Hi Anne,
Thanks for sharing the materials.
I really like the first option for conference brochures,
"We appreciate the time our speakers have given to preparing their
presentations and we all want to share in
what they have to say to us. If you are here without small children, please
take a seat in the front of the room.
We have allowed space in the back of the room for children who need to move
around. If you have a baby in
arms who gets fussy or chooses to "talk," remember that some people may not
be able to hear over baby's
sounds as well as you can. Even happy sounds may prevent another person from
hearing the speaker. A very
sad baby or child can be comforted outside the session room where you can
give him/her your focused attention."
Adapted from La Leche League Area Conference session introduction materials.
However, the second option
"Mothers may bring quiet, breastfeeding babies. Due to the intense nature of
the sessions, most mothers find it
easiest to bring a support person to watch the baby outside the meeting room
between feedings. Please respect
the needs of other registrants and care for your baby outside the room if
he/she becomes disruptive or if a faculty
member asks you to do so."
reads to me like "we don't want babies here and even if you baby is quiet we
reserve the right to kick you out"
Karleen Gribble (who was kicked out of a seminar on building attachment- not
because my child was disruptive but because the organisers wanted the
meeting to look "professional")
Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Sulman and Anne Altshuler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 2:20 PM
Subject: Stepping Up to the Plate /Babies at Conferences
> The Wisconsin Breastfeeding Coalition developed (and/or adapted)
> materials to put in a packet called "Building Breastfeeding Friendly
> Communities in Wisconsin." As part of that we have a section on
> "Breastfeeding Support at Meetings/Conferences."
>
> You can see it at
>
> http://dhfs.wisconsin.gov/health/Nutrition/Breastfeeding/
> bffriendlycomm.htm
>
> Scroll down to "Conferences and Meetings."
>
> Click on "Breastfeeding Support at Conferences and Meetings."
>
> We tried to include sample language for conference planners to use
> regarding meeting the needs of babies present while respecting the needs
> of others who might have paid a lot of money to attend a conference. We
> wanted to make it a useful guide both for breastfeeding conferences and
> for any other field where planners had never before even thought about
> breastfeeding mothers and their needs.
>
> Feel free to use it, improve it, or adapt it for local needs. It was put
> together a few years ago. We would write it differently now. Maybe we
> will revise/update it.
>
> There have been some great suggestions in this discussion on Lactnet. I
> loved Morgan's ideas on activities for the crawlers and older children in
> attendance and Teresa's story about John Holt! One thing about the
> presence of babies and children is the role modeling of attachment
> parenting and meeting the needs of the babies/children present that goes
> on. It demonstrates that breastfeeding can be combined with
> work/learning opportunities for the mother. Breastfeeding can occur in
> public. It can be discreet. Some professionals who come to
> breastfeeding conferences have no personal experience with breastfeeding
> or parenting breastfed babies. They may have dealt only with tiny babies
> in the NICU and are trying to gain information for sitting the IBLCE
> exam. They may have not seen older nursing babies before, and certainly
> not in a big, public venue. So a lot of peripheral learning goes on.
>
> Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC, LLLL
> [log in to unmask]
> Madison, WI, USA
>
>
>
> ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email:
> set lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet
> welcome
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
