Anybody who is attending a conference has paid to be there, whether they are a professional or not. What kind of a message does it send out to tell women that it is wonderful that they are pumping and they are welcome to attend conferences because they have left their babies at home but if they are just breastfeeding on demand and have a young baby who is not happy except in their arms that they are not welcome. In my opinion, this is part of the bigger picture of making breastfeeding a normal mainstream thing to do, something mothers can do everywhere they may be. I attended the LLLI conference this summer and in all the sessions I was in, mothers left the room if their baby got too loud. I had my 6 month old with me. I travelled quite a distance and the overall cost was so high that it was not possible for me to bring my husband or anybody else with me. There was no way that my 6 month old was going to spend time in the hallway with a teenager that she had never met before. My experience is that onsite daycare will be of no use to babies and even toddlers that are used to being with their mother all the time. Why should women have to wait until their kids are older to attend conferences? I am 38 years old and have been breastfeeding for 13 years. I do not accept that I have to drop out of the world except for playgroups for 20 years. The women who attend conferences with babies are there because they have a keen interest in the subject matter. They may be the LCs of the future. I don't think that toddler rooms necessarily need to be provided, I just feel that we need to be tolerant of a certain amount of noise at conferences, especially ones that pertain to lactation or other subjects that are specifically pertinent to women or children. I must add that I had a very positive experience at the LLLI conference, even at CERP sessions, everybody was very tolerant of my daughter. Susanna Eve fulltime homeschooling mom to 4 big boys and one little girl [log in to unmask] Canadian Homeschool Resource Page http://www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/ NS Voice of Women For Peace http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/CommunitySupport/VOW/vow.html