Baby on Board Badges: What's your Experience?

Baby On Board badges. You may or may not have seen these before depending on where in the country you reside.

They are badges that you can pick up from most train stations and when worn, allow other commuters to know that you are pregnant and may require a seat on a train if they are packed.

They are a fairly common sight in and around London and from 8 weeks pregnant, I've been wearing mine.

I had to really, what with severe morning  sickness, the motion of the train was setting off my vomiting something chronic, though many women probably wouldn't wear one until at least their 12 week scan or until such time as their bump becomes really prominent and heavy.

Now, wearing one of these does not guarantee that you’ll be offered a seat. Even from people sitting in the ‘Priority’ seats marked out as being priority for the elderly, pregnant or people in greater need of needing a seat.

I know that there are mixed feelings about women wearing these badges, but for me I have found it a god send, especially as my bump gets bigger, heavier and I find myself tired and achey.

It tells people that ‘No, I'm not just podgy, I'm carrying a child in my belly’, eliminating the risk of embarrassment if someone offers a seat to a woman, only for it to turn out that said woman is in fact, not pregnant. I've seen it happen before, it’s not pretty.

For the most part, people are very kind and have offered me a seat, for which I always make a point of showing how grateful I am with thanks and plenty of smiles. And by the end of a long working day, I really am extremely grateful for a seat.

But what I want to know is, do you/have you ever worn a BOB badge, and if so, what was your experience? Did people take notice or just ignore you?

What do you think about BOB badges? Are they a good idea?

On a similar point, there was a piece on the news just the other week about a heavily pregnant politician having to stand when in the House of Commons as there were no seats and seemingly, no one offered her theirs. The press were quick to jump on this, but what do you think? Do you think people should automatically jump up for a pregnant lady?

Some people were having debates saying it shouldn't be expected that people would just give up their seats for a pregnant lady, where as others argued that it is just common decency. What do you think?