Letters | With more parenting rooms, Hong Kong can be more family-friendly
- Readers discuss the need for more and better baby changing facilities across the city, and a crackdown on child marriage in India
When I was travelling in Southeast Asia, I was shocked to find that some baby changing stations were located in the ladies. It is such a stereotype, and more practically, as a new mother, I need my husband to help me with our newborn.
Baby changing rooms are easily found in malls in Hong Kong. Some are really fancy and well-designed, with changing mats, handwashing facilities, and separate nursing areas. Several even provide bottle warmers and drinking water. All this makes parents’ and babies’ lives so much easier.
However, some baby changing stations are way below standard: ventilation is poor, the station is inside the disabled bathroom, or there is no running water. Also, some of these facilities obviously need to be cleaned more frequently.
Other than the functions mentioned above, a refrigerated locker near the baby changing room would be helpful to nursing mothers. Maybe it is for management reasons, but many baby changing rooms are locked until the family contacts the information centre. In reality, babies cannot wait!
Small, critical changes would help relieve the stress on parents with crying babies. Hopefully, more parenting rooms will be made available in other public spaces, so families don’t have to limit themselves to malls.
Eva Pang, Tseung Kwan O