MACON COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) - Having a baby rocks a parent's world enough.
"As a new mom you have the carrier, the child, the diaper bag, and everything else and it becomes a lot, and very overwhelming," shared mother of a 2-year-old, Christa Hunter.
That's without having to worry if there's somewhere to change a child's diaper in public, which Hunter said crossed her mind all the time.
"I would always have to figure out, OK, do I need to change her in the car? Before we left? Or was it okay to go ahead and bring everything in?" she explained.
But a law changing in 2020 will help everyone have easier access to changing stations. Several places will be required to have them.
This includes state buildings and public places, retail stores of more than 5,000 square feet with a public restroom and restaurants that hold 60 people with a public bathroom.
It will soon be required to have changing tables in both women’s and men’s bathrooms, or a changing station that can be accessed by both genders.
"It's way overdue,” Hunter shared. “Women have been working for many, many years, and men have been working. But now we have the single dads, and the single moms, and the stay-at-home dads that like to go shopping. So, they need just as much as we do."
Hunter works for Macon County Rural King, which is working right now to get a changing station for the store's men’s room. She said both her and the store are excited to welcome this change.
"We are here for our customers, we are here for everybody, we want to make this an enjoyable experience, and if adding one more changing table does that, then we are standing behind that 110 percent," Hunter said.
Examples of businesses that are exempt from the law include industrial buildings, nightclubs or bars that don't allow anyone under age 18 on the property.
The law also reads that public restrooms that have a baby diaper changing station should have signs at or near the entrances, so people know they're there.
