROOM upfront! Bless her heart she was mortified.

Maxieiswhiny

Isn't that where you're supposed to leave the dirty diaper...in a trash? Are you so whiny Maxie that now, you're complaining about the contents of a trash? If you want something to whine about, why don't you look into your sad, pathetic life.

Can'tDoIt

Was in an upscale Japanese place, and a couple decided to change their baby girl at the table just before they were about to leave. The baby decided to pee and it was going all over the dad's trousers, and on the floor even though the parents tried to "catch it" with their diaper.

A patron on their way out, kindly suggested it might be easier for one of them to take the baby and do it in the restroom. The mom said it took the 2 of them to change her, and since the baby squirms around when they change her, the baby would likely hit her head on the counter or sink.

My thoughts? Maybe if she whacks her head once, she'll learn to be still the next time!

Good grief. We had finished our meal too (by then, who hadn't?!), but it was still disgusting to see.

S

Thank goodness my children are past that age! It was frustrating then, however, to go somewhere and have no place to change a diaper. FedUp, unfortunately, there is usually not enough room by the sink. McDonald's was the worst! Thank goodness they've wised up and installed baby changing stations in most women's restrooms. My husband still laughs about his flight with our daughter when she was 9 months old. Diaper changing stations in the men's room at the Atlanta airport were unheard of 12 years ago. He had to resort to laying her on the floor of the waiting area.

anon

Of course one should put the diaper in the trash in the bathroom! Where else do you suggest? There are other fun things in that trashcan too, you know. Are you upset when someone stinks up the bathroom before you go to use it?

I recently saw a mother changing her baby on a chaise lounge chair by the pool in an upscale resort. While I didn't think it was entirely appropriate, she was discreet. Her problem was that she was also supervising two older children in the pool and would have had to drag the whole lot of them to the bathroom with her to change that diaper.

Personally, I'm more offended when grown men spit.

Judy

In the first place, diaper changing is a way of life. While it certainly has no place on the table in a restaurant (I don't care how upscale or downscale), there's nothing wrong with bathrooms (and yes, the diapers belong in the trash) or outdoors if discreetly done.

In the second place, with the exception of S's husband on his trip to Atlanta, it seems that it's mostly women who are relegated to the fine art of diaper changing. (And no one speaks of changing stations in the MEN'S room at McDonalds.) So I propose that all men's rooms be equiped with changing stations, all changing stations taken out of ladies' rooms, and all dads required to carry Coach style executive diaper bags. Bet you'd see a quick change in attitudes!

Flavia

Oh God, I HATE spitting. There is nothing more disgusted then seeing a grown man spit. Yuk

yuck

I hate spitting too! and God knows what germs are being sprayed around every time it happens!
My dog gets really interested when a man spits while we are walking on the sidewalk, of course,the human spits on the sidewalk, while the dog pees in the street.

adi

Here's a "new" concept, especially for the upscale restaurant problem - if you can afford the meal, you can surely afford a babysitter for a few hours! Leave the tiny tots at home where they, you, and your fellow diners will be happier! In relation to this, my pet peeve, childwise, is the strollers the size of a 1960 Buick that people insist on SLOWLY ambling behind in the most crowded aisle or public area they can find, and then THEY'RE annoyed when you step in front of them to get around. Again - GET A BABYSITTER!!!!!

gertrude

hehe

Yup

adi, you got that right! I am sick and tired of strollers clogging up the aisles with oblivious parents wandering off. Screaming kids do not belong on airplanes or in nice restaurants, and I don't give a damn who gets offended by that! YOUR KIDS DO NOT CHARM EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET. Got that, parents?

How bout this one: I flew home from Paris a month ago on Air France, coach class. Sitting in the seat directly in front of me was a very LARGE woman with a large toddler, who did not have his own seat. This kid looked to be like 2-1/2, and he was BIG, and this woman obviously was too cheap to spend the $ to get him his own seat. The flight attendants were too wimpy to challenge her about the kid being in her lap for the whole flight, too. Well, it was bad enough that the kid constantly squirmed, yelled, kicked and fussed for the 5+ hours of the flight, but to add to the annoyance and ratchet the horror up a bit, he wasn't potty trained yet (and was definitely due for it). You guessed it -- this idiot woman changed the kid (who SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER) in her seat, in fact she changed him in her lap. That was a flight from hell. I will not sit next to toddlers or babies if it can be avoided on long flights, no damn way.

Ang

I too have a pet peeve about strollers. I'm glad it's not just me. I hate trying to rush down the busy sidewalks of Chicago going to work when someone is just ambling along behind a baby stroller and I can't get by. DOUBLE STROLLERS ARE THE WORST! IMHO these should be oultawed for sure. They take up the ENTIRE sidewalk. Not only can you not pass one of these, sometimes you can't even get by when your coming the other way. Think about it this way, would you walk slowly 2 or 3 people wide down the sidewalk so people couldn't get by? No so why do it with a stroller.

Hmm

Ang -

You've told us that you work downtown and that you never walk more than 5-6 blocks - anywhere. I'm a bit puzzled by your specific complaint - I've been working downtown for many years and I rarely (if ever) see people with strollers while walking from the El to the office during rush hours - and I've worked at several different places in the downtown area.

xxx

hey Ang - I hear you! I too work in Chicago. The strollers are bad, plus the single walker who has to walk down the middle of the sidewalk, but can't seem to walk in a straight line so you never know which side to pass. But my favorite are the spitters. Twice now on my way to Union Station have been walking behind a man, trying to pass and he decides to turn his head and hack a good one onto the sidewalk, barely missing hitting me. What are they thinking???!!! That they are the only ones walking there? What was even worse was one was a gentleman in a nice three piece suit with a briefcase. Guess the window dressing means nothing.

Ang

Hmmm we must work in different areas. I work near Marshall Fields on State Street. That area is definitely more flooded with tourists than the south or west loop. Lots of places to look at in that area. Its not just in rush hour either. I walk back and forth to the Daley Center and other attorneys offices several times a day for court or depositions and I'm usually in quite a hurry.

Nothing wrong with strollers, its just the new "double-wides" that get me. Usually people are courteous and move to the side but with the double-wides its hard to do.

x

Here's one that ought to get people screaming and flaming me. Until McDonald's started putting changing platforms in the bathrooms, I would change my child's diapers on the table in the dining room. Here was a restaurant that catered to children and provided NO place to tend to their needs. (No counter in the bathroom) Since my children have outgrown the need for diapers, they have started equipping restrooms with changing facilities.

The neatest thing I've seen is a little fold-down seat that you can strap your toddler into in the stall while the mother uses the toilet.