Several of you have spoken up about the difficulties of hearing the= speaker when a baby is exceeding loud and mother ignores same. I will add my 2=A2 from the speakers' perspective. I have had lots= of experience speaking above baby noises, happy and unhappy. One day,= While doing a session at a conference, I neded up holding one 10-mo old= on my hip because she asked to be picked up, mother did not seem to emerge= from the audience and it kept her happier trying to get at the mike than comoplaining in a whiny sort of way. However it can be extremely distracting for a baby, partiuclalry= unhappy one, to be sounding off while trying to put thoughts together or= be heard. At our conferences (ones my partner and I put on), we ask that mothers= tend to their babies in order to keep them happy. In arms ones are welcome;= in fact, we love to see them, as they provide perfect models for certain= sorts of thing. (like showing that you can cupfeed a small one, with mother's agreement, of course and always her milk only). I believe the issue is less the baby's activities than the mother's.= If she takes her baby out when the volume starts to go up, everyone wins.= Most mothers know that they will probably hear less than they prefer when= baby comes along, but her loss should not also translate into everyone= else's loss. I hope I have not offended, but those are my views. Now, if any= of us are at a conference whre mom is ignoring baby sounds, perhaps we should= be courageous and suggest that baby might be happier for a while some= other place while others listen! (just a thought) =20 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities %% %% brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." %%= =20 %% definition of a lactation consulting service. %%= =20 %% Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC - [log in to unmask] %% %% Homewood, Illinois USA %%= =20 =20 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% =20