I want to chime in along with Kathy Dettwyler's good story about bringing
Miranda to class.   I'd agree that for most teachers (and others in similar
situations) emphasizing the "right" of the baby to be with mom is not a winner
("If you want to be with the baby full time why don't you just quit school?")
as much as emphasizing that the baby isn't disruptive, and that you understand
that of course if or when she may be disruptive you as a parent will
understand that you need to get her out of there.

Personally I had one quiet newborn and one noisy one.   I used to take a
weekly evening class that my first baby went to until she could walk -- she'd
nurse, nap, look around quietly -- no disruption at all.  I felt very smug and
told people often how a happy baby was easy to get along with etc.   But I got
my comeuppance on my #2, who, while equally deliciously sweet, was from day
one a squealer, grunter, cryer; when she was actually nursing she even
swallowed more noisily!   There was just no way to be there with her without
being really in the way of other people learning.   I just had to remind
myself that (as we working moms are so often admonished; but don't get me
started on WAB again!) this was a brief time in my baby's life, and I'd go
back to studying talmud in the evenings a few years down the line.

I hope Cindy can talk her professor and her baby into each doing their own
thing in the same place without either bothering the other!

Warmly, Elisheva Urbas, NYC