Mom Tries To Change Baby's Diaper at McDonald's, Something Stops Her Twice

When a mom went to change her infant daughter’s diaper at a McDonald's in Alabama, she was confronted by a frustrating sight-and things only got worse from there.

Ellen Hall and her family were on their way to Florida, driving through Alabama, when they stopped at a McDonald's in Montgomery to stretch their legs, use the facilities and grab a bite to eat. Those plans soon unraveled, however, when Hall took her daughter to the bathroom. "I immediately noticed the changing table was riveted," Hall told Newsweek.

Undeterred, Hall learned that there was another McDonald's located 15 minutes away in nearby Greenville that also had a play area. They jumped back in the car and headed there. Soon enough though, she found herself facing a familiar sight. "When we got there, I went into the women's restroom and noticed their changing table was also riveted," she said.

Traveling with children can be difficult. A 2023 poll of nearly 1,000 parents commissioned by the website epassportphoto.com found that 63 percent consider the experience to be "stressful or very stressful."

Hall already had her hands full, but the lack of available changing facilities added an extra layer of stress to proceedings.”I brought her back out to the car and changed her in the front seat since the car was packed with luggage from our beach trip,” she said. “Luckily, I have disposable changing mats and was able to change her without making a mess in the front of my car.”

Her irritation at what happened was only exacerbated further when she got a less-than-satisfactory explanation from staff. "I asked the staff up front and I was told it was ‘corporate's decision,'" Hall said.

Unhappy at that explanation, Hall decided to take a picture of the riveted-shut changing table at the second McDonald's and post it to Reddit under the handle u/Cheerycameleon.

The post went viral, earning over 73,000 upvotes on the social media platform. Hall also emailed McDonald's directly and said she was told that, as a franchise-based business, the decision to rivet the changing tables closed was down to the franchisee, rather than "corporate."

McDonald’s Responds

She did eventually get a more detailed explanation though. Stephen Murphy, the owner and operator of the two McDonald's outlets Hall visited that day, told Newsweek the changing tables had been riveted shut as a "safety precaution."

"Creating a safe and family-friendly experience is so important to us as local business owners," he said. "If our team discovers a changing table has been damaged, they secure it as a temporary safety precaution for guests while repairs are being addressed. We understand that this can be frustrating to our customers with young children, and our team is swiftly working to resolve the issue across these restaurants."

Despite the owner and operator putting the decision down to damage, Hall remains irritated by what happened. She would like to see the changing tables either removed entirely or replaced with a new system that prevents them being damaged again. She suggested some kind of lock or code based system could work. "It was just irritating to see that they had a changing station but I couldn't access it," she said. "I'd rather have just not seen one."

Whatever the solution, the experience has put Hall off taking her family to McDonald’s again. “The only reason we stopped to eat there was because we knew they'd have changing tables,” she said. “We rarely eat McDonalds anymore.”

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 8:49 AM.