This is admittedly a subject of discussion every time a conference is planned.  On the one hand, most of our counsellors are of childbearing age and in order to attend the conference need to bring their breastfed babies.  On the other hand in order to give them a worthwhile learning experience and reach out to all the obs.paeds.hospital and public health nurses and midwives, we have to present a very professional programme together with the baby-friendly and mother-friendly message.

We have just had  25th birthday conference of the Israel Childbirth Education Centre together with Great Shape of YMCA in Jerusalem.  Babies were welcome but our organizer made a tactful announcement at the start that mothers should sit with easy access to the exit so that if the crying reached a crescendo, they could leave the hall. A very comfortable area with lots of cushions and bean bags was provided so that if mothers needed space and quiet to calm their babies, they could do this without disrupting the lectures.  It is a myth that every crying episode can be calmed by giving the baby the breast!  Human babies cry if they have gas pains, are tired, are bored as well as if they are hungry.

There is more of a problem when bringing older babies and toddlers.  When I had my four very active little children, I could not imagine cooping them up all day in a conference centre, breastfed or not.  Nobody can expect a lively wakeful child to sit quiet and still for the duration of the lectures even if he/she is cosily snuggled up to mum`s breast.

At one conference here, the problem was solved by default.  There were too many registrations so an adjacent hall was set up with a video system so that the delegates who could not get seats in the main lecture hall could still participate.  Although this had not been planned, it proved the perfect solution for mums who had older babies because they could hear and see everything but the noise did not reach the lecture hall.

If you will it, it is no dream! (Theodore Herzl 1904)
Or where there is a will, there is a way.

Wendy Blumfield
Tutor ANT/BFC NCT UK
Israel Childbirth Education Centre

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R).
There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html