WITNESSING sporting events, particularly track and field, at the National Stadium has been described as quite a unique experience. However, it has shed light on a rarely talked about concern for parents and guardians with babies in public settings across the island.

The 2024 Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships last month attracted tens of thousands of patrons for the five-day spectacle. Among them were Windell and Renee Rankine who took their one-year-old son, Windell-Azariah, whom they want to experience the love they have for the sport.

“He’s been coming since last year. We started him at [the national senior and junior] trials because we want to indoctrinate him in sports — him nuh have a choice,” the Rankines told the Jamaica Observer during the event.

“He came to Champs since he was about three months old but we came to [national] trials with him. We both have a passion for track and field. We’re enthusiasts so we follow everything track and field so it’s important that the tradition is passed on to him,” the couple said.

Vanessa Blake also took her one-year-old daughter Azariah to the stadium but it was her seven-year-old son, Jabari, who had a desire to see the rivalry at Champs.

“He’s currently in primary school and he’s just focused on KC (Kingston College) and JC (Jamaica College) so I brought him here to Champs for the experience,” she said.

While both sets of parents were thrilled to see the action on the track, they were faced with a similar issue: The restrooms inside the stadium are not equipped with baby changing stations, which essentially offer a platform for convenient changing of diapers, etc.

It left Blake worried as to what she could do.

“I’m wondering where I can change her because I’ve seen nothing at all to facilitate in the women’s bathroom. There’s no space or nothing to accommodate that so it’s challenging,” she said.

The Rankines were fortunate enough to find an innovative solution.

“When it’s changing time we go into the bathroom and create a little thing in the corner, sanitise it and do it,” Windell said.

While this highlights a problem at sporting events, it’s much more than that.

In recent months the Sunday Observer had checked several public restrooms in locations such as supermarkets, restaurants, parks, and government buildings and found that most have no changing stations. There were a handful which had the required facilities but those were only in the women’s restrooms, which poses accessibility challenges to a father or male guardian.

Research conducted by various medical institutions say that newborns (under 12 months) need to be changed between 10 and 12 times per day while toddlers (one-two years old) need to be changed between six and eight times. It means that it’s likely a parent or guardian will need to change their child at least once while they are out.

In several parts of the world there are regulations mandating that public restrooms be equipped with changing stations. In this region, American states like New York, Florida, California, and Texas have specific laws and policies stating that public restrooms must include facilities for changing babies.

In fact in 2016, then US President Barack Obama approved the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation (BABIES) Act, mandating that public federal buildings — including Social Security offices, courthouses, and post offices — must provide diaper-changing facilities in both male and female restrooms.

However, no such legislation exists in Jamaica.

Blake and Renee Rankine are hoping that will change in the future.

“Very much so, I’m kind of wondering why [Jamaica does] not [have it in place]. It’s modern times; we need to upgrade now,” Blake said.

Rankine was even more expressive. “I think [it is needed] not just for the stadium but for most public spaces. Even some restaurants that you go to, they don’t have it so it would be nice. It’s something I think would be nice to have facilities for individuals like mothers, fathers with children, because you have some fathers that will be taking the children so having the facility will help them,” she said.

Minister of Sport Olivia “Babsy” Grange says she understands the plight of parents with babies and will ensure the upgrade of the stadium, set to begin in 2025, will include more baby-friendly facilities.

“Such laws exist elsewhere and I would like to see the day that we are able to introduce those laws. Similar to the Disability Act, we finally introduced that piece of legislation and we’re still working to retrofit the facilities for persons with disabilities. It’s taking some time because we have old structures. When they were being designed those things weren’t taken into consideration but as we get into modernising our facilities these things will be concerned,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“It’s certainly an area I will ensure that is taken into consideration when we do the development of the National Stadium. Bathrooms should have facilities for changing babies,” Grange added.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison admitted it’s not something that was considered before but she will now make efforts to have changing stations introduced.

“Sanitary convenience is for all ages and I think we really need to pay some attention to it. I don’t have the statistics in terms of hard numbers but certainly if you do your own internal assessment that caters to the public, the question will arise how many are suitably fitted with diaper stations for infants who are in these public spaces,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“This is an area that is under the radar of the Office of the Children’s Advocate, and we’ll be doing some more due diligence in terms of assessment and making some very firm recommendations in terms of where we can go as a nation because it’s essential in terms of hygiene and convenience,” Gordon-Harrison added.

The
Sunday
Observer tried, without success, to get a comment from Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) on the issue.

Grange, who is also the minister of gender, says she will now be an advocate for a law to be passed.

“These are things, looking into the future, I want to see introduced — and whatever I can do to work towards that and ensure that happens, I will certainly do so,” Grange said.

“There are working mothers, apart from being housewives. They are independent women but that doesn’t mean they’re going to abandon their children so we have to create the facility so they can take care of their babies — so that’s something I will advocate for.”