This juggling act is exacerbated when they don't have access to safe spaces to care for their children.

Many are appalled at the lack of facilities in Horsham and throughout the Wimmera for parents with young children.

There are numerous factors as to why a mother or parents may need to access a feeding or parenting room. A baby needs to be fed and changed and might be fussy, or a parent might have another child to watch in a pram that doesn't fit into the change room, which may also double as the disabled toilets.

Not only do mothers need to move about between shopping and appointments, but babies also need to be fed and changed every few hours. It's a lot for parents to juggle.

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Many have critical concerns about the safety of children when a parent needs to change or feed one child while ensuring the safety of another young child.

Sarah Byrne lives in Banyena. She has four young boys aged 7, 5, 2.5 and 10 months.

She often travels into Horsham for necessities like shopping, appointments and to meet up with people. Despite bottle feeding her children, the lack of services impacted her as well.

"I know the rooms in the plaza are cleaned well but it just has a sterile feel to me," Ms Bryne said.

"In the toilet where you can fit your pram does have change table but then it doesn't have the sitting area.

"There are two rooms in there. That's what is annoying as well. If you're going to pull the pram into one and one child has to go to the toilet, and you have to change the baby, then you have to come out and move into the next one if you need to feed the baby.

"I've just found it easier and nicer in my car because I know it's our environment. It just has that warm feel rather than a sterile room."

Ms Byrne said the Westfield in Geelong and places in Bendigo have great places for parents to feed their children.

"They're bigger, brighter and have a warmer feel," she said.

"It's a room with everything in it like a microwave, a couch, a toilet, and you can pull in there, and it's not a cramped little room. It's a big living space.

"You can have a few mothers in there feeding their babies and it's a nicer environment."

Like many mothers, Ms Byrne spends the majority of her time near the plaza.

"Everything is central there," she said.

Ms Byrne said she has never had a bad experience, but instead, there are only two small rooms at the plaza.

"There are a lot of young mums in the Wimmera and towns further out," she said.

"There are so many mums who would utilise a parent and mums who travel to town and it would be so nice to have a base station and not worry about changing or feeding in the car all the time."

Steph Winfield is a Horsham mum with a one-year-old who would happily feed her child openly.

"Sometimes if my child needed a nappy change and a feed and there was no where to go," she said.

Ms Winfield said she also found the parent rooms in the plaza sterile.

"There is barely even room for one pram, I feel for mothers who have more than one child," she said.

"There is just enough room to stand there, change your baby and move on."

Kawaii Kids have facilities to feed with a nursing chair, a changing table and space is closed off for privacy.

"There are toys there for other children if they need to play while mum is feeding," Ms Byrne said.

"But if you're down the main street, you're not going to go to the plaza to change your kids nappy.

"There have been numerous times where I have fed my baby in the car, changed his nappy in the car because there was no where else to do it."

She said Kalkee Road Hub is too out of the way for mums who are out and about.

"If you are down the street to shop, you're not going to go to the Kalkee Road Hub. You might as well go home if you're in Horsham," Ms Winfield said.

"Council need to do something about it."

Ms Winfield also mentioned the facilities at Geelong.

"They have a massive room. There are three or four microwaves, cubicles you can sit in and a couch. All the cubicles have curtains so you can feed in private if you want to. They have multiple change stations so that more than one family can be in there and change the baby at the same time," she said.

"Here is not ideal. There is nothing at the Botanic Gardens or May Park.

"If you at a carpark where there is other cars around or on the side of the road if you using the car to change or feed. It's not ideal."

Ms Winfield said Horsham doesn't have spaces for mums and parents.

"The change room and family room facilities in Horsham are very lacking compared to other towns and other regional cities," she said.

"I don't think the council care."

Ms Winfield said parents need comfortable spaces.

"Mums should have the choice to feed in public or in private.

"They should have a safe space for all of their children rather than resorting to the car.

"Some mothers might need 45 minutes to an hour to feed as well.

"There is nothing in Horsham for young families."

Erin Simmons is a new mum from Hopetoun and also comes into Horsham for appointments and to do large shops.

"There is no much. I'll go to the plaza to use the toilets and then go to Kawaii Kids if I need to breastfeed. I'll have to leave my pram outside but it's a nice comfy spot to sit and no one bothers you," she said.

"Then I'll have to use the toilets, but to get the pram in, I have to use the disabled toilets so I can manoeuvre it.

"I feel bad taking up the wheelchair toilet and if I need to use another room it's the same issue with the pram."

She said the worse experiences and when the places are small and have toilets in the same spot.

"You're not going to want to feed next to a toilet," Ms Simmons said.

She said she'll often stop at friends' places.

"There is nowhere else I can think of," Ms Simmons said.

"You're not going to unpack and if you need to feed, put everything back in the car, have your child fall asleep and then wake them back up to go to out of town feeding room."

Ms Simmons said she has friends with older children who had the same issues with not finding places to feed outside the plaza or their car.

"I shouldn't have to do it in the car," she said.

Ms Simmons said if she needs to change her baby and go to the toilet herself, she needs to move between rooms, and the pram doesn't fit in the toilets anyway.

"Mums want a room that feels comfortable, not sterile. Not just a chair," she said.

"A comfortable chair, an area you can put your child down and also somewhere for your older toddler. You're not going to fit a toddler in one of those little rooms.

"You need to have room for your pram and access to a toilet where you're not taking up disabled toilet access."

Horsham Plaza manager Allison Roberts said she strived for the facility to be a space for as many people as possible.

"We asked people what they wanted and the overwhelming response was parent rooms," she said.

"We'd love to make them bigger, but the building won't allow us to expand. There are fire regulations that require a certain width.

"We have 25,000 people a week through our doors. We want to ensure a nice environment for everybody."

After the response about the rooms, Ms Roberts said the next day they had wall decals in and a small chair for parents with more than one child.

"These rooms are used many times are a day and are cleaned hourly," she said.

'We see so many new mums."

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