My attitude towards babies/children at conferences has ebbed and flowed
over the years.  As a LLLL with babes at the conferences I expected not
to be able to take notes or even hear sometimes what was being said.  The
first time I attended a conference w/out kids, it was so great to be able
to take everything in.  The children were a little distracting, but I
also really missed not having a nursing baby/child with me.  As time went
on and I attended more LC-type conferences, the concentrated knowledge
available by top people in the field was fantastic and I found that I did
get very annoyed when I missed something because a baby near me was
fussing and crying and the mom was not considerate enought to leave
temporarily.  Although I missed my kids, it was a great feeling to be out
on my own again, to have the luxury of just drinking it all in and
participating in stimulating conversation without interruption. I think
that that is a normal stage to go through when you have been doing
something for many years and then do something new.  Now that I am even
older (!) I find that I have become more tolerant again and appreciate
having the young ones around, even when they fuss a little.  Maybe it's
just that I have learned a lot since then and have a lot of resources, so
I don't feel so desperate to grab onto every little thing that is said.

Having also been a part of conference planning for many years, I have
listened to many opinions on this.  I do think that many professionals
would be quite annoyed if they went to a "professional" conference and
found themselves in the middle of a LLL-style gathering.  And in fact it
has been noted on evaluations how distracting a crying baby is.  When
RRBN first started doing conferences, there was a note in the brochure
that only "babes in arms" were welcome to attend.  Now we don't have
anything in the brochure and there are a few more babies/toddlers present
and there has not been much of a problem - there just aren't usually that
many and we will gently ask them to leave for a while if the babes are
too noisy (that has hardly ever happened).  I, too, think that they are
great visual aides and just generally nice for the atmosphere - we are
talking about breastfeeding, after all.

We have provided a small,private area for pumping, but there is no place
at our facility to set up a "romp and roar" type room.  At most
facilities you pay by the room, and it could be very expensive to provide
a whole room for just a couple of kids(that's if an extra room is
available at all - sometimes it is hard to get just the basic space you
need for the sessions).  Also, piping in the speaker is a lot easier said
than done in many places.  We do have moms bringing a babysitter or older
sibling with them to care for the child while they are in the conference
and they are welcome to play out in the hallway or another room which is
not being used at that time.  I would not want to deal with the
liability/headaches that could be involved by bringing in an outside
sitter to provide services.

Actually, I think it would be great if every potential LC, nurse or
doctor that works with breastfeeding moms/babies were to go to a LLL
conference and see what it is like to be surrounded by nursing children
of all ages and familes providing attachment style parenting.  I think it
is nice if a LLL conference provides CEU sessions on the same day/site as
the regular conference for just that reason. But I do think that doctors
and nurses in particular, and we get a lot of those(nurses, that is),
have certain expectations about what will be happening at a
"professional" conference and I respect that as well.

Sorry this got so long.  It is another one of those touchy subjects that
does not necessarily have a right or wrong answer.  The discussion is
good, however, and helpful for those who are planning to get into
conference presentation.  I just wish I could go to every conference I
get a brochure for.  Some of them look so great, but they are just too
far away and money is so short these days.  Thanks to all who invest the
blood, sweat, and tears needed to provide these opportunities for us to
learn.

Sharon Knorr, BSMT, LLLL, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant Services
Rochester, New York
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