New mom mapping changing tables

It’s a problem just about every parent has run into: a baby with a full diaper, but no changing table nearby.

Vancouver mom Michelle Cyca has faced this dilemma many times. First, with her now four-year-old daughter and currently with her 7-month-old son, who she has sometimes had to change on a patch of grass or on the floor.

“A lot of places that even seem family friendly, that have highchairs, that have kids menus, that have lots of families in them, they won’t have a change table in the bathroom,” she said. “Even if you have a change mat, you’re laying that right on the ground, you’re putting your precious baby on the ground, you’re kneeling on the ground, often you’re putting your favourite coat down, which is another sacrifice.”

But two weeks ago, after needing to change her son at a business she’s been to many times, only to realize there’s no changing table, she decided to do something about it: create a website for parents that maps businesses with changing tables – and without.

And it’s been gaining a lot of attention online.

“It’s really gratifying to see people using it, telling me they’re book marking it, submitting places, I’ve had some businesses submit their information, which is really great,” she said.

While most Metro Vancouver municipalities tell The Leader Spirit their buildings have changing tables, businesses in B.C. are not required to have them. That will slightly change in March, when B.C.’s Housing Ministry says new building codes come into effect, requiring “new universal washrooms in assembly, medical, or retail buildings to include an adult-sized change table and change space,” but only for buildings designed to serve more than 500 people.

“I just hope that mapping it makes the problem visible so that people can see the gaps for parents in the community and maybe motivates people who run businesses to make the change themselves,” she said.

The Ministry of Housing says it expects more requirements for changing spaces in more building types in future codes.

For Cyca and other parents, that can’t come soon enough, and she would like to see the city step up.

“Vancouver is a city that has a lot of challenges for parents in terms of the cost of living, the really full elementary schools, all of these problems, and this is a pretty small and measurable way that could make the city more accessible to kids.”