MADISON (WKOW) -- "This is Jonathon. He is four months old," said David Snyder.
As if being a new father isn't challenging enough: learning about products with funny names... perfecting the art of baby talk. But Dad David Snyder says try changing a diaper in a men's restroom.
"I refuse to change him on a bathroom floor, especially a public bathroom," said David.
He says he runs into this dilemma all the time. Men's bathrooms often don't have a baby changing station.
"I don't feel like I should have to knock on the women's door and say 'hey, I'm a dad. I'm coming in to change the baby!," said David.
No federal law requires men's or women's restrooms to have a baby changing station. But most public buildings do, at least for moms. The CEO of www.babychangingstations.com says the trend to put them in men's room is catching on though. The ratio, he estimates, is still two to one.
"There is certainly some room to grow but its becoming more of a standard than it used to be," said David Laney.
In fact, Laney says he's seen sales for men's room baby stations triple in the last five years. One recent customer? The Waisman Center at UW Madison.
"When we talked about what we need to do with the facility this issue came up that we didn't have one.. and it was like 'wait? what? we don't have one?' and immediately we put one in," said Joe Egan, the associate director of the Waisman Center.
That's because more men are sharing the duty.
"Before we got pregnant I wasn't into changing diapers and now I change almost all of them," said Ray Hoth, a Johnson Creek dad.
And that also applies to David, who'd like to see more buildings -- public and private -- make his new job a little easier.
"It's tough," said David. "It's a lot more work than I thought it was going to be."
If you're a business owner who wants to add a baby changing station to the men's room, go to www.babychangingstations.com or call 866-465-3294.
