Airline passenger furious after mum changes ‘screaming’ son’s nappy in her seat – but experts say she could have offered to help

A plane passenger was left fuming after a mother changed her son’s nappy in a seat and ‘didn’t bother’ to take him to the toilet.

The furious traveler took to Reddit to share her ‘terrible’ experience, with many users calling out the mother’s misstep and others calling for child-free flights.

However, experts suggest the passenger could have offered to help the struggling mother, rather than calmly judge.

Captioning her online rant “Child-free flights should be an option,” the passenger said she had been on a four-hour overnight flight “back home” and sat across from a woman with a “very young child” she estimated . between one and two years old.

The passenger, whose nerves had already been tested by the child screaming “incoherent toddler babble,” kicking the back of her seat and putting his feet up on her armrest, became desperate when the mother chose to leave his diaper on her seat. change. three times.

Posting on the ‘Childfree’ subreddit, she wrote: ‘[She] didn’t bother taking him to the bathroom even though she was sitting one row up from the very back of the plane, right next to it. It smelled terrible.’

As if that wasn’t enough for the passenger, she complained, “There was also a baby in another seat who would scream every now and then.”

It seemed that the woman also had a greater tolerance for a puppy on the plane, which she said “didn’t make a fuss,” although she wondered if it was anesthetized.

The woman concluded her post with this drastic solution: “These parents need to sedate their damn kids, or they’re just not allowed to take them on certain flights. Good Lord.’

While the airline passenger was left outraged by the ordeal, parenting expert and regular speaker joined in The Baby ShowRachel Fitz-D, told MailOnline that it would have been best for the passenger to approach the situation with ‘compassion’ rather than hostility.

She explained: ‘The parent with the screaming baby is not negligent and is probably as distressed as the passenger next to them, and almost certainly embarrassed.

“If either of them would start a compassionate conversation instead of sitting in a steely silence and speaking out later on social media, chances are they would find strategies together that would help them all.”

A parenting expert has said the irritated passenger could have started a conversation with the mother to ease the tension (stock image)

Rachel suggested that the disgruntled airline passenger could have had a light-hearted conversation with the mother, or perhaps even offered to get a flight attendant’s attention to help. Likewise, she said the mother could have tried to defuse the tension by striking up a conversation with a nearby passenger.

We’re weighing the issue, etiquette expert Dianne Gottsman said fellow passengers could have been “more understanding” rather than judgmental.

She said: ‘It is undoubtedly an uncomfortable situation for the mother of a baby on a flight, who has to determine the best and safest place to change her baby’s nappy.’

She added: ‘Most planes have at least one toilet with a changing table and asking a flight attendant where the changing table is would be the best option, even though the toilets are extremely small. Another option would be to change the baby’s diaper on the floor.

“Changing the baby’s diaper on the seat clearly irritated the fellow passengers, but in the mother’s defense, she probably did what was best in that particular situation.”

According to Diane, the key in the future is to have “essentials” on hand, such as a changing blanket and sealed bags to put the dirty diaper in.

She said, “It’s always nice when a fellow passenger is compassionate, rather than judgmental, but it’s also uncomfortable to sit next to someone who has strong odors like egg salad, tuna, or in this case, a dirty diaper.”

Nevertheless, the Reddit post sparked a heated debate in the comments section, leaving many users shocked and wishing child-free flights would become commonplace.

One person wrote: ‘I’d pay almost double for a child-free flight. “I don’t blame the kids, I blame the parents.” A second person agreed: ‘I really think airlines should support the idea of ​​child-free flights.’

Another added: ‘I honestly don’t know why it’s nothing? If you do it once a week or even once a month, I and others would happily fill those seats eagerly!’