I took my baby everywhere.  He ate, he slept and ate and slept some more.
When he got to be 2-3 mos. old he was no longer content to just eat and
then sleep for two hours.  By six months he was no longer willing to stick
 to his own seat or backpack.   I could take him to restaurants.  I couldn't
take  him to class, unless I was willing to get up  and leave if he got
disruptive.  When he was fifteen  months old I couldn't even guarantee a
complete meal at a restaurant, or an uninterrupted shopping trip.  I was not
one of those moms who kept browbeating her kid  to behave, with both
him, me and all passersby becoming more and more frustrated.

I did not feel that staying was in anybody's best interests when my baby,
toddler, child got obstreporous, cranky, non-compliant.   He would just get
more so, people around me would be disturbed in increasing numbers, and
I wouldn't get any of the enjoyment or information I was therefore anyway.

I think conferences should certainly make provisions for babies, but I think
moms must also make provisions for their babies and their co-conferees.
I think the rules for babies should be the same as rules for older kids.  If
they are disrupting those around them, then they have to leave.  If the
conference cannot /does not provide babysitting,  parents need either to be
willing to take their children out (maybe listening over audio from
an adjoining room), or need to have someone they bring along to take care
of the infants during those times.

This may be an unpopular point of view.

Chanita, San Francisco