Hi fellow netters,

Decided that I would throw my 3 cents worth in.  Our affiliate dealt with
this very difficult problem about 18 months ago.  We try to have very
interesting speakers who often cover involved material (like milk making at
the cellular level).  Some of our babies were aging into the loud stage and
some mothers did not seem to hear their children's very loud bids for
attention (or the toddlers were quiet but walked all over the place,
distracting the speaker and listeners alike.) Below is the policy that we
adopted after much discussion.  It was voted on by our membership.

OLCA Disturbance Policy

OLCA is a professional association for lactation consultants.  Our policy is
to protect, promote and support breastfeeding; this includes our members and
guests who breastfeed their babies.  OLCA meetings are geared to
professionals.  OLCA's policy and mission is to likewise protect, promote and
support professional lactation education.  We feel these goals are
compatible.

Disburbances are incompatible with the learning environment whether caused by
loud or unhappy babies or discourteous adults.  We therefore announce the
following policies for OLCA meetings and educational events:

1. Breastfeeding babies are welcome.
2. Disturbances are NOT welcome.
3.  Mothers who bring babies are requested to be seated in the spaces
provided at the back of the room, near the exit and are requested to take
their babies out of the room if they become noisy or restless.
4. Adults are requested to refrain from side conversations.
5. There will be sufficient breaks to allow for personal comfort.
6.  Mothers should take the needs of their child into consideration when
determining whether to bring the child to the educational portion of the
meeting.
7.  Most sessions are taped and available for loan from the OLCA library.

Adopted on Jan. 22, 1994.

Queen former president of the Ohio Lactation Consultant Association, an
organization of nearly 150 highly opinionated, voiciferous intelligent
articulate women who are not afraid to take the bull by the horns and neuter
it.