Dear Becky-- Bring your baby to ILCA! I think you misunderstood the gist of those messages-- the problems that were raised were with (1) a hospital conference organized by non-BF friendly staff, who wouldn't let a mom and baby even lunch with the main group,this lactnet mom had brought her own babysitter with her and left the conference room to bf, so babe was never "in arms, at conf, and (2) in a completely different setting, at conferences like LLLI And ILCA, where conferences are orgainzed by BF friendly staff, babes in arms are WELCOME, but mothers are requested to attend to their childrn's needs and not keep them in the conference room after they are complaining audibly. The two issues are quite different-- the first asked a nondisruptive attentive mother not to join her colleagues for the social part of the conference. In this case, the staff's position appeared unfair. In the second case, the problem was with moms not attending to the needs of either their children or their colleagues by staying in the conference room with an unhappy child. Writing this message from the LLLI/AAP conference in Chicago, there are plenty of babies here, and tommorrow with the regular conf there will be plenty more, and the issue was quite easily accommodated. The lecture hall is right next to the exhibit hall, and the lecture sound is piped into the exhibit room, where there are not only exhibits, but a whole section of toys for toddlers and up. Babes and kids are welcome in either room, but if babies get unhappy or otherwise noisy, parents simply took them to the next room where they could attend to their children and hear the lecture too. I thas worked quite well, speaking as a mom no longer with kids that age, but "been there done that." I'm sure it will be the same at ILCA-- anyone whose been to ILCA mtgs please chime in-- Tina