A woman was shocked recently to see a mum changing her baby's nappy at the next table in an art gallery café.
She took to the Mumsnet parenting forum to ask if her horror at the situation was warranted.
"I looked up to see she was changing a baby's nappy on the table where they'd just eaten," wrote the user, posting under the name Catsize. "My face must have been a bit of a picture because one of the women looked at me as if to say 'What?' Feeling I had to justify myself, I said, 'It's just that it's a bit grim changing a baby's nappy on a café table.'
"The woman doing the changing asked if I was a mum. Instead of saying, 'What difference would that make?' I said I had two children. She said she didn't realise I was watching. I said it was more of a hygiene thing, but yes it had put me off my lunch somewhat.
"She replied it was 'only a bit of wee'.
"So was I being unreasonable ... and it is 'only a bit of wee', or is this utterly grim? The loos were ten paces away, full changing facilities and pristine."
Most Mumsnet members agreed that changing a baby's nappy on a café table is unacceptable, saying it was "disgusting", "rank" and "grim, grim, grim".
"No, it's bloody dirty," wrote one user. "What an entitled woman. With her reaction I'd make a big song and dance about health and safety and complain to café manager."
Another remarked, "Yuck – I don't care what is in the nappy, I don't want to see such a thing whilst enjoying a drink and others are eating. You can just imagine someone putting food down totally unaware. You don't eat in a lavatory."
One mum said she didn't think there was anything wrong with the practice. "I have changed a wet nappy on my lap in a café once and at the last Mumsnet meet up I changed my baby's nappy in the pub," she wrote. "There was an unused table in the corner and I asked if anyone minded, they all said, 'Of course not, don't be daft' and laughed. I laid a mat out and again quickly swapped the wet nappy of the five-month-old. Then wiped the table down."
Several appalled members responded by saying they had seen similar things happen. "It's disgusting," wrote one mum. "We witnessed this in a restaurant last year and couldn't believe our eyes. Left shortly afterwards. What's with people?"
The original poster appreciated the online support. "Thank you everyone, I feel a bit better now, although not feeling better that it happens so often," she wrote.
"Perhaps I should have suggested that next time they could sit in the toilets for their lunch as that's what I had just had to do. As it was, I'd felt pretty grave saying anything at all ... I mentioned it to the staff, so that they could put some proper disinfectant on the table. I'd have appreciated that, had I been the next to eat from that table."
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