Disappearing Changing Tables

Before we had Lucas, I rarely took note of the availability of changing tables for babies, the plastic ones you see inside the restrooms in malls and public places. Once we had the Child, we became more diligent in noting the best places to change his diaper with regard to the convenience, cleanliness, and availability.

Sometimes we have to change him in the back seat or the tailgate of the car, but we just do that when we are about to leave the mall and he suddenly decides that is the best time to poop. Or if we expect that he will fall asleep before we get home. After all, it’s better that he is wearing a clean diaper so we can just put him in his crib without disrupting his slumber. Still, we’d prefer to change his diaper on a table or a changing surface.

In the past, the Ayala Malls and Shangri-La Mall have always had the nicest and cleanest facilities for changing diapers. Both the ladies and men’s rooms have changing tables installed. However, with recent renovations, mall administration removed the changing tables in the men’s rooms. The ladies rooms still have changing tables, but that is rather inconvenient for us fathers who still want to do our part in raising our children. I asked about it and the mall staff confirmed that the malls decided to remove the facilities so that they could add more urinals or sinks.

One time, I had to change Lucas’ diaper in High Street BGC, behind Fully Booked. We used the PWD bathroom, which had a sink but no table installed. I told Lucas to stand on top of the toilet bowl cover, and to hold on to the PWD rail. I ended up changing him while he was standing. He thought it was fun, but it’s still very inconvenient or risky to have the child standing there while you are handling a soiled and wet diaper.

SM Malls still have changing tables available in most of their restrooms. While we don’t really go to malls, it helps to know where to go when you’re there.